The old Don Jail, around Broadview and Gerrard, has been rehabilitated (so to speak) into offices for the new Bridgepoint Health Centre.
I had been told some time ago that parts of the original building (cells, doors, walls, etc.) had been left intact as a public attraction. It's only open during business hours on weekdays, though; so, having a day off work, I thought I'd drop in.
They've done a lot of work on the grounds, demolishing the adjacent detention centre that had been there since the 1960s, and spiffing up the old building and grounds.
I took a few snaps during the demo, and Tweeted them, but here are a few "before and after" pics for this blog:
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| This is the detention centre being demolished last winter; you can see the old jail to its right. |
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| After demolition, they worked on filling in basement levels, and leveling the grounds. The old jail is at left, and Bridgepoint Health Centre at right. |
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| As it looks now. There's signage, and green space where the detention centre stood. |
As you approach the front entrance (only the rear is shown in the above pictures), you can see what a foreboding place it must have been for someone being taken there to serve their sentence:
The doors are actually a combination of wood and metal, and though the sign simply says, "Push," it takes a bit of effort to get them open.
Above the door, and its single lamp, is this grim, stark face, thought to represent Father Time, a reminder of the hours, days or years the prisoner would be spending inside these walls:
Once in the main foyer area, and looking to the right (east), you can see the original structure of the different levels of cells and balconies, still preserved (though the railings are certainly new):
I can remember this view myself from some years ago, when I was briefly with an agency that hired out people as extras. I was to portray a convict in a prison for one of the "Heritage Minute" ads they used to run on TV. It was about female MP and prison reformer Agnes McPhail, and would show the terrible conditions in Canada's jails at the time (this jail was in transition when I was there, and was still a rather frightening place as it was).
I never got my "moment," though, as they wanted me to get my head shaved right down to the scalp (they did that at the time to distinguish prisoners from the general public in case of escape, as well as to keep fleas off their heads), but having a regular day job, I wasn't willing to do so. They paid me for the time I was there, anyway.
Well, back to the present...
Looking straight ahead, you can see three levels of doors (administrative offices at one time) in the north-facing wall, as well as the newer railings, and a banner with the Bridgepoint logo:
Obviously, it's much brighter and cleaner here now, though there was always natural light in this area, due to the large skylight in the roof, part of its original design:
There is also a glassed-in opening in the floor here of the same shape, and parallel to the roof, that was also part of the original building.
The wrought-iron balcony supports in this area are quite striking. On the foyer side, they have the shape of dragons (the guards?), and on the side where the cells and prisoners were, serpent shapes:
Here is a view of the dragon-shaped supports, looking toward the west cell block:
Visitors can go down the steps you see past the bars in the above picture to an area where they've preserved the vintage cells. Here is what the row of cells looks like; the flagstone floor, brickwork and iron cell doors are all original:
And lastly, one of the cells itself:
On the right of the doorway, you can see an opening where there was probably a large bolt slid into from these doors at one time. There are none on the doors now, but you can imagine them clanging shut as a prisoner was locked in.
The cot is probably not original, but it gives an idea of what kind of space a prisoner had in one of these cells. Of course, there would have been a thin mattress and blankets on the cot, and a "night bucket" (nice euphemism, eh?) under it.
Over time, they needed to house more prisoners in here, and two, or even three, men would be packed into these tiny spaces, probably using bunk beds.
It should be noted that the prisoners weren't in these cells all day, only at night; they were kept busy doing labour of various sorts during the day.
The Don Jail was intended as a "rehabilitation" facility, and was quite modern in its time, with useful labour for inmates, and plenty of natural light.
It looks awfully grim now, though.
