Historic Woolen Mill
by Phil Chadwick
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Dimensions
10.000 x 8.000 x 1.000 inches
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Title
Historic Woolen Mill
Artist
Phil Chadwick
Medium
Painting - Oil On Canvas
Description
This was late morning of the second day of the Paint the Town Kingston in association with the International Plein Air Painters World Wide Paint Out. After completing #2017 "God Speed" I headed 50 feet to the north and the shoreline of the large bay that stretched south from the shores of the Woolen Mill. This provided a long range look at the historic building. The humm of the car tires travelling over the steel bridge of La Salle Causeway carried across the water and provided the sound track to the painting. The Woolen Mill was declared an historic building on May 12, 1987. The elevated stable layer of an approaching warm from was revealed by the flat and grey bands of altostratus in the northern sky. More weather was on the way.
The Woolen Mill is a 19th-century building, and such structures were built to last. This four-storey red brick building was constructed in 1882 when a group of Kingston businessmen needed a place in which they could produce cloth. The building was erected on 'Farm Lot A' on a bank of the Cataraqui River known as the 'Inner Harbour'. It functioned as a cotton mill for the Kingston Cotton Manufacturing Company for about 50 years. The City of Kingston purchased the property in the dirty thirties with the intention to run it as a woolen mill under lease to the Hield Bros. of England. The mill thrived through and beyond the depression and the war. It wasn't until 1966 when synthetic fabrics gained momentum that the mill closed. Three years later St. Francis Developments took over and the building began undergoing renovations to divide the open-concept building into office spaces for multiple businesses.
The mill has over 200 windows, 70 of which monopolize the North facade which had the original singular entrance. The windows in the fifth floor of the rectangular tower were installed to replace two large double doors which functioned as the only method of bringing large machinery and other materials into the plant. The most demanding job to have in the mill was a "mender", responsible for quality control of the fabrics. The large windows were essential to production since they allowed bountiful natural light in order to properly inspect the fibres. The panoramic views from the top of the tower are breath-taking and include Kingston, the causeway, the river and some of the 1000 islands.
During its first century, the building was maintained through a continual refurbishing program, allowing the ancient structure to survive and become the historic building it is today. In 1883, a single floor extension was added for the growing demands of cloth fabrics. The major additions and renovations began in 1993, all the while keeping the building's natural character in mind. The 130 year old wood floors have been well-preserved with many coats of oil applied over the century. During restoration, the brick has been only sandblasted and pointed, and no treatment was needed whatsoever on the impressive 12 and 16-inch pine beams supporting the roof. These were put in place to fend off the snow as the building was built upon British plans, the specifications for which were modified for our Canadian climate. The foundation built from local limestone averages a thickness of three feet wide. The recovery of the 100 foot high chimney was one of the most intricate projects of restoring the woolen mill, featuring challenging masonry and the complications of a post-tensioned structure.
Uploaded
November 15th, 2017
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