Fineliner® Drawings: General Electric Water Tower, Ward Street, Toronto.
The GE water tower on Ward street is one of a handful still standing in Toronto. It used to be the symbol of progress in all the major industrial centres of North America. From the latter part of 19th. century to the end of WWII, a water tower was basically an elevated water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurise a water system for the distribution of potable water and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. As an example, New York City is famous for them: see Rachel Whiteread’s work. My studio on Saint Clarens avenue overlooked the Ward street and every chance I had I climbed onto my roof to draw it. I literally have hundreds of drawings of it. Cézanne had his Mont Sainte-Victoire, I had my Mount Saint Electrique.
