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The filtration plant is located in the east of the city at the eastern end of Queen Street and at the foot of Victoria Park Avenue along the shore of Lake Ontario. It located in the Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto.
The plant was built between 1937 and 1941 and is named after the long time director of Toronto's public works Rowland Caldwell Harris . The building, unlike most modern engineering structures, was also created to be a vivid architectural structure. Created in the Art Deco style the cathedral like buildings remain one of Toronto's most admired buildings. It is little known to most outsiders, however. The interiors are just as opulent with marble entryways and vast halls filled with pools of water and filtration equipment.
The building is surrounded by a large park that stretches to the shores of the lake. Despite some concerns of vulnerability to an attack on the water supply since the September 11th attacks the park has remained open, but security has been increased.
Despite its age the plant is still fully functional, proving 47% of Toronto water supply. The intakes are located 2.5 kilometers under Lake Ontario, running through a tunnel under the lake. The plant also chlorinates and then pumps the water throughout Toronto.
The building of the plant is vividly recounted in Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion.