International Style Architecture in Canada

[J.OT13]

In the early 1960s, Canada witnessed the start of a major shift in the way we built our Central Business Districts, and it all started with the construction and completion of three buildings in Montreal; Place Ville Marie, the CIBC Tower and to a lesser degree, CIL House. These steel and glass monolithic structures rose high above anything else in the city and inspired many other developers to follow suite.


August 7, 1961; Gar Lunney, photographer (got it from Ricco Rommheim's post http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=154454)

http://www.memorablemontreal.com/acc...hp?quartier=12

A few years later, developers in Toronto and Ottawa pushed the limits of their respective cities by building their own glass and steel office complexes nearly twice as high as anything else that came before.

In Toronto, the first phase of the Toronto Dominion Centre was completed in 1967; the start of Canada's iconic Financial District.


http://www.toromagazine.com/nytimes-...-1966-TD-Tower


http://www.thestar.com/business/2010..._facelift.html

In Ottawa, although nowhere near the same scale as Place Ville Marie and TD Centre, local developer Robert Campeau was able to convince the City to break a long standing 120 foot limit. The result were 2 slick black office towers and a modernist hotel rising nearly 300 feet.


http://urbsite.blogspot.ca/2013/11/o...-building.html

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Revi...a_Ontario.html

While Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa kept building more of these slick glass towers, other cities followed suite in the 1970s.

[SFUVancouver]

Vancouver's standout first-generation International Style tower is the (former) BC Electric Building, now known as the Electra following a relatively recent condo conversion.


Source: found it on Flickr, but the poster certainly doesn't have the copyright to it.

[Jeff]

Winnipeg started with the royal bank building (1966):

http://www.artisreit.com/wp-content/...t-Exterior.png

then the iconic Richardson building (1969):

http://umanitoba.ca

[esquire]

I love this style. I wish Winnipeg had more of it.

It probably wasn't the very first International Style building in Winnipeg, but the Norquay Building (1959) must have been among the first really significant examples of it:



My favourite example of International Style in Winnipeg was demolished not that long ago. People were too dazzled by its new and shiny replacement to really notice, but at some point in the not-too-distant future I'm sure we'll regret not having kept it around. It wasn't a tower but it was certainly an elegant looking building:

[Jeff]

oh ya, the norquay building! and the old investor's syndicate (investors group) building on broadway were definitely the first lesser-known examples in Winnipeg of the style. the swankiness of the old airport just kills me.

[SignalHillHiker]

Reading about it on Wikipedia and looking through the gallery of examples provided there. I see almost nothing all those buildings share in common. Is this a real, distinct style or just a lumping together of many?

[kwoldtimer]

In Kitchener, the best example would be 305 King West, built in 1964 and still prominent on the city's modest skyline. Built as the headquarters of Waterloo Trust (later acquired by Canada Trust), there was an interesting piece in the Globe and Mail yesterday about how a local developer is stripping out the unoccupied interiors to create the "cool space" being sought by the local start-up sector.



http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...board/follows/

[SHOFEAR]

There is a pretty wicked book about international style in Edmonton. Capital Modern. http://capitalmodernedmonton.com/

Some examples from the book

[flar]

Hamilton City Hall






Hamilton-Wentworth Board of Education (demolished last year)

[kwoldtimer]

Hamilton City Hall is a gem.

[esquire]

Great stuff from Edmonton, SHOFEAR. CN Tower is one of my favourite buildings in Canada... still looks amazing at 50. I miss going there to catch the train!

Love that Hamilton City Hall too. This is a great idea for a thread, keep 'em coming.

[Martin Mtl]

The Mies Van Der Rohe's contribution to Montreal:

Westmount Square (residential)


Source


Source: Montreal in Pictures


Source


PHOTO OLIVIER PONTBRIAND, LA PRESSE

Nuns Island Gas station


Source: Archdaily.

[SHOFEAR]

more from Capital Modern...since you asked so politely. Edmonton Is loaded with Civic buildings from this era.








Old AGA....







One of the best examples from E Town





House from 1938









Poole Residents (the "P" in PCL)

[SHOFEAR]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

The Mies Van Der Rohe's contribution to Montreal:




Source: Archdaily.

wow....so much awesome.

[Martin Mtl]

Other apartment buildings by Mies Van Der Rohe on Nuns Island:


Source


Source


Source

[Chorduroy]

Since I had to look it up, I thought I'd leave this link here for others:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna...(architecture)

[Beedok]

I'm guessing Stelco Tower counts?

http://falcons.hamiltonnature.org/HC...eries/site.htm

[flar]

There's also this very interesting building in Hamilton.
The building is gargantuan. Each of those balconies is two floors, for 16 total, and there is another wing that comes off the back. It's difficult to show just how massive it is in one photo.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Reading about it on Wikipedia and looking through the gallery of examples provided there. I see almost nothing all those buildings share in common. Is this a real, distinct style or just a lumping together of many?

It's as much a style as say, Victorian. Common features of International Style include dominance of rectangles (in specific proportions - I think the "International" part came from the reconciliation of different measurement systems in the style's dimensions) - new building materials: steel, glass (including non-window glass), concrete. New structural concepts - cantilevers and cutaway first floors became more common since walls were no longer weight bearing. The rejection of Beaux-Arts and Art Deco style ornamentation. There's often a bit of a blurred line between International Style and the other contemporary modernist style, Brutalism. Generally International is more glass-heavy (true Brutalist structures are encased in unfinished concrete).

If I could sum this all up in one word, it would be: rectangles.

[Hali87]

I would say that Newfoundland's Legislature is kind of a transitional style halfway between Art Deco and International styles, both chronologically (50s would be the tail end of the main Deco era and beginnings of International style) and in terms of actual stylistic elements.