Quote:
Originally Posted by KnoxfordGuy
New York City lost Penn Station in the 1960s. It's loss has been lamented ever since. Many call it one of the worst losses for New York architecture ever. What would be its equivalent in terms of loss in Toronto or Montreal?
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Losing Penn Station was a tragedy since it was basically the magnum opus of one of the most storied architecture firms in American history, McKim Mead & White, and the most ornate railway station on the continent, if not the world.
Toronto did not suffer a loss nearly as bad; the equivalent would be if they tore down Union station or Old City Hall (both of which were contemplated) or if they flattened all the buildings of King's College Circle at U of T.
For me, the biggest loss for Toronto was the demolition of two blocks of high Victorian commercial buildings in the triangle bounded by Yonge, Wellington Front and Church. Only the iconic Flatiron building remains. The site was a parking lot for at least two decades, so I wonder what the reason for tearing this area down was.
Some of the buildings lost in that demolition:
Toronto Board of Trade building:
The buildings behind the Flatiron building. Some of them had cast iron facades reminiscent of New York's SoHo:
The aftermath, as seen in the area's nadir in the 1970s:
Luckily the area rebounded in the early 1980s with the development of one of the first urban-focused condominium projects in Toronto, if not Canada, Market Square:
A more contemporary view of the area shows that many of the missing teeth have been filled in:
Right now the area where the buildings in the second photo once stood is Berczy Park, which is being rebuilt to look like this:
This is all wonderful. Still, wouldn't it be grand to have all these streetscape improvements
and retain two intact blocks of gilded age Victorian commercial blocks?
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