Augusta - 165 James St S, 14 and 26 Augusta St | ? | 6, 8 & 8 fl | Under Construction

[Chronamut]

Mmm very nice! Also I'm not too confident anything will be higher than landmark lol..

Ahh the balustrade at the top is such a beautiful elegant touch - I love when they add those types of details..

and yeah at first glance the regular brick may seem disappointing but it gives us time to reflect on the fact the whole city was once built from the clay of the escarpment so it's a nice tie-in to what already existed, and prevents every building they use from using that same brown brick of the olympia club..

also high respect to anyone who designs their products to hide the ventilation and make it part of the design, I know I have bemoaned this with other projects in the past who have these beautiful seamless renders and then ruin it all by punching in ventilation after, cheapening the look - it's so simple to tuck them behind or into things and have them be part of the design..

interested to see if medical arts has any plans for that parking lot - it's funny I've never even been in the medical arts building.. there are so many buildings in hamilton I have never been inside of..

still not huge on their design further up james they'll be starting soon but maybe after some amendments it will feel more harmonious.

Also interested to see how wind plays a role on the rooftop patio - kinda wish there was some canopy over the top where the seating is to protect from the elements - the sun and other elements might be a bit intense..

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

Mmm very nice! Also I'm not too confident anything will be higher than landmark lol..

Ahh the balustrade at the top is such a beautiful elegant touch - I love when they add those types of details..

and yeah at first glance the regular brick may seem disappointing but it gives us time to reflect on the fact the whole city was once built from the clay of the escarpment so it's a nice tie-in to what already existed, and prevents every building they use from using that same brown brick of the olympia club..

also high respect to anyone who designs their products to hide the ventilation and make it part of the design, I know I have bemoaned this with other projects in the past who have these beautiful seamless renders and then ruin it all by punching in ventilation after, cheapening the look - it's so simple to tuck them behind or into things and have them be part of the design..

interested to see if medical arts has any plans for that parking lot - it's funny I've never even been in the medical arts building.. there are so many buildings in hamilton I have never been inside of..

still not huge on their design further up james they'll be starting soon but maybe after some amendments it will feel more harmonious.

Also interested to see how wind plays a role on the rooftop patio - kinda wish there was some canopy over the top where the seating is to protect from the elements - the sun and other elements might be a bit intense..

When talking to Steve, he indicated they attempted to put as much ventilation through the roof as possible, but it is a giant pain, and far from simple.

[Chronamut]

Yeah there is something to be said about a nice seamless exterior.

[TheHonestMaple]

Taken today.

The rooftop patio for this building was in the plans from the beginning, unlike the Plank rooftop patio. Which is nice, because as you can see in my drone shot there will be uninterrupted views as there will probably be a glass perimeter railing. At Plank, because the rooftop was an afterthought you can't really see the city views when sitting at your table, because the parapet wall is so tall.

[TheHonestMaple]

Does anyone have any old pictures of Augusta? I've been trying to find pictures of what this block looked like before everything got demolished. I understand the Pheasant Plucker was just one of about 10 similar buildings. Not sure when it got demolished though, but my bet is quite a long time ago, maybe as far back as 1920?

[TheHonestMaple]

I noticed that they've installed construction elevators around the perimeter for installing the brick on floors 2 and above. So we should see most of the facade come together in the next couple weeks

[TheHonestMaple]

I have it on good authority that the ground floor retail space of the James Street building is going to be a small grocery store. Not sure which brand, but something like Rabba or Denningers.

[craftbeerdad]

Doubt it will be Denninger's as they want a bigger space in the lower city.

Rabba loves these type of spaces in Toronto, so I could see that being a potential fit for sure. One of those Loblways City Market's might be a potential suitor too.

Either way, sounds promising.

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by TheHonestMaple

I have it on good authority that the ground floor retail space of the James Street building is going to be a small grocery store. Not sure which brand, but something like Rabba or Denningers.

This is correct, no announcement yet on whom.

[woreg75]

I have one in my collection that someone posted long ago. Either here or on the Facebook group old Hamilton. I had to have a copy of it, and I think it was someone's father playing with the hose in front.
The Fire Hydrant is still there, a little more modern.

It's at 22 Augusta Street.

I'm not sure of the year, but in the distance, Anshe Sholom synagogue is somewhat visible in the picture before it was torn down for St. Charles today. My Grandparents were married in the old temple. It moved to the new building on Cline.

[ScreamingViking]

That looks like it could be many present streets east and west of downtown.

The trees. Wow.

Thanks for sharing that!

Originally Posted by woreg75

I have one in my collection that someone posted long ago. Either here or on the Facebook group old Hamilton. I had to have a copy of it, and I think it was someone's father playing with the hose in front.
The Fire Hydrant is still there, a little more modern.

It's at 22 Augusta Street.

I'm not sure of the year, but in the distance, Anshe Sholom synagogue is somewhat visible in the picture before it was torn down for St. Charles today. My Grandparents were married in the old temple. It moved to the new building on Cline.

[woreg75]

Happy to post.

https://search.ontariojewisharchives...criptions20800

Link to a picture of what used to stand at the corner of Hughson Street and Augusta.

Then St. Charles was built in its place in the sixties.
Little article here.

https://www.thespec.com/life/st-char...d1a6cc9c.html?

It was nice to read the two tablets depicting the Ten Commandments from the synagogue were incorporated into the new church.

[SteelTown]

Source: https://twitter.com/JasonThorne_RPP

[Chronamut]

Loving the tiered out brickwork on this one at the top there - even if I still bemoan the lack of fancy cornices lol..

[TheHonestMaple]

I mean to be fair, fancy cornices wouldn't make sense on this building. That's not the architectural style of this one. It's intended to be art deco industrial, which wouldn't feature cornices like that.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by TheHonestMaple

I mean to be fair, fancy cornices wouldn't make sense on this building. That's not the architectural style of this one. It's intended to be art deco industrial, which wouldn't feature cornices like that.

True enough, but even art deco has.. well.. art deco elements. Some sort of embossing on the top corner one of some sort would have been nice vs just straight across stone with nothing whatsoever.

There is a reason the word "art" is in art deco. The pigott building interior is art deco. The sun life building interior is art deco. Hell even the old kresgys/bingo hall was art deco.



A similar styled art deco industrial building - note the stamped embossing at the top. Hell I would have even settled for peaked triangular corners

also I say THIS to your comments on no cornices on art deco buildings - london has something else to say, knave! Lol..



Our building is like art deco industrial with literally nothing that would make it art deco embellishment wise lol..

..except maybe the windows lol..





I honestly just feel they tried the least design wise with this one. Mind you, the render may just be "simplified" but they could have done something at least a LITTLE out of the norm with the corner toppers. Literally all our old industrial buildings have SOME sort of embellishment on the top, pretty much all of them. Imo the ONLY thing that makes this building interesting to look at, is the windows.

5 things will always make me happy on an exterior:

a) Tasteful awnings - like the one on the king william "french" restaurant -
b) Arches - any kind of arches or unusual angles to make it something other than a box with windows punched in
c) Fancy brickwork of any kind - this one has some, I'll grant it that
d) Cornices or some fancy topper that gives you something to actually observe and marvel at
e) Sash windows or windows like the ones on this one - imo this one has 2 out of 5, as the "awnings" are just straight jut-outs and thus kinda meh looking to me.

I'm always much much more critical of core urban due to their current track record of elegance. I still think core urban needs to be a bit more adventurous and do some embossing stamping, both on their mullion areas and in this case at the top of the corner jutout. I can only of course speak for me but many people like to look at what a building has to offer design wise vs just its overall form, or the fact that it's "big". Like their building next door to it is imo perfect. It has such a harmonious design (lack of mullion stamping aside which imo would have made it flawless hehe)

[Davis137]

Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern design elements are always welcomed in my book!

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by Davis137

Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern design elements are always welcomed in my book!

They are for me too, if they're not stripped down to brutalist minimalism. If it's art deco I want to actually SEE art deco elements on it.

[ScreamingViking]

I like it. The brick is a shade lighter-coloured than I was expecting, but it's turning out fantastic.

I don't see art deco either, but that's not a problem. It looks like they aimed for "old factory or warehouse conversion" and that's how it's turning out.

Augusta may just become one of our most interesting streets once the block between Hughson and John fills out (lotsa lots there to do that, and while I've always thought that church was unique I think it will eventually be replaced).

[TheHonestMaple]

Some filter must have been applied to that image above, because the brick is not that orange in person. It looks much closer to light brown, like the renders.