Most iconic building in your city

[megadude]

True, true about Fort Henry. Lots of history in Kingston. I think the cities that come to mind when you think about or feel "history" would be Halifax, St. John's, QC, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto (by default, but too much history has been lost and so much hyper modernization), Niagara (beyond the novelty stuff), Winnipeg. I suppose some pockets further west due to the history of western expansion, but not like it would be in the US.

[WhipperSnapper]

Facadectomies boom of small structures notwithstanding, Toronto's lack of grand built history is not a result of demolition. It never existed. Modernist era urban renewal in Montreal was far more expansive and destructive than Toronto's procrastination.

All these years later, Toronto is still a procrastinator and Montreal is still ready to leap on the newest trend.

[megadude]

That's kind of what I was getting at. There wasn't a whole lot there when compared to say Montreal and especially NYC, but being the biggest city and being on the eastern side of the country, by default it has some history. Still a few glaring examples like the Royal York, Union, Dominion Building, Canada Life Building, Casa Loma, Old City Hall, Queen's Park, U of T, MLG, etc. that reminds you of history to go along with a place like Fort York, Prince's Gates and other buildings at the Exhibition grounds and of course, Victorian homes if you travel around the city enough.

Basically, you don't think of it as a historic city but see that there's enough notable examples to make you think about the history.

[Djeffery]

Not sure if London has many that would be well known to outsiders, but a few that Londoners would consider iconic, I think.

Middlesex County Courthouse is #1 to me. Now privately owned by a developer who plans to build the tallest towers between Mississauga and Calgary next door, I think this is the only building in London that residents would encircle if they thought there was a chance it would be demolished.



One London Place, London's tallest office building.



Personally, as far as office buildings go, I put the City Centre Complex ahead of One London Place, mainly because this is where my mom first worked when we moved to London in the 70's. Holiday Inn Canada's Head Office was in the taller tower, and the Double Tree behind was a Holiday Inn Hotel at the time. I think a much higher percentage of Londoners would recognize these towers ahead of One London Place.



I'm going to toss Budweiser Gardens in here as well, the downtown arena, with the replica of the 19th century streetscape on this corner. The original intent was to actually save the facade of the building on that corner and incorporate it into the arena, but either they realized they couldn't or it fell over or something, so they decided to salvage the bricks and use them in the replica streetscape.



The insurance company might be called Canada Life now, but nobody in London calls this building anything other than the London Life Building.

[ssiguy]

Ya, for me it's probably the Old Middlesex Courthouse in London. The old and new London Life buildings are very nice but I would have to say that the next 2 after the courthouse would be Middlesex Hall at Western and, of course, St.Peters Basilica. A true masterpiece of a building and, outside Quebec, is arguably the most beautiful church in Canada.

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Toronto's lack of grand built history is not a result of demolition. It never existed.

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[urbandreamer]

Chorley Park was unfortunately demolished. I recall my grandmother going on about the epic parties there, where she met and danced with the future King.

She said Toronto in the 1920s was a mix between Belfast and suburban Victorian London, with a bit of Brighton on Lake Ontario. She detested the Orange Order - of course as an upper class English woman, she was biased. She was turned off by the appalling factory workers conditions during the 1930s and the decrepit public realm around Old City Hall/The Ward. She preferred the countryside along Lake Shore (Toronto Township) and of course Paris.

Walking past St James Anglican Cathedral recently, I was struck by its shabbiness. In Vancouver or Montreal, it would be fully restored with beautiful exterior lighting, a gorgeous garden and wrought iron fencing. Same for St Stephen in the Fields, another historic church allowed to rot and blighted by homeless occupiers. Church of the Redeemer at Bloor and Avenue Road has allowed itself to be renovated with tasteless modifications and tacky signage, and in the 1980s surrounded by an ugly condo building. Further along Bloor, the shocking destruction of Bloor Street United, totally gutted for a high rise tower. Sad.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

Now that one... that one really stings. The FCP tower itself, while not my favourite design, at least has a sort of grandeur in its impressive size. But those damn podiums. Those lowirse, ugly, space wasting and vibe killing podiums. Makes me livid every time I see them.

Would be so much better if the tower was hemmed in by some of that other stuff the way Scotia Plaza is. It's one of the things that makes Scotia so spectacular while FCP is comparatively bland. Like putting a painting in a gorgeous frame above the mantle compared to sticking it some random spot with scotch tape. Much of the story is in the presentation.

I remember giving my buddy a tour of downtown in 2021. At Scotia he was trying to take pictures, having trouble finding the right angle to capture the whole thing and everything which was kind of funny. And then we got to FCP and I announced "And here we have the tallest building in the country" He briefly glanced and said, "Man that is one boring building.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Ya, for me it's probably the Old Middlesex Courthouse in London. The old and new London Life buildings are very nice but I would have to say that the next 2 after the courthouse would be Middlesex Hall at Western and, of course, St.Peters Basilica. A true masterpiece of a building and, outside Quebec, is arguably the most beautiful church in Canada.

By request,

Middlesex College. Hard to find a full view because it's so big and so many trees around it.



St Peter's Cathedral Basilica. I'm not a church guy, but this is a nice one.

[megadude]

I love the idea of this thread. I think about a lot of things this way, particularly around sports. Today I saw a post from the Penguins saying who has a better Mount Rushmore than Mario, Jagr, Sid and Malkin. There's different ways to look at it:

- Greatness of a player, but how much of that was on that particular team?

- How much does longevity count? Like Kawhi's 3/4 of a season on the Raps. But he lead them to the championship so he's on the Rushmore of the Raps.

- How many people think of that guy in that jersey as opposed to the other jersey where he was greater? Gretz is on the Oilers' Rushmore but should he be on the Kings ahead of Doughty, Kopitar, Dionne and Robitaille? He was still great on the Kings, just not as great. And not there for all that long and didn't win a ring. But he was the most famous player they've had.

- How long ago? The Habs could have Rocket, Belliveau, Lafleur, Roy. But most of their legends played in a 6 team league or a league half the size it is now. So their "legend" is owed in part to being in a non competitive league.

- The Oil would have Gretz, Messier, McD and say Coffey (Drai might usurp him one day). That's probably the closest to the Pens.

These are the kinds of things I'd think about and talk about with my friends, particularly if we were on a sports road trip.


As for this topic, the OP put it well. Many factors to consider. There's recognition from residents vs. outsiders. There's the aesthetic. There's the history. There's the patronage. There's the function. There's the physical prominence. There's the intrinsic meaning to the city.

Toronto, Ottawa, QC and Victoria are pretty clear, but I love how this debate could rage on for most other places. For those places, it's different for different people. It would be easier to just make a Mount Rushmore list.


As for churches, it's a good go-to when the most iconic is up for debate. It fits the bill for some of the qualities mentioned above. But I think the only clear cut one for any city of note, is the church in Guelph. It checks off so many boxes, including being on a hill overlooking the city.

Here's a couple of churches that are also rather beastly, gorgeous specimens, but are most definitely not iconic for their town. The town of Halton Hills is a made up town that came to being by amalgamating Acton and Georgetown and other villages/townships. The Croatian and Ukrainian churches are too niche and are located on old farm land. If you google Halton Hills, it will show some subdivisions, and the main streets of Acton and Goergetown and the Escarpment. But really, the most iconic would be Toronto Outlets if we're basing it on several of the factors mentioned above. Super popular for residents and outsiders, it has recognition, prominence off the highway, etc. Yet a lot of people don't even realize it's in Halton Hills because it's surrounded by empty land. Most people actually think it's in Milton.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=nQpA5mFCxrs


https://www.georgetownon.ca/st-elias-the-prophet-church-ukrainian-architectural-gem-built-of-wood


https://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlet/toronto


https://smartcentres.com/property/1338/

[KnoxfordGuy]

Fredericton is known, I think, for several buildings.

The Old Arts Building on the UNB campus. Built in 1829. Roof modified in the 1870s. Picture via X



City Hall. Built in 1876. Picture from TripAdvisor.



Christ Church Cathedral. Completed in 1853 and the reason Fredericton was granted city status in 1848.



New Brunswick Legislature completed in 1882.



Old Government House. Completed in 1828. Built by the same architect as the Old Arts Building.

[Djeffery]

I love seeing the Legislatures from other provinces. I'm so underwhelmed with Queens Park.

[megadude]

Richmond Hill might be one of the blandest suburbs without actually feeling bland. It's not really known for anything other than having a lot of Chinese and Persian people but also a lot of rich people in general. I can't think of any prominent building or geographic feature. But it's not bland in the sense it has nothing to do. It has great food in the southern commercial part and there's definitely a lot of development. And it integrates pretty seamlessly into Vaughan on one side Markham on the other so it adds to the "bigness" of the place.

Iconic is not a word I'd really associate with Richmond Hill but if I had to pick a building, it would be city hall, which perfectly sums up Richmond Hill. It's an office building. So it's unique in that sense. Plus it's pretty visible being right off the 404.

It also has this observatory, but it's in the rural part. Outsiders most definitely don't know it's there. The public can visit but I don't think many do. It's not a planetarium.


https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/richmo...nd-hill-on-canada-gm1312715182-401438625


https://mycitylife.ca/home/real-estate/t...tory-park-returning-to-former-splendour/


https://www.janelockhart.com/blog/how-th...david-dunlap-observatory-by-lena-dawood/


https://www.plusvg.com/2021/09/14/david-dunlap-observatory-administration-building/

[GeneralLea]

I'd almost argue for some of the historic churches being more iconic for Richmond Hill, but that would be among locals...not to the ROC.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by GeneralLeeTPHLS

I'd almost argue for some of the historic churches being more iconic for Richmond Hill, but that would be among locals...not to the ROC.

Yeah, churches would be a go-to choice for places that lack alternatives. And I should know! I posted all their beautiful and interesting temples a couple of years ago on that thread. But it's like we take all the beautiful, historic churches for granted.

[Djeffery]

I'm old enough to remember that the most iconic thing about Milton was the "US Interstate Style" McDonald's sign. Not sure if the sign that's there now that is taller than normal is the one that was there when I was a kid, but you could definitely see that from the 401 quite easily. Every school trip that went to or past Toronto involved a stop there, and there were always buses in the large parking lot or parked next door at the 5th Wheel truck stop (another place we stopped at a lot as a family heading through), which I'm surprised is still an empty lot.

[WhipperSnapper]

The largest most significant buildings in the first postcard still exist and the largest buildings still standings with a few exceptions continues throughout the collection of photos. The destroyed streetscapes are functionally the same modest homes and buildings being destroyed for their facades and 60 storey skyscrapers with 800 shoeboxes today. Montreal plowed through neighbourhoods, canceled some, to build the network of highways in which Toronto had similar plans but procrastinated so long over those plans that trends changed. Evenso, Montreal still blows Toronto out of the water for grandiose ornate architecture. I definitely chose my words lazily. Never existed was wrong. The point was pretty clear. The perception that Toronto has less because it destroyed more is just flat out wrong. Those photos of parking lots weren't destroyed neighbourhoods. They were railyards and industry with one or two building of significance again giving that impression the rest of the parking lots were neighbourhoods

[megadude]

The McD's on Hwy. 25? Until you mentioned it, I hadn't thought of the sign being that tall. But it makes sense so it's visible off the highway like in the US as you said. There are others off the highway that don't have that like the one off the 401 in Whitby.

I seem to recall there being McDonald's off the 400 when heading up to cottage country. The one on the east side you kind of had to drive under the McDonald's to use the drive thru. The one on the west side was sandwiched between an exit ramp and the highway itself. Both have been demolished or redeveloped. I don't seem to recall them having those tall signs but it could be possible.

And I know there are some off the 401 in Eastern Ontario, but I don't recall them having those signs. I can think of one I think heading towards Windsor that also doesn't have it. Damn, who knew that Milton one was unique.

I previously said the Milton water tower off the 401, but another contender for locals could be the prison, which is across from the McD's. Maplehurst is right off the 401 but not necessarily noticeable due to lacking height. But Milton isn't known for much and everyone in Milton knows there's a prison, but isn't as well known as Kingston Pen. or the Don Jail in Toronto. Brampton has a prison too but I bet most people 25 and under don't even realize it. The one in Milton actually has signs nearby that say don't pick up hitchhikers.

[ScreamingViking]

Churches definitely stand out, especially for smaller places. Many small towns in Ontario have very ornate and beautiful churches at their heart.

E.g., Guelph, not exactly a small town these days, has the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate, IMO one of the most magnificent churches in Ontario. In a place that's rife with gorgeous old stone buildings, it offers quite a terminating vista along MacDonell St. and I cannot think of another building in Guelph that stands out in a similar way.

I'm not a religious person, but the craftsmanship that went into these is impressive and the results are amazing.



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[MolsonExport]

^yep, that is sure one stellar monument for Guelph. Even more impressive than London's answer: