Canadian Skyline Thread III

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

For me, that would be the Pan Am building, although I can't underscore how much of an impression PVM would have made to Canadians in 1962.

I don't think people think about it much today, but Gordon Bunshaft's One Chase Manhattan Plaza, which topped out in 1959, and was the first tower in Lower Manhattan to rub shoulders with pre-Depression era giants like 70 Pine and 40 Wall. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finally caught up to what it had been before Black Tuesday in 1954 and, not long after, planning for towers like this began.

I didn't know that one was so early, although thinking back, I have seen photos where it the only box amidst the old Downtown spires.

And PVM was '62... it must have been thrilling. As much as we bemoan the urban planning debacles of the modernists, these early displays of architectural power must have really resonated.

Although I would do a lot of things to have a day exploring prewar Montreal and everything that was lost, when I put myself in their shoes, PVM would have made the whole spot seem grim, cramped, corrupted and parochial.

Even its concrete base, hovering above the city on a shimmer of glass doors, would have seemed almost impossibly vast, austere and elegant, with a scale that paid as little heed to the jumbled city around it as an Egyptian temple.

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

My high school's library had a copy of Arnold Toynbee's Cities of Destiny, which was a coffee table book published in 1967 that had an abridged history for middle class consumers of the world's great civilizations with a focus on important cities since antiquity. New York, of course, made up the final chapter for the 20th century, and the chapter began with a huge, full-page, bird's eye photograph of the Chase Manhattan tower.

We had a coffee table book growing up that offered a CanCon take on this theme, with photos of Canada's large cities from Victoria to St. John's taken in the late 1960s or very early 1970s.

As Toronto had not taken the "biggest city" title at the time of publication, the writers substituted a pretty impressive chunk of text to justify the imposing, two-page spread of TD Centre towering over Commerce Court North and the King Edward.

(It was much more unique and dramatic than the perfunctory Mount Royal shot used for Montreal.)

It was something like "Canada's commercial and industrial centre, home to its tallest buildings, broadest highways and largest stock exchange".

It was a bit like that famous blurb about Liberace where they said just about everything but the thing. Because they couldn't yet say the thing.

And in a few years it was over, and Montreal was no. 2.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I don't think people think about it much today, but Gordon Bunshaft's One Chase Manhattan Plaza, which topped out in 1959, and was the first tower in Lower Manhattan to rub shoulders with pre-Depression era giants like 70 Pine and 40 Wall.

Going off topic with Bunshaft

Gordon Bunshaft was born and raised in Buffalo, NY, graduating from the gorgeous c.1904 Lafayette High School on Buffalo's West Side, before continuing his education at MIT.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Bunshaft

After achieving acclaim as an architect he was tasked with the expansion of Buffalo's then Albright art gallery of neoclassical design, with the modern Knox family addition (with the 2023 Gundlach expansion now called Buffalo AKG Art Museum). The controversial "black box" Knox addition officially opened in January 1962.

January 1962 w/former sculpture court
Buffalo News photo


1962 photo from Buffalo History museum
https://buffaloah.com/a/elmwd/1285/add/

Bunshaft was clearly influenced by Mies van der Rohe, among others.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I didn't know that one was so early, although thinking back, I have seen photos where it the only box amidst the old Downtown spires.

That thing is massive compared to the pre-depression era towers.

Lower Manhattan 1959. by Manhattan4, on Flickr

I still have the Manhattan of the 1990s with a good mix of art deco spires, glass cereal boxes and a handful of PoMos in my head. The most recent wave of towers like Hudson Yard's London-esque mass and wacky shapes, along with Billionaire's row, is kind of ruining it for me.

[J.OT13]

Fun fact, Scotia Plaza in Toronto was built by Ottawa's Campeau Corporation. Robert Campeau started with mid-century bungalow suburban tract housing before building some of Ottawa's tallest hotels and office towers in the 1960s and 1970s (Place de Ville and Jean Edmonds). Scotia was one of his last projects before going bankrupt due to some bad retail investments in the U.S.

Ottawa's best PoMo complex, the World Exchange Plaza.


https://loopnet.ca/Listing/45-O%27Co...a-ON/28362455/

They recently rebuild their plaza.

Originally Posted by urbanforest

Here, I’ve got some photos I meant to share earlier this month. Taken July 1.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

That thing is massive compared to the pre-depression era towers.

I still have the Manhattan of the 1990s with a good mix of art deco spires, glass cereal boxes and a handful of PoMos in my head. The most recent wave of towers like Hudson Yard's London-esque mass and wacky shapes, along with Billionaire's row, is kind of ruining it for me.

First of all, that's a terrific photo of Lower Manhattan.

I agree with you about Hudson Yards. The buildings don't really pay homage to Manhattan. It's not quite like dropping a spaceship of a modernist building in the heart of Venice, but if you are going to build supertalls in Manhattan they should fit in with their iconic surroundings. London-esque is a good descriptor. Incidentally, Toronto-based Oxford Properties developed Hudson Yards, although I'm sure their NYC office called most of the shots.

On the other hand, I like the look of Billionaire's row, even if it is the most conspicuous symbol of modern-day income inequality. It's audacious to thrust slim fingers nearly 500 meters up into the sky, towering over everything else. It's very pre-war Manhattan that way.

[WhipperSnapper]

Ottawa's best and biggest slab apartments were probably designed and built by John Daniels' Cadillac Development Corporation. Cadillac eventually merged with Fairview to become Cadillac-Fairview and John Daniels left CF (CF got out of residential) to start the Daniels Corporation in the early 1980s. Point is, Toronto and Ottawa are even.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

First of all, that's a terrific photo of Lower Manhattan.

I agree with you about Hudson Yards. The buildings don't really pay homage to Manhattan. It's not quite like dropping a spaceship of a modernist building in the heart of Venice, but if you are going to build supertalls in Manhattan they should fit in with their iconic surroundings. London-esque is a good descriptor. Incidentally, Toronto-based Oxford Properties developed Hudson Yards, although I'm sure their NYC office called most of the shots.

On the other hand, I like the look of Billionaire's row, even if it is the most conspicuous symbol of modern-day income inequality. It's audacious to thrust slim fingers nearly 500 meters up into the sky, towering over everything else. It's very pre-war Manhattan that way.

The turn of the 20th Century skyscrapers are commercial. The residential was typically 35 metres or less. There's a market difference. Billionaires' Row are extruded ultra thin towers than wedding cakes starting with large bases and ending with a thin top. I find them awkward although it lessens as each additional tower is built. The borders between Hudson Yards and the rest of the city will also blur as more towers are built.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

First of all, that's a terrific photo of Lower Manhattan.

I agree with you about Hudson Yards. The buildings don't really pay homage to Manhattan. It's not quite like dropping a spaceship of a modernist building in the heart of Venice, but if you are going to build supertalls in Manhattan they should fit in with their iconic surroundings. London-esque is a good descriptor. Incidentally, Toronto-based Oxford Properties developed Hudson Yards, although I'm sure their NYC office called most of the shots.

On the other hand, I like the look of Billionaire's row, even if it is the most conspicuous symbol of modern-day income inequality. It's audacious to thrust slim fingers nearly 500 meters up into the sky, towering over everything else. It's very pre-war Manhattan that way.

Oxford partnered on Hudson Yards but from my understanding Related was the lead.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Incidentally, Toronto-based Oxford Properties developed Hudson Yards, although I'm sure their NYC office called most of the shots.

That's interesting. Manhattan West, directly next to Hudson Yards, also has a Canadian connection as it was built by Brookfield (similarly, through their NY-based Brookfield Property). The NHL has its new HQ there.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I didn't know that one was so early, although thinking back, I have seen photos where it the only box amidst the old Downtown spires.

And PVM was '62... it must have been thrilling. As much as we bemoan the urban planning debacles of the modernists, these early displays of architectural power must have really resonated.

Although I would do a lot of things to have a day exploring prewar Montreal and everything that was lost, when I put myself in their shoes, PVM would have made the whole spot seem grim, cramped, corrupted and parochial.

Even its concrete base, hovering above the city on a shimmer of glass doors, would have seemed almost impossibly vast, austere and elegant, with a scale that paid as little heed to the jumbled city around it as an Egyptian temple.

Seeing a curtain-walled glass skyscraper where the panes of glass practically touch each other at its four corners would have been mind-blowing at the time.

A true ushering in of the modern era.

[Martin Mtl]

https://x.com/rafredarrows/status/18...601904/photo/1

[MonctonRad]

RAF jets flying over Montreal.

This must be giving the separatists the willies.........

[Laceoflight]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

RAF jets flying over Montreal.

This must be giving the separatists the willies.........

-satiric mode on-
Well, lucky you and lucky them,
It appears that, on "Maan·tree·aal" Island, the remaining and actual population would be composed of hundreds of thousands of righteous and courageous resistant british anglo-canadians, descendants of your fellow light carriers who brought civilization to those vilainous separatist Québécois (though in vain because said vilains lack brains), and they would have been joined during the last decades by a few hundred thousands virtuous english-speaking immigrants too. So no one had "the willies", they celebrated the planes. And civilization is safe.

New-money-vile-and-stupid french-speaking-separatists are hiding inside their McMansions in Blainville or Candiac, while most of them, penny-less-as-they-should-french-speaking-BS-séparatistes, were too busy not cleaning their lame 3 et demis, downtown Longueuil and in Ville Le Moyne, and also drinking some Labatt50. They did not see the planes. They were not frightened.
-satiric mode off-

Beautiful picture though, thanks for sharing @Martin MTL

[Zeej]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

RAF jets flying over Montreal.

This must be giving the separatists the willies.........

Please try to hide your... enthusiasm in public.

[O-tacular]

What is that tall tower U/C in the middle? I also enjoy the unintentional green roofs on the left. Wonder at what point those mini trees need to be dealt with?

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

That thing is massive compared to the pre-depression era towers.

Lower Manhattan 1959. by Manhattan4, on Flickr

I still have the Manhattan of the 1990s with a good mix of art deco spires, glass cereal boxes and a handful of PoMos in my head. The most recent wave of towers like Hudson Yard's London-esque mass and wacky shapes, along with Billionaire's row, is kind of ruining it for me.

Lower Manhattan of 1929-1958 was the greatest of all skylines. It will never be beaten.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Lower Manhattan of 1929-1958 was the greatest of all skylines. It will never be beaten.

Can you imagine finally seeing that (and the Statue of Liberty) after spending a couple weeks crossing the ocean cramped on a ship with a couple thousand other people?

It even gives me chills thinking about it.

[MolsonExport]

I think my lower jaw would be hanging down to the deck of the ship

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Acajack

It even gives me chills thinking about it.

Agreed. Especially if you were arriving from post war Europe in the late 1940s.

Can you imagine???