Canadian Skyline Thread III

[someone123]

That is called the "seaport" area and was the main shipping port in the early 1900's after small finger wharves for sailing and steam ships were obsolete but before modern container terminals. It has a lot of things, like the Pier 21 museum, an art school, conference space, brewery, etc. That structure is over 500 m long with the docking space being about 600 m. It was all originally one big masonry structure as far as I know but has been redone in parts over the years. It was served by a fully grade-separated rail line built in the early 1900's.

There were also large piers north of downtown that connected to the ICR railway that comes in from the north.

The empty land apparently has very complex land title issues and might need some remediation so it's relatively difficult to redevelop. It was originally fill and a railyard (the wharf buildings used to have rail lines going into them for shipping).

Just happened to find this photo of the same area and the Nova Scotian Hotel and VIA station:


Source

[cranes]

Kitchener

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/2...et-w-kitchener

[Cowtown_Tim]

They think it might break a record this year from what I've heard.

These two pics are fantastic. That beautiful human scale density!

Originally Posted by zoomer

Stampede looks sweet from that perspective, I read somewhere it's one of the busiest years ever?


Came across some new July 1, 2025 Victoria aerial photos from local news/media creator photographer James Macdonald. Does great work, would die to get my hands on the original resolution as well, he shared these on Facebook and then I came across them in slightly larger form but with the watermark on Getty images.





source

[James Bond Agent 007]

They're all starting to look the same:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6246...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5834...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7945...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2621...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

They're all starting to look the same:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6246...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5834...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7945...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2621...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

Yeah I think that's been the case to some degree ever since the suburban highrise trend started. Suburbs tend to have a lot of similar looking architecture and design, and many suburbs look the same across the country. Making the buildings taller doesn't change that.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

They're all starting to look the same:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6246...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5834...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7945...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2621...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

And this is also Burnaby, but a different skyline, two miles away.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/mPryN1FjCDit5UWw9

https://maps.app.goo.gl/DkjQ33xoqzGQwMtz7

Rotate the camera 180 degrees, and you can see the other one in the distance.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/w6ws3g3dPtAALHs59

[James Bond Agent 007]

Just to differentiate themselves, some of them should start codifying a theme that would make them look different from the others.

Like, all highrises in a certain new highrise district have to be purple, or something.

[James Bond Agent 007]

^
Or maybe even a better idea: Require all buildings to follow an architectural theme, like an Art Deco city. Imagine if Vaughn looked like this? That way nobody would mistake it for Mississauga or Burnaby:

• Video Link

Or you could do a Steampunk or a retro future or even a pink Barbieland theme! Would be a great way to break up the monotony.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

Just to differentiate themselves, some of them should start codifying a theme that would make them look different from the others.

Like, all highrises in a certain new highrise district have to be purple, or something.

The other one does have a couple of more distinctive buildings when viewed from the right direction. This is Metrotown (view to the southeast) from about 5 miles away where I live.


my photo July 2025

[MolsonExport]

the original two Metrotown towers are almost blocked out in that shot. It sure looks different from the days when I worked in Metrotown (1995).

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

They're all starting to look the same:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6246...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5834...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7945...oASAFQAw%3D%3D
https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2621...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

lol, starting? This is nothing really new. It’s like the commie blocks back in the day

[James Bond Agent 007]

I suppose you could also argue that the sameness of all these Canadian skylines is, in itself, a Canada-specific theme.

Like ... there aren't many - or any - US skylines that are so dominated by newer high-rises condos and apartments like you see in Canada. Maybe Jersey City looks kinda like that, sort-of, and maybe Bellevue is inching in that direction, but I can't think of any others like that. And Europe doesn't have skylines like that, for the most part. Maybe an Australian skyline or two are sort-of like that.

But for the most part it's its own "Modern Canadian Skyline Theme."

[J.OT13]

Seems to be a Canadian suburban skyline thing more than a Canadian skyline thing. And well really, a Toronto and Vancouver suburban skyline thing.

The major cities (top 6, even top 12 to some extent) are still very unique. Toronto with the CN Tower, Skydome and Financial District, Montreal and its historical layers, Vancouver with its insane density and mountains, Ottawa and its Federal heritage buildings (and Chateau Laurier), Calgary's bulky office towers and Edmonton's bridge and the ICE district towering above the CBD.

Most of our major city skylines have distinct features that are easily recognizable and make them unique amongst North American and World skylines.

[James Bond Agent 007]

I would think that with Canadian city downtowns adding more and more of these condo/apt skyscrapers, even the downtowns will start to look more like the suburban downtowns over time.

[MolsonExport]

^The Mississaugization of Toronto (and the Metrotownification of Vancouver) continues unabated.

God save us from the Lavalization (or even worse, Longueuilification) of Montreal.

[someone123]

I wonder if the distinctiveness of the old buildings is being overrated a bit here too. International style office buildings weren't that unique to a particular city, and even in the 1920's in the USA most cities had pretty similar architectural styles. There were some unique buildings in NYC or Chicago but a lot of the mid-sized cities had similar plans for squarish brick-and-stone highrise hotels and offices. I think there is more architectural diversity even just in glass condo towers in Toronto or Vancouver today. It isn't as much diversity as we saw in total over many waves of construction spanning centuries, but these styles will evolve too and already have been shifting. Downtown Toronto is getting more masonry elements again in new construction for example.

[MolsonExport]

Maybe, but the brick and stone of the old era was, in my opinion, far more elegant than the glass and spandrel of the present era.


Just like how the gothic cathedrals of Europe, despite their "Sameness", are far more beautiful than modern era cathedrals.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Maybe, but the brick and stone of the old era was, in my opinion, far more elegant than the glass and spandrel of the present era.

I think it depends on the building although I'm awarding more points here for how these buildings look and work at street level than in the skyline. Not that many cities even had major skylines in the pre-WW2 era.

Back in the 2000's, most new buildings in Canada were pretty bad compared to the old stuff but now I think there are a lot of new buildings that are as good as or better than what you might call lower tier pre-WW2 buildings, like basic brick warehouses. The cities have also grown so much that the new projects are often far more developed than what existed on a given old lot. I would not tear down Grand Central for condo towers but a mixed block of mid-range pre-WW2 housing isn't necessarily better than high density infill now, and often the condos replace something much worse than that.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

^The Mississaugization of Toronto (and the Metrotownification of Vancouver) continues unabated.

God save us from the Lavalization (or even worse, Longueuilification) of Montreal.

I feel like the Lavalization/Longueuilification started a while ago with Griffintown. That's the Quebec style big, blocky high-rises with mid-rise proportions.

Originally Posted by someone123

I wonder if the distinctiveness of the old buildings is being overrated a bit here too. International style office buildings weren't that unique to a particular city, and even in the 1920's in the USA most cities had pretty similar architectural styles. There were some unique buildings in NYC or Chicago but a lot of the mid-sized cities had similar plans for squarish brick-and-stone highrise hotels and offices. I think there is more architectural diversity even just in glass condo towers in Toronto or Vancouver today. It isn't as much diversity as we saw in total over many waves of construction spanning centuries, but these styles will evolve too and already have been shifting. Downtown Toronto is getting more masonry elements again in new construction for example.

The International towers at least had different colour pallets and materials that made them a bit more unique. The black of TD, the white and horizontal windows of CIBC, the marble (originally) of First Canadian/BMO. In Ottawa, we had the black of PdV A+B and brown of PdV C, the marble of Esplanade and the wide with vertical elements of Place Bell. Montreal had interesting shapes, with the Cruciform Place Ville Marie, the elegant CIBC and Tour de la Bourse with its grey corners, black walls and voids. Edmonton and Calgary introduced more varied colours like red

The new glass towers are all the same colour pallet. Though they have different designs, the similar shades and proportions make for very dull skylines.

[ssiguy]

These are excellent examples of how transit-friendly does not necessarily mean pedestrian friendly.