Canadian Skyline Thread III

[craner]

Thank-you giallo - some great shots.

[Martin Mtl]

Photo: https://www.facebook.com/francis.lemarquand

[Mr Tall Forehead]

That’s a fantastic shot of Montreal. Wow.

[zoomer]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Downtown Vancouver as seen from Cambie/City Hall, Aug.12 '25, my pics

Hey thanks mcminsen for sharing this photo - I was right, not has much changed from the older picture, I guess that area downtown in pretty much built out. Of course your pic is from W 10th which is a pretty busy area and I love that foreground action you got as well.

[zoomer]

Sorry, me again, lol - seems like there's a lot to catch up on today in this thread!

Looking forward to being in Montreal next month. Is that ferris wheel worth going on? How have people found it in terms of getting good photos from it?

Giallo - did you notice the crazy similar vibes that Vancouver followed by Kelowna pic have?!

Clouds, mountain, water, bridge, tall buildings in the background, shorter in the foreground, similar colour palette.

I'm curious how Kelowna will turn out, or evolve in terms of visual identity. Ideally it's organic and true to it's origins and natural evolution, whatever that means. I'd love to see a distinct third 'big' city (viewing the Lower Mainland as one continuous urban area) in BC, which in many ways it already is because of the setting. It seems to be have a Vancouver feel to some of it's highrises, but different because of the necessity of parking podiums. Maybe they can lean into that and continue to really be creative in their use to make them more of a positive than a negative. There's a lot of American cities where that's common, thinking Brickell City in Miami for example:



source

Not saying this is the ideal but it's not bad either.

Originally Posted by giallo

Vancouver



Kelowna

[MolsonExport]

I have always preferred Montreal skyline shots from the Southeast. These show the layers (old Montreal, etc.) much better than those shots taken from the (south) west.

[ScreamingViking]

Posted by Hawrylyshyn in the Hamilton sub.

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

From a reel posted on Forge FC's IG account before the matchup with Vancouver Whitecaps:

[zoomer]

/\ Great mix of housing types/heights, construction and land elevation in that one Hamilton pic - nice!

Real estate listings frustrate me - they're selling million dollar plus properties yet they display the product in the worst way possible, with super low res pixelated photos which are almost look black and white (well, with hints of blue and the odd red) because the display of colour is so limited. All to save, what, pennies in temporary server space?!

Occasionally a better quality listing appears, so here's one of Vancouver, that is at least colourful:







source

[zoomer]

A listing in Victoria, the pics are more pixelated which makes these buildings to the eastern end of downtown rather indistinguishable, and some of them really are to be fair, safe, generic a bit boring. A lot of 14 to 17 storey buildings, but at the top right of the pic below there are two active construction sites and another proposal plus one just completed a matter of months ago. They will include 20+ storey buildings as will many of the proposals in this area known as Harris Green, which will really help break up the monotony . I like a variety of heights, colours and materials, so it won't take much to make this area more interesting.



other views from the same building:



source

[J.OT13]

Victoria truly is a mini-Vancouver. I always loved the HBC condo and the tower they built.

[Zeej]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Victoria truly is a mini-Vancouver.

Don't let the Victorians hear that part....

[zoomer]

/\ Well that is a common fear, especially among the older crowd, lol - but there are worse things to become. On the other hand that'll never happen in my lifetime or even this century. Vancouver moves too fast, changing rapidly while Victoria is like the turtle vs. the hare, slow and steady, at times oblivious, left behind, yet doing just fine in the long run.

I think a lot of our cities are frozen in place, in that other than the ones which are within a 100,000 or so of each other in population, I can't see a big shift where a city dramatically gains on another, or a small to mid-size city becomes a heavy weight.

[ScreamingViking]

Source post

Originally Posted by zoomer

/\ Great mix of housing types/heights, construction and land elevation in that one Hamilton pic - nice!

That's about 3 km from east of the downtown core (where it's really hazy) to west of it (the south end of Victoria Park)

So much opportunity for mid-rises along the main streets, but the core of the city seems to have become a 30-storey haven due to "as of right" planning for many lots in the downtown area. I'm not sure how far out those zoning rules go, but the main street in the foreground that's adjacent to the park (King St. West) is where the proprosed LRT will run, so there will be demand for more housing in that corridor if that project does progress. East of downtown too, though the west side has seen much more development over the past decade or so. There are some who are more knowledgeable about Hamilton's planning rules who may respond.

Regardless, the Hamilton skyline before vs. after will be an interesting photo when all these projects are done! Some are still under way. There are plenty of parking lots and empty/underused ones adjacent to main streets that are available for new development all over the central city, and proposals stalled due to developer or market issues. Still, Hamilton has seen much more built in the last 10 years than any decade since the 1970s, so a current before/after comparison would be interesting.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by zoomer

I'm curious how Kelowna will turn out, or evolve in terms of visual identity. Ideally it's organic and true to it's origins and natural evolution, whatever that means. I'd love to see a distinct third 'big' city (viewing the Lower Mainland as one continuous urban area) in BC, which in many ways it already is because of the setting. It seems to be have a Vancouver feel to some of it's highrises, but different because of the necessity of parking podiums. Maybe they can lean into that and continue to really be creative in their use to make them more of a positive than a negative. There's a lot of American cities where that's common, thinking Brickell City in Miami for example:



source

Not saying this is the ideal but it's not bad either.

To go from low rises to 40 storey towers is not what I would consider organic growth or true to its origins (small city) or stands out among small cities development. Look at Barrie or Kitchener. It's cashing in on Vancouver area investors. It's my opinion, that block busting leading to twin towers on large mid rise parking podiums is creating a lesser quality, skyscraper environment directly competing with the like of Vancouver than providing a alternative lifestyles albeit Kelowna will probably never reach the scale of build out as Brickell. Having explored it on foot is certainly not representative of the glossy photo you posted. The photo still screams chain/big box skyscraper insta-city.

These skyline are impressive in scale for the size of city but they are not at all impressive in the sense of the Bank towers that went up in the 1970s and 1980s.

[Calgarian]

Victoria absolutely is becoming a mini Vancouver. And Kelowna is becoming a mini Victoria now.

[MolsonExport]

Is Vernon becoming a mini-Kelowna? i know that Penticton basically is.
(I love all three, btw, having lived in the Okanagan for two periods (early 90s, 2009).

[jc_yyc_ca]

Aerial shot of Cowtown



From https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...29017587290407

[zoomer]

and Calgary is becoming a mini-Vancouver, lol!

Well, not so mini - if I had my glasses off and was scrolling through quickly I could mistake that for the downtown Vancouver peninsula. Some of the buildings near the river at the bottom left are a decent height themselves, but they are totally dwarfed (small-personed) by the mass in behind.

[zoomer]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Source post

That's about 3 km from east of the downtown core (where it's really hazy) to west of it (the south end of Victoria Park)

So much opportunity for mid-rises along the main streets, but the core of the city seems to have become a 30-storey haven due to "as of right" planning for many lots in the downtown area. I'm not sure how far out those zoning rules go, but the main street in the foreground that's adjacent to the park (King St. West) is where the proprosed LRT will run, so there will be demand for more housing in that corridor if that project does progress. East of downtown too, though the west side has seen much more development over the past decade or so. There are some who are more knowledgeable about Hamilton's planning rules who may respond.

Regardless, the Hamilton skyline before vs. after will be an interesting photo when all these projects are done! Some are still under way. There are plenty of parking lots and empty/underused ones adjacent to main streets that are available for new development all over the central city, and proposals stalled due to developer or market issues. Still, Hamilton has seen much more built in the last 10 years than any decade since the 1970s, so a current before/after comparison would be interesting.

Will this past decade be seen as a blip or is the strong growth likely to continue? I guess like all of Canada so much depends on immigration levels and the economy. At some point, and maybe this has already begun, some folks living in Toronto will determine that they can have a better quality of life in Hamilton than TO, especially if they have a long commute. And even then, if you want to see an event or spend the day in TO it's still not a big deal. From what I understand Hamilton has more outdoor recreation/hiking opportunities in closer proximity than Toronto and still lots of nice heritage neighbourhoods close to town.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by jc_yyc_ca

Aerial shot of Cowtown



From https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...29017587290407

The skyline mass is steadily spreading south into the Beltline. If the Stampede Station Marriott almost supertalls get built it will be a seismic shift. Not a fan of that island of twin towers stretching down Macleod though. Full Sim City.