Canadian Skyline Thread III

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Wigs

I love Kotsy photos. Not only does he/she/they take such high quality ones, they always put their name on a building in the photos

Definitely. And "find the name graffiti" is a well-played game.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Longer term, we could be at the peak of Canadian skyscraper enthusiasm and the following 30 years will see relatively few skyscrapers built.

I think it's probable that it may be quite some time before a period like the one we had happens again.

Maybe some local spurts to come, I hope (for the sakes of the Hamiltons, Kitcheners, Londons, and Monctons of the land)

[Chocolite]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Could say the same thing about Toronto when Toronto-Dominion Centre was built.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto-Dominion_Centre

Or Place de Ville in Ottawa.


https://urbsite.blogspot.com/2013/11/ottawa-journal-building.html?view=timeslide

Or when Montreal's skyline was just Place Ville-Marie, CIBC, Tour de la Bourse and Telus.


https://www.facebook.com/groups/montrealthenandnow/posts/3194338387450681/

Or even Edmonton in the 1970.

Aerial view of Downtown Edmonton 1970 by Verminator, on Flickr

Every City has had awkward phases with one or a few sparse towers much taller than the rest. Edmonton will fill out as it did in the 70s.

The difference is that all of those cities were going through this phase in the 70s when skyscrapers were coming out everywhere. All those skylines were starting from scratch and the skylines have progressed through the years, but in this case for Edmonton the look of the skyline is regressing. It went from quite a nice looking skyline to a one tower skyline.
If somebody comes along and builds an 800 foot tower in Winnipeg, Ottawa or Hamilton I won’t like those skylines as much either.
Maybe someday a few more tall towers (in the 600-800 foot range) will be built in Edmonton, and it will look more of a balanced skyline again, but until then I’ll be preferring the previous look of the skyline. Unfortunately, these days with skyscrapers, in particular office towers not being in vogue that might not even happen.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Chocolite

The difference is that all of those cities were going through this phase in the 70s when skyscrapers were coming out everywhere. All those skylines were starting from scratch and the skylines have progressed through the years, but in this case for Edmonton the look of the skyline is regressing. It went from quite a nice looking skyline to a one tower skyline.
If somebody comes along and builds an 800 foot tower in Winnipeg, Ottawa or Hamilton I won’t like those skylines as much either.
Maybe someday a few more tall towers (in the 600-800 foot range) will be built in Edmonton, and it will look more of a balanced skyline again, but until then I’ll be preferring the previous look of the skyline. Unfortunately, these days with skyscrapers, in particular office towers not being in vogue that might not even happen.

Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver all had towers in the 300-400 foot range before these modern towers that were twice as tall were built. In Toronto, those towers have all been demolished or hidden by new skyscrapers, while Montreal has a skyline that's more layered through history.

Ottawa and Edmonton had shorter towers of around 100-150 feet before getting their modern towers in the 60s and 70s, but our modern tower heights were more in line with what Toronto and Montreal had built during the first half of the 20th century. Now we're catching up with where Toronto (less so) and Montreal were in the second half of the 20th century, while Toronto is reaching new heights.

[Wigs]

My parents had a photo book about Canada from the 1990s with pictures from, probably, the late 1980s to early 1990s and for Edmonton one of the buildings that stood out was the c. 1966 CN Tower.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower_(Edmonton)
Molson, do you recall this being an icon of downtown Edmonton back in the day?

Arguably the first office building to give Edmonton a big(ger) city feel. Funny to contrast that with the c.2018, nearly 251m / 823 foot tall Stantec Tower
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stantec_Tower

[Surrealplaces]

[Surrealplaces]

When I look at Ottawa, Montreal and Edmonton's older pics, the skylines look good. Even though Place de Ville is taller than the others it doesn't stand out much. Same for Edmonton's Telus building. Montreal looks well balanced in that old pic.
The one that sticks out for me is Toronto, with the TD tower dominating. But TBH, I don't care for the look of the skyline in that old pic.

Just like Toronto, Calgary had that awkward stage back in the 70's

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Could say the same thing about Toronto when Toronto-Dominion Centre was built.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto-Dominion_Centre

Or Place de Ville in Ottawa.


https://urbsite.blogspot.com/2013/11/ottawa-journal-building.html?view=timeslide

Or when Montreal's skyline was just Place Ville-Marie, CIBC, Tour de la Bourse and Telus.


https://www.facebook.com/groups/montrealthenandnow/posts/3194338387450681/

Or even Edmonton in the 1970.


Aerial view of Downtown Edmonton 1970 by Verminator, on Flickr

Every City has had awkward phases with one or a few sparse towers much taller than the rest. Edmonton will fill out as it did in the 70s.

[someone123]

Halifax


Source

[megadude]

Bunch of random buildings for this prop for Drake's video with only the CN Tower and the Marilyn Monroe buildings in Mississauga being recognizable. Though if you zoom in to the front I guess that's supposed to be CIBC Square. And there's a few that could be First Canadian Place. Anything else?

Not quite proportionate.

[giallo]

[Surrealplaces]

I have to say, when comparing Canadian skylines to most American skylines, we're progressing very well.
Outside of a few cities like Miami, Seattle, New York, most American cities haven't seen much change in their skylines in recent years. Office buildings always made up the skyline growth, and office buildings aren't being built like they used to be.
It's residential highrises that are being built these days and they're being built here in Canada, but not so much in the US.

[GeneralLea]

Originally Posted by megadude

Bunch of random buildings for this prop for Drake's video with only the CN Tower and the Marilyn Monroe buildings in Mississauga being recognizable. Though if you zoom in to the front I guess that's supposed to be CIBC Square. And there's a few that could be First Canadian Place. Anything else?

Not quite proportionate.

[/url]

Well, off the top of my head I can see a small model of both of the Harbourside Apartments from the 70s (the ones next to Harbour Castle hotel), and the other condo built in the 80s (Number One York Quay South)

I also see the Sun Life Financial Centre, and the Water Park buildings. So, basically all buildings closer to the waterfront, including one of the Bay Park Centre buildigns as you mentioned.

Oh, I also see Scotia Plaza and the Waterlinks at Pier 27 buildings, the ones at the foot of Yonge street, facing the lake.

[Maldive]

A few more drama above the fog classics from @kotsy ... hard to pick a favourite.


kotsy

kotsy

kotsy

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

The one that sticks out for me is Toronto, with the TD tower dominating. But TBH, I don't care for the look of the skyline in that old pic.

Just like Toronto, Calgary had that awkward stage back in the 70's

In the '70s, large swaths of downtown T.O. were covered in enormous, ghastly parking lots. At least most of that is gone now.

[giallo]

[G.S MTL]

MTLBlog on instagram

[Surrealplaces]

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Today is certainly not the boom years of the 60s and early 70s however, there's still a parallel to be made; the Edmonton skyline will fill out with 200-250 meter towers eventually.

Depends how long is eventually. I wholeheartedly disagree on a parallel between the company owned office complexes built in the 1960s and 1970s and the residential towers built today. We love skyscrapers but, 90% of the skyscrapers that have been built recently offer comparably sub par housing at inflated prices. Their success hinges on nearly every other option being unobtainable. Edmonton isn't there and I haven't seen any rationale it will get there in the near term. Stantec's overpowering dominance remaining relatively the same for the next 20 years or more is not a disadvantage.

[O-tacular]

Nice shots Surreal.

I really like these ones that you shared from ikvisuals too. The first two have a kind of Gotham city vibe.







https://calgary.skyrisecities.com/forum/threads/calgary-skylines.24432/page-62#post-2359059

[zoomer]

Some great aerial shots of big cities - kudos to giallo for your epic black and white shots of Vancouver!