The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[Witty Nickname]

The water front sure helps.

[caltrane74]

Neat article posted at BlogTo today

http://www.blogto.com/city/2010/08/the_transformation_of_torontos_skyline_from_1880_to_today/

old skyline





lot more images posted in the article which I linked.

[Witty Nickname]

14 image panorama @ 65mm and f/11


Cloudy Morning Panorama by Witty nickname, Click for larger.

[Phil McAvity]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Halifax must have the best skyline in Canada for a metro<500K. Hell, it beats some of the cities above that size, in my books.

Yeah, Halifax definitely has a good skyline for a city under 500K but I still think Niagara Falls beats it hands down. Halifax has one building over 30 stories. Niagara Falls has five including a 58 story tower.



^Courtesy of wikipedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...aFalls.jpg/800px-SkylineNiagaraFalls.jpg

[Calgarian]

I like Halifax's skyline better, more density and nicer buildings. That being said Niagara is still pretty good for a small city.

[CorbeauNoir]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

Yeah, Halifax definitely has a good skyline for a city under 500K but I still think Niagara Falls beats it hands down. Halifax has one building over 30 stories. Niagara Falls has five including a 58 story tower.

Skylines aren't just about height, though. Heck, Halifax's tallest building is considered by many to be its ugliest. Niagra Falls' skyline just screams 'tourist trap' to me, particularly considering virtually all of those buildings are either hotels or observation towers. Something about Halifax's skyline carries the feel of an actual city behind the buildings, one that feels much larger than its population might suggest.

Plus there are so many great projects on the table that are only going to make it look even better. I mentioned it in the >500k skyline thread, but even if the Twisted Sisters project dosen't fly (jinxed it, sorry D: ), the completion of King's Wharf across the harbour and the Trillium along with the planned redevelopment for Fenwick Tower is going to make the combined Narrows skyline nothing short of stunning.

[hrisemiky]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

Yeah, Halifax definitely has a good skyline for a city under 500K but I still think Niagara Falls beats it hands down. Halifax has one building over 30 stories. Niagara Falls has five including a 58 story tower.



^Courtesy of wikipedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...aFalls.jpg/800px-SkylineNiagaraFalls.jpg

do you mean skylon tower that is 145m tall that is like 35 storys is it not. I like the lighting on that tower at night we need something like that on the Calgary tower. and some new cladding it looks so old even with new paint

[caltrane74]

Niagara Falls has a much more impressive skyline than Halifax its taller, and has more unique features including the Skylon Tower. It also has that wonder of the world right next to it, with all that water going over the Escarpment. As for the height of the Niagara Hilton, Im not sure exactly how tall it is, wasnt buillt to its design spec, so probably around 45 to 50 storeys tall.

Of course even as we speak they are building another hotel tower on the strip in Niagara Falls..

[Empire]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Niagara Falls has a much more impressive skyline than Halifax its taller, and has more unique features including the Skylon Tower. It also has that wonder of the world right next to it, with all that water going over the Escarpment. As for the height of the Niagara Hilton, Im not sure exactly how tall it is, wasnt buillt to its design spec, so probably around 45 to 50 storeys tall.

Of course even as we speak they are building another hotel tower on the strip in Niagara Falls..

Niagara does have some tall hotels but I find there is no defined downtown business area.

Hollis St. @ George-Hfx:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_...mGw2lSaeFRfgU03oA&cbp=12,337.14,,0,-17.5

[caltrane74]

The casino area is the downtown business area for Niagara Falls. Lest we forget it is a suburb, of St. Kitts.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

Yeah, Halifax definitely has a good skyline for a city under 500K but I still think Niagara Falls beats it hands down. Halifax has one building over 30 stories. Niagara Falls has five including a 58 story tower.



^Courtesy of wikipedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...aFalls.jpg/800px-SkylineNiagaraFalls.jpg

From a distance, and from certain vantage points, it is possible that some reach that conclusion. Overall, I still tip my hat towards Halifax, for the reasons others have listed. On a recent visit, I found Niagara Falls' skyline to be quite impressive...until I found myself actually in it, realizing that it is incredibly linear (skyscraper hotel on one side, empty lot or tattoo parlour on the other), and 99% tourist-oriented (the hotels--especially the tallest one, Hilton I believe--are incredibly tacky up close). Oh and the falls area is not at all downtown Niagara Falls (the latter is perhaps the most dilapidated DT in the country, along with Brantford), which is situated about 5 kms north along the Niagara river.

[caltrane74]

Yorkville from urbandreamer at www.urbantoronto.ca

[le calmar]

Downtown from Louis-Hippolyte bridge

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by reza

Absolute tower and the Mississauga skyline from Centre Island

Mississauga doing a Dubai impression, except with more cranes, way more money, and no begging for cash. from reza at www.urbantoronto.ca

[Phil McAvity]

^It's tough to argue that Misterssauga has the best suburban skylne in the country now that Absoluteworld is wrapping up. Now if only they had put all those buildings in downtown Taranna.......

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

From a distance, and from certain vantage points, it is possible that some reach that conclusion. Overall, I still tip my hat towards Halifax, for the reasons others have listed. On a recent visit, I found Niagara Falls' skyline to be quite impressive...until I found myself actually in it, realizing that it is incredibly linear (skyscraper hotel on one side, empty lot or tattoo parlour on the other), and 99% tourist-oriented (the hotels--especially the tallest one, Hilton I believe--are incredibly tacky up close). Oh and the falls area is not at all downtown Niagara Falls (the latter is perhaps the most dilapidated DT in the country, along with Brantford), which is situated about 5 kms north along the Niagara river.

Okay, but you're talking about the downtown core being tacky which is different than the skyline.

CorbeauNoir, you consider Niagara Falls (I mean the falls themselves) "tacky"??!?!?! That seems to be what you're saying because that's exactly why all those huge hotels are there.

[someone123]

Niagara Falls:


Source

Halifax:


Source

[caltrane74]

ok, someone. Halifax gets an A for being a real city, with the composition of a real city in which people actually live. Niagara Falls gets gets an A for having a TALLER SKYLINE, TALLER BUILDINGS, and a more DISTINTICTIVE SKYLINE. Along with getting an A for being a tourist resort. You see from the above photo, nobody actually LIVES in Niagara Falls.

[Danny D]

Height does not make a skyline good...

[caltrane74]

Short does not equal a skyline. Otherwise Saskatchewan has the best skyline of all time.

[Phil McAvity]

Originally Posted by Danny D

Height does not make a skyline good...

Right, that's why Thunder Bay so often beats Chicago, HK and NYC in skyline comparisons.