Canadian skylines of the past - Page 52

onanewday · #1 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 1:46 PM**

It would be great to put up a picture of Calgary from today to see how much more the downtown has changed since then... for perspective.

I love seeing pictures showing the evolution of cities and seeing how much they have changed over time. Toronto blows me away for how much their skyline has changed over time. But that could be said for many Canadian cities.

beatlesque · #2 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 2:32 PM**

The ongoing transformation of The Forks and Upper Fort Garry area of WPG - National Historic Site and Provincial Park. This area is found at the confluence of the Assiniboine (left) and Red (right) rivers. Historical anecdote: The name Winnipeg comes from the Western Cree words for "muddy waters".

Before - rail yard area:

More recent - Canadian Museum for Human Rights (scheduled to open September 2014), Forks market and Children's Museum, Inn at the Forks, riverside walkway and boat landing, Esplanade Riel pedestrian bridge re-establishing historic link to French St.-Boniface district at right across the river, Shaw Park baseball stadium, extensive green spaces and First Nations areas, revitalized Union Station:

Proposed re-development of shaded area above, including residential and green spaces to replace surface parking lots beside the museum:

Across the street to the left of the Forks Market, the former Upper Fort Garry site is being re-developed as a provincial historical site, with part of the old wall and a new green-roofed interpretive centre:

Painting of historical fort:

http://www.theforks.com
http://www.upperfortgarry.com

SignalHillHiker · #3 Posted **Jul 24, 2014, 4:13 PM**

Impressive changes, Chad!

A couple of cute ones from Vintage St. John's lately...

St. John's women performing for American soldiers at the USO building in my neighbourhood:

The very first letter issued out of Newfoundland upon joining Confederation with Canada in 1949.

And some of the houses at the edge of the Central Slum that were good enough to keep when the neighbourhood was bulldozed in the 1950s, but quickly fell into disrepair throughout the 60s-80s.

Chadillaccc · #4 Posted **Jul 24, 2014, 5:20 PM**

and from the exact same vantage point as the two most recent pics I posted... the "city" of Calgary, as it appeared in 1885, with a population of around three thousand. This is a year before the "great fire" which destroyed a large part of downtown, and led to the mandate that all large downtown buildings must be built of Paskapoo Sandstone. Thankfully the fire killed no one, and without it, we may not have the beautiful sandstone structures that line many of the inner city streets today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary

ue · #5 Posted **Jul 24, 2014, 5:43 PM**

The East Vic Park part of those photos is amazing. It's so different today. What happened to that area to become a sea of parking lots? Clearly not just the Saddledome as it was still intact in 1989.

Boris2k7 · #6 Posted **Jul 24, 2014, 5:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ue

The East Vic Park part of those photos is amazing. It's so different today. What happened to that area to become a sea of parking lots? Clearly not just the Saddledome as it was still intact in 1989.

A lot of the houses were boarded up already in those photos or were being rented out by slumlords. The Stampede went around buying up the properties from landowners (many of whom were happy enough with being able to get out of there) and knocked down a lot of the buildings. The parking lots are a result of over three decades of failed redevelopment planning. As stated several times on this board (by myself in this thread, but several pages ago), the Stampede is largely incompetent as a land developer... whether that's because they've been unable to secure funding or they just can't get their ducks in a row doesn't really matter.

drawarc · #7 Posted **Jul 24, 2014, 6:28 PM**

Ottawa Postcard, circa 1970:

https://www.facebook.com/LostOttawa/...type=3&theater

Calgarian · #8 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 2:54 PM**

The Forks really is a phenomenal urban space, especially for a smaller city!

Deepstar · #9 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 3:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgarian

The Forks really is a phenomenal urban space, especially for a smaller city!

Agreed!

DLLB · #10 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 9:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgarian

The Forks really is a phenomenal urban space, especially for a smaller city!

Been there and it is an amazing area.

SignalHillHiker · #11 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 3:00 PM**

It really is. And it's a success. It's busy, it's packed, it's used. It's not deserted like similar developments can unfortunately sometimes be.

esquire · #12 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 3:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

It really is. And it's a success. It's busy, it's packed, it's used. It's not deserted like similar developments can unfortunately sometimes be.

It's interesting to see how many railyards were repurposed in the 80s into successful urban redevelopments. Winnipeg has the Forks, but Toronto has a new high-density urban neighbourhood anchored by a stadium and an arena, Edmonton has a university, housing, office towers and soon an arena, Montreal has a dense urban neighbourhood... it's pretty impressive. A lot of these projects have done quite well.

1overcosc · #13 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 3:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

It's interesting to see how many railyards were repurposed in the 80s into successful urban redevelopments. Winnipeg has the Forks, but Toronto has a new high-density urban neighbourhood anchored by a stadium and an arena, Edmonton has a university, housing, office towers and soon an arena, Montreal has a dense urban neighbourhood... it's pretty impressive. A lot of these projects have done quite well.

Neither Ottawa nor Kingston did much with former railyards. In Ottawa one is still vacant land to this day five decades later, the other turned into a power centre. In Kingston the old railyards are a string of hotels and apartment towers along the waterfront--nice but nothing special.

I'd hesitate as to whether or not Concord CityPlace in Toronto can be called a successful urban neighbourhood. Sure its got great density but the street life and overall neighbourhood feel is lacking. It also feels very contrived. You can tell someone master planned the whole thing. To me, urbanity has to be organic.

That's why I'm such an insane NYCC fanboy. It's got it all and its all modern development.

esquire · #14 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 4:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

I'd hesitate as to whether or not Concord CityPlace in Toronto can be called a successful urban neighbourhood. Sure its got great density but the street life and overall neighbourhood feel is lacking. It also feels very contrived. You can tell someone master planned the whole thing. To me, urbanity has to be organic.

That's why I'm such an insane NYCC fanboy. It's got it all and its all modern development.

Toronto's old railyard is moving slowly, but it's going in the right direction. Considering that almost nothing happened for a decade after Skydome was built, you could say it was moving at a snail's pace for a while. But now you have a bit of a neighbourhood emerging around ACC that connects the area to the Waterfront (which used to be a bit of an orphan neighbourhood), and as more buildings pop up west of there you will see a more organic, less contrived neighbourhood emerge.

I agree, it would have been better had it not been master planned by a single player, but it is still going to give Toronto something great in the end. Just think, 30 years ago it looked like this:

Coldrsx · #15 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 3:05 PM**

Forks are quite envious by many of us.

MolsonExport · #16 Posted **Jul 25, 2014, 4:36 PM**

^the turbo train! I travelled it often in the 70s

Darkoshvilli · #17 Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 12:24 AM**

1991

Dr Awesomesauce · #18 Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 12:41 AM**

^Is that the former/ proposed Labatt Park site?

Rico Rommheim · #19 Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 1:13 AM**

Between the 60's and the early 2000's, downtown was a real mess. It's insane. Thanks, modern age.
We're only getting our dense downtown back now.

Here's the east end of downtown in the 70's. We're only recovering from this automobile-centric 'development' scar today with the construction of the CHUM (and a few other underwhelming low-rises that aren't worth a mention)

Echoes · #20 Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 3:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Between the 60's and the early 2000's, downtown was a real mess. It's insane. Thanks, modern age.
We're only getting our dense downtown back now.

Here's the east end of downtown in the 70's. We're only recovering from this automobile-centric 'development' scar today with the construction of the CHUM (and a few other underwhelming low-rises that aren't worth a mention)

Crazy. Even the grand City Hall was barely spared.