The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[isaidso]

Btw, love the Winnipeg pics. It's one of our more elegant cities.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Funny, in British Columbia I have the opposite feeling.

I have a feeling that BC is an outlier in Canada. My architect friend from Vancouver describes the city as 'over-designed'. There does seem to be huge pockets of wealth in that city and the natural beauty of the area might have something to do with it. Vancouverites do seem to pay far more attention to what everything looks like right down to what shade of paint they use.

Judging by photos, it wouldn't surprise me at all if stuff in BC was nicer than in the neighbouring US state to the south. Elsewhere in Canada, the reverse is usually true. When I travel from New Brunswick to Maine, northern Ontario to northern Minnesota, etc. I've come to expect everything to be a little nicer .... and it is. Even in a border town I noticed a huge difference. Fort Frances, Ontario vs. International Falls, Minnesota? The Canadian side is more populated, but the US side is far prettier. Prettier houses, prettier roads, better selection of winter boots, better dressed people, it went on and on and on.

It got a little depressing after awhile, tbh.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I have a feeling that BC is an outlier in Canada. My architect friend from Vancouver describes the city as 'over-designed'. There does seem to be huge pockets of wealth in that city and the natural beauty of the area might have something to do with it. Vancouverites do seem to pay far more attention to what everything looks like right down to what shade of paint they use.

Judging by photos, it wouldn't surprise me at all if stuff in BC was nicer than in the neighbouring US state to the south. Elsewhere in Canada, the reverse is usually true. When I travel from New Brunswick to Maine, northern Ontario to northern Minnesota, etc. I've come to expect everything to be a little nicer .... and it is. Even in a border town I noticed a huge difference. Fort Frances, Ontario vs. International Falls, Minnesota? The Canadian side is more populated, but the US side is far prettier. Prettier houses, prettier roads, better selection of winter boots, better dressed people, it went on and on and on.

It got a little depressing after awhile, tbh.

It's another case of the extremes of the US. The nicer stuff is nicer, and the crappier stuff is crappier down there. Canada on the other hand tends to be very middling.

A lot of the border towns (even small ones) have decay on the level you just don't see in Canada. On the other hand they usually have more grandeur if you know where to look for it.

I find that, sometimes depending solely on sheer luck, many Canadians often come back with diametrically opposed opinions of the exact same places in the US. It's dependent on which part of town they ended up in.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by isaidso

That's very true, but you also see a difference when one goes from Canada to the US. 9 times out of 10 it's just a little bit nicer, a little bit cuter down south. That's true of houses, clothes, furniture, colour choices, the public realm.... absolutely everything you can think of.

What parallel universe America have you been visiting that it has better contemporary urban development and more tasteful fashion? The US has a legacy of big, grand cities than we do not and that it is reflected in their often impressive stock of historic architecture, but it has not followed that that has left a lasting design sensibility for the last many decades. Just look at the infill thread in City Discussions, for example, and compare that to what's going up across Canada. Aside from New York; Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary - even Quebec City, Winnipeg, and Halifax have had more attractive, better designed architecture & development than probably any other American city. Not even going to touch upon the way people dress...

I don't think Fort Frances and International Falls are particularly indicative of either nation.

It will take many many generations before design matters to the population here. Giving someone a $100,000 salary doesn't accomplish that. Their kids probably won't care about design either. The kids of those kids might.

What an absolutely arrogant, elitist thing to say. Aesthetic sensibilities are not informed by wealth, inherited or otherwise.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Judging by photos, it wouldn't surprise me at all if stuff in BC was nicer than in the neighbouring US state to the south.

You would call Seattle nicer-looking than Vancouver? Wow. I've been through both cities, and to me it's not even close. Seattle has the downtown grandeur, the nice adjacent mid-rise neighbourhoods and a decent stock of prewar residential. As an urbanist I find it far, far nicer than Vancouver in just about every way.

Originally Posted by isaidso

Elsewhere in Canada, the reverse is usually true. When I travel from New Brunswick to Maine, northern Ontario to northern Minnesota, etc. I've come to expect everything to be a little nicer .... and it is. Even in a border town I noticed a huge difference. Fort Frances, Ontario vs. International Falls, Minnesota? The Canadian side is more populated, but the US side is far prettier. Prettier houses, prettier roads, better selection of winter boots, better dressed people, it went on and on and on.

It got a little depressing after awhile, tbh.

Let me get this straight: there's a noticeable difference in how people dress between International Falls and Fort Frances? Really?

I've never been there, but that seems really unlikely. Either way, move a bit west, and you find that Winnipeg is more sophisticated than Grand Forks or Fargo. Which isn't saying much, true, but still.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

PS, Victoria is the one area where you can replicate Western European styles with success because the climates are nearly the same.

And honestly, seeing how cute many of the older towns are in Eastern Canada on this forum, success also seems to have been made in Quebec and the Maritimes despite the climate.

You seem to have this narcissistic idea about a perceived architectural superiority in BC that is divorced from reality. Nowhere in the U.S. or Canada have "Western European styles" been replicated anywhere better than Quebec City and Montreal. There are no towns in BC that come close to the architectural wealth offered by towns in southern Ontario, notwithstanding how charming Nelson BC looks (and surely is).

[Metro-One]

I was waiting for rousseau's negative response to me post, surprised it took him this long!

he can't let anything positive about BC (or anything positive west of Winnipeg) stand for too long....

Honestly I am not even going to bother to respond to him because you know he is always right!

But... if you noticed I said the I5 between the border and Seattle, not Seattle itself....and I never compared BC towns to Ontario towns, but BC towns to Washington towns, its a relative comparison here.

We know you love Seattle and Vancouver 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 (though if the two cities were reversed I am sure your opinion would be as well)

Sorry to get your tampon in a twist. ONTARIO ROCKS!

[yaletown_fella]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I have a feeling that BC is an outlier in Canada. My architect friend from Vancouver describes the city as 'over-designed'. There does seem to be huge pockets of wealth in that city and the natural beauty of the area might have something to do with it. Vancouverites do seem to pay far more attention to what everything looks like right down to what shade of paint they use.

I agree, but only regarding the public realm and landscaping. Private property is a different story.

In my experience people in Vancouver put less money into single family home/interior design than in Toronto. They're more concerned with upgrading to the latest Mercedes SUV and trips to whistler/back home.

I do door to door delivery as my day job and it never ceases to amaze me how many gorgeous homes/infill I come across in former middle class areas. South Scarborough, the North Beaches, Beaches proper, Parkview Hills, and even a pocket south of Main and Gerrard (full of huge Victorian mansions, looks like Yorkville! )
Ive only delivered to a small area in the east part of the city too. Im not even accounting for midtown and the upper class areas.

I should really put together a photo thread of where I deliver to. Low rise residential Toronto is where the city shines architecturally imo.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by yaletown_fella

I do door to door delivery as my day job and it never ceases to amaze me how many gorgeous homes/infill I come across in former middle class areas. South Scarborough, the North Beaches, Beaches proper, Parkview Hills, and even a pocket south of Main and Gerrard (full of huge Victorian mansions, looks like Yorkville! )
Ive only delivered to a small area in the east part of the city too. Im not even accounting for midtown and the upper class areas.

I should really put together a photo thread of where I deliver to. Low rise residential Toronto is where the city shines architecturally imo.

I agree. I stayed in Birch Cliff last year, walked around the area (Kingston, Gerrard) and was pleasantly surprised. I thought Scarborough wasn't attractive but I guess I was wrong...

[logan5]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Wow. I've been through both cities, and to me it's not even close. Seattle has the downtown grandeur, the nice adjacent mid-rise neighbourhoods and a decent stock of prewar residential. As an urbanist I find it far, far nicer than Vancouver in just about every way.

I always found DT Seattle and Vancouver pretty similar, at least architecturally speaking. Both seem to have a good mix of old and new. Outside of Ballard, the neighbourhoods out of DT seem fairly similar. Maybe you know Seattle better than I do though. Maybe some street view co-ordinates or shots to satisfy my curiosity. See if Vancouver can match.

Vancouver most certainly has a more vibrant DT than Seattle.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by koops65

The amazing, fantastic, blow your socks off, Downtown Oshawa!!!

[IMG][/IMG]
Pic by me this afternoon.

BTW, the downtown core is the group of buildings in the background on the right. Makes Kitchener look like Manhattan, doesn't it?

great shot of Barcelona

[Trans Canada]

found in SSP Ottawa section
Credit Ottawaest on Instagram, http://instagram.com/p/w1otIoJrQw/


Evening Skyline by Shel DeF on Flickr


Alexandra Bridge - Long Exposure by It's Moe Malik, on Flickr


Morning Mist : December 19, 2014 by jpeltzer, on Flickr


View from the river : December 18, 2014 by jpeltzer, on Flickr


ottawa, 2014 by williamlalonde, on Flickr

[G.S MTL]

whoa.... Ottawa has a pretty dense downtown... couple of 150m 200m would be amazing...!!!!!..

[ssiguy]

I would agree Vancouver has a lot of nice housing stock. I guess the main differences between the BC and Eastern mentalities is that in Vancouver beautiful houses are seen as nothing more than something to tear down. As an ugly monster house waiting to happen or a condo just begging to get built.

I thanks god Vancouverites aren't in charge of Montreal or Toronto or Old Montreal/Plateau/Annex/Cabbagetown would have been laid waste by now and filled with sterile glass towers or monster houses that no one lives in.

Vancouver certainly has some lovely houses..........a shame it's just temporary.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by logan5

I always found DT Seattle and Vancouver pretty similar, at least architecturally speaking. Both seem to have a good mix of old and new. Outside of Ballard, the neighbourhoods out of DT seem fairly similar. Maybe you know Seattle better than I do though. Maybe some street view co-ordinates or shots to satisfy my curiosity. See if Vancouver can match.

Vancouver most certainly has a more vibrant DT than Seattle.

I live in vancouver and I have been to seattle several times.

I found seattle was more vibrant, knew what it was and what it was trying to be, felt like a large city in urban design, and was overall prettier.

Vancouver is a Seattle try hard. Nothing wrong eith that but our obsession with finding an identity has made us emulate our Washington sister to the south.

Seattle is the best city in North America in my opinion, so calling vancouver a Seattle clone isn't an insult.

[Razor]

^ yes great shots of Ottawa..Thanks for posting Trans Canada..

Originally Posted by G.S MTL

whoa.... Ottawa has a pretty dense downtown... couple of 150m 200m would be amazing...!!!!!..

Yes, Ottawa does have some nice density..A couple of 150-200m certainly would stick out here..

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

I live in vancouver and I have been to seattle several times.

I found seattle was more vibrant, knew what it was and what it was trying to be, felt like a large city in urban design, and was overall prettier.

Vancouver is a Seattle try hard. Nothing wrong eith that but our obsession with finding an identity has made us emulate our Washington sister to the south.

Seattle is the best city in North America in my opinion, so calling vancouver a Seattle clone isn't an insult.

Well, let's see. Vancouver certainly went in a different direction as far as transportation planning goes. We turned our back on freeways and instead focused on building a fantastic suburban rail system. This probably made for an easier path to high density development downtown as well as making it easier to connect to the waterfront. All those things Seattle has just started to work on in the last decade or two. Seattle finally started building their LINK into downtown. More residents are moving downtown. Seattle's DT population is around 65 000 over 3.2 sq miles. Not bad, but still far behind DT Vancouver which has over twice the population density. The Alaska Way Viaduct is coming down so the city can better connect with the waterfront. Next Seattle will be doing TOD's like Vancouver. Seattle's a great city, but they are without a doubt taking urban design cues from Vancouver.

More vibrant? I suppose that's debatable. But which city has more people out on the streets on a Tuesday night?

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

he can't let anything positive about BC (or anything positive west of Winnipeg) stand for too long....

I was responding to your bizarre contention that "Victoria is the one area where you can replicate Western European styles with success because the climates are nearly the same."

It was a breathtaking statement to make on an urbanist website. It was so unhinged and divorced from reality that someone was bound to contradict you.

[vincefort]

[IMG][/IMG]

Great shot from Paul Eifert on flickr :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/28372308@N06/15454362874/

[FrAnKs]

Un classique, mais on ne se lasse jamais.