The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! - Page 172

Nouvellecosse · #**3421** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 4:49 PM**

The old Quebec Bridge would have that effect too but it's a little too far from the old urban core.

isaidso · #**3422** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 5:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

The old Quebec Bridge would have that effect too but it's a little too far from the old urban core.

There's another old bridge (Pont Victoria) on the western edge of the downtown. They may not be right in the centre but they both give the city that same feeling (industrial grandeur) one gets when entering Manhattan on the Brooklyn bridge.

It's structures like this that give Montreal a leg up on newer cities like Toronto and Vancouver. They give the city an aura of permanence, elegance, and establishment.

Mrs Sauga · #**3423** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 6:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by le calmar

As much as I love Montreal, I think comparing its skyline to Mannathan's is far stretched.

But the one thing I like about the Jacques Cartier bridge is the old post-industrial city look it gives to the city akin to East Boston, the Bayonne-industrial New Jersey area outside NYC or Cincinnati. I love that looks and it is almost unique in Canada for a major city along with Hamilton.

tvanouvelles.ca

No city in Canada compares to Manhattan. But certain angles, and certain shots, of certain cities do give off a Manhattan feel. I've seen pics of Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal that give that vibe.

Darkoshvilli · #**3424** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 6:36 PM**

Aerials of Montreals dense sea of rowhouses always remind me of Brooklyn.

logan5 · #**3425** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 7:00 PM**

Doesn't Montreal look more like Boston?

SkahHigh · #**3426** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 7:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan5

Doesn't Montreal look more like Boston?

Boston has like 2 skylines (Financial and Back Bay) and is a lot more clustered so I'd say no.

Nouvellecosse · #**3427** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 7:38 PM**

Boston is also planned quite differently. For them nothing is a grid except for Back Bay and in Montreal everything is grid except for Old Montreal. Looks quite different both at streetlevel and from above. NYC is similar to Montreal in that all but the oldest part of town is a modern grid.

someone123 · #**3428** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 7:46 PM**

I've never bought into the Manhattan-Vancouver comparison. Yes, both have many highrises. So do Tokyo and Sao Paulo. The buildings themselves are of a very different scale and style; New York has a disproportionate number of large, opulent pre-war buildings and Vancouver is mostly narrow glass condos.

Even for Montreal I think the Manhattan feel is more accurately described as a late-19th century/early 20th century industrial feel, as others have pointed out.

Nouvellecosse · #**3429** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 7:52 PM**

I think the main thing that drives the comparison in the case of Vancouver is that central Vancouver is on a peninsula mostly surrounded by water and this area is dominated by highrises that sort of blend together with a somewhat table-top effect rather than having a few really large buildings stick out and really dominate. People think of the downtown peninsula as being Manhattan, the Mainland peninsula as being Long Island, and the North Shore as being Jersey lol.

logan5 · #**3430** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 8:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

Boston has like 2 skylines (Financial and Back Bay) and is a lot more clustered so I'd say no.

I was thinking like Newbury Street and the area surrounding it. Brooklyn looks a lot rougher than Montreal and Boston.

Delirium · #**3431** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 10:32 PM**

i always thought vancouver from this vantage point looked like a mini-manhattan (minus the height and mountain of course).

Photo by Anthony Maw https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonymaw/16010207031/sizes/l

Metro-One · #**3432** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 10:38 PM**

Yeah, it is more the geographical aspect that gives the "Manhattan" look from certain angles.

Prometheus · #**3433** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 10:48 PM**

Not to support the suggestion that there is any resemblance between Vancouver and Manhattan, but here is the same angle as the photo above at a lower vantage point (although with a big chunk of the downtown skyline missing):

Photo by Johnson & Thomson Family!: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephadam/15679414809

SkahHigh · #**3434** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 11:13 PM**

Montreal by FollowFiend, on Flickr

travis3000 · #**3435** Posted **Dec 28, 2014, 11:56 PM**

I can see the Vancouver/NYC comparisons. Just because of the line of buildings, even though Vancouver is nothing more than a big North York. But building height aside, Vancouver does have an impressive length to it's skyline. Gorgeous setting too, that's a given.

Prometheus · #**3436** Posted **Dec 29, 2014, 12:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by travis3000

Vancouver is nothing more than a big North York.

North York has absolutely no resemblance to the City of Vancouver, bigger or smaller. Absolutely none.

Burnaby's Metrotown, on the other hand, could be said to be a smaller North York.

isaidso · #**3437** Posted **Dec 29, 2014, 12:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan5

Doesn't Montreal look more like Boston?

Montreal feels more like old US cities in the northeast like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia than other places in Canada. Quebec City, Halifax, and Saint John would have had a similar feel if they were bigger.

That said, the best description I've come across was from an American who said Montreal was like a French Brooklyn. I suppose one could say that Brooklyn was an English Montreal. Take your pick.