The Ugly Canada Thread

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

Come on, they're silos. Don't you want your business to fit into silos?

Their sales pitch should have been something like "Watch your business explode once you move into Torre Agbar!"

[Nouvellecosse]

The first one reminds me of a narwhal.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

She ain't pretty, she just looks fugly:

subwaynut

The weird thing is that when MCS was built in 1943, rail was still in its heyday. This was the era of streamliners, after all. Maybe the idea was that you would arrive by taxi into the heart of the building itself? Maybe it was wartime austerity? The interior isn't bad, although it's very small and cramped - and would have been so even when it opened.

Nowadays, don't 99% of the people who use the station enter or exit through RESO? I've personally never used the street entrance.

[1overcosc]

I use the street entrance whenever I'm in Montreal because the RESO is a maze, I can never get from one place to another without getting hopelessly lost, so I always use the old fashioned streets & sidewalks.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

The weird thing is that when MCS was built in 1943, rail was still in its heyday. This was the era of streamliners, after all. Maybe the idea was that you would arrive by taxi into the heart of the building itself? Maybe it was wartime austerity? The interior isn't bad, although it's very small and cramped - and would have been so even when it opened.

Nowadays, don't 99% of the people who use the station enter or exit through RESO? I've personally never used the street entrance.

Always thought it was a little weird that Montreal's main railway station is in a box that is practically invisible from the street. I guess at the time it was built it was one of several Montreal railway stations so there was perhaps less of a need to make an architectural statement, but there is quite a shocking difference between the relative grandeur of Toronto's Union Station (which has it in spades) and Montreal's Central Station (which has none, at least from the outside).

For what it's worth, Central Station is pretty impressive on the inside.

==================================

Here's my nomination to the Ugly Canada thread: prefab steel commercial buildings. These things are slowly migrating from exurban industrial yards to main drags in the city.

[VIce]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

It doesn't get uglier than this Dragon:



OdelGauri

The ugliness of personality is matched only by his watch.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by VIce

The ugliness of personality is matched only by his watch.

It can't be ugly, it cost $200,000.00!

Kevin O'Leary is our Donald Trump. Just without the funny hair.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by esquire

Always thought it was a little weird that Montreal's main railway station is in a box that is practically invisible from the street. I guess at the time it was built it was one of several Montreal railway stations so there was perhaps less of a need to make an architectural statement, but there is quite a shocking difference between the relative grandeur of Toronto's Union Station (which has it in spades) and Montreal's Central Station (which has none, at least from the outside).

For what it's worth, Central Station is pretty impressive on the inside.

==================================

Here's my nomination to the Ugly Canada thread: prefab steel commercial buildings. These things are slowly migrating from exurban industrial yards to main drags in the city.

Yes these things are awful. For the most part at least they remain relegated to industrial and rural areas.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

The weird thing is that when MCS was built in 1943, rail was still in its heyday. This was the era of streamliners, after all. Maybe the idea was that you would arrive by taxi into the heart of the building itself? Maybe it was wartime austerity? The interior isn't bad, although it's very small and cramped - and would have been so even when it opened.

Nowadays, don't 99% of the people who use the station enter or exit through RESO? I've personally never used the street entrance.

Just to be clear, that despicable concrete box on La Gauchetiere is an elevated parking garage and NOT the train station itself.

The Train station is a strange little building, a mix of art-deco and international. In many ways the station was way ahead of its time in term of architecture and design. It was built below street grade and had a parking lot in front (where the Queen E is now located) It's hard to photograph because the Queen Elizabeth is literally stuck to the (former) main facade. Nowadays the only part of the station you can see is its rear, which nevertheless has an impressive amount of art-deco friezes by a renowned Canadian artist. It's actually worth a quick visit, it's on belmont street (which is nothing more than a glorified alleyway/parking lot).


http://www.imtl.org/image/big/2011_IMG_7655.jpg



Here on the left side you see CN's station complex (before Bonaventure was built on top of the tracks) and you can see the parking garage and the actual station building tucked somewhere between all of the concrete monstrosities built between the 40's and 60's.


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7244/7180289913_f55c7ba4d8_b.jpg

Its a fitting irony that back when Montreal was Canada's railway capital, our central station was an quasi-underground structure accessible mostly through underground tunnels with no grand street entrances, no clear sign as to where it is (try telling anyone on which street the station is actually located) and zero impact on the visual cityscape. And now its gotten to the point where most people (including locals) assume that the parking garage structure is the station itself.

[esquire]

Thanks for the great history lesson, rico. Very interesting... it makes a lot more sense now.

[Martin Mtl]

I actually prefer the streamline/art deco spacious interior of Montreal's station to the cavernous dreary interior of Union station. The exterior, of course, is another story.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

I actually prefer the streamline/art deco spacious interior of Montreal's station to the cavernous dreary interior of Union station. The exterior, of course, is another story.

Union Station dreary? Certainly not the Great Hall, which would be on any list of Canada's great interiors. Now, the boarding area is another story.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Union Station dreary? Certainly not the Great Hall, which would be on any list of Canada's great interiors. Now, the boarding area is another story.

Yeah, the boarding area under the tracks at Union Station doesn't really match the rest of the place... thinking back to the 80s and 90s, it had a drab 1950s feel to it. It has been updated since then but is still quite a bit different from the rest of the place.

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Another Dog's Breakfast from my beloved hometown:


Dear God, they fucked it up. Badly.

Pepsi is appropriate, as it is a tacky brand.

Makes me appreciate more how MLG was done.

[Acajack]

I like the interior of both Gare Centrale and Union Station.

[SkahHigh]

I went to Union a couple years ago and Great Hall was real nice! Reminded me of Grand Central Terminal somehow.

As for Central Station, I use it everyday and the interior is real nice too. Very busy place.

Rico, I didn't even know that building on Belmont existed! I'll go visit tomorrow for sure.

[VIce]

Originally Posted by esquire

Here's my nomination to the Ugly Canada thread: prefab steel commercial buildings. These things are slowly migrating from exurban industrial yards to main drags in the city.

While by no means to I think these things are pretty I really don't mind them, in that there is no real expectation that buildings of this type be pretty. If you're in a light industrial district, all you can expect are frequent train crossings and steel prefab; it might be one of the few instances where a local Tim Hortons is a huge bonus.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by VIce

While by no means to I think these things are pretty I really don't mind them, in that there is no real expectation that buildings of this type be pretty. If you're in a light industrial district, all you can expect are frequent train crossings and steel prefab; it might be one of the few instances where a local Tim Hortons is a huge bonus.

Yeah, I don't mind these in their proper habitat. I just hate to see them on urban streets. Even seeing them on small town main streets where there should be proper brick or hell, even stucco buildings, irritates me.

There are more than a few of these on downscale suburban commercial strips in Winnipeg which I find unbelievable... it has since been demolished but there was a supposedly high end Indian jeweller in one on Pembina Highway that looked like a shed some farmer would keep his tractor in.

[O-tacular]

There's a couple uglies in this streetview from 10th Ave in Calgary.

[O-tacular]

Ugmo suburban office building next to Southcentre mall.