The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Of all the Canadian downtowns, Vancouver's was my favourite to wander through. It has a consistency that Toronto lacks and a surprising architectural grandeur that I just don't see in Montreal. I was last there in 2012, seems like things have gotten even better.

Really, for a city that was barely even a town at the beginning of the last century, its got solid old bones. Its classic pre-war skyscrapers were even taller and nicer than Montreal's until the late 1920's. And even then, Downtown Montreal never had any Hotel Vancouver (I or II). The Marine Building (and now, his shinny new companion), at the centre of the Hastings terminated vista is just epic.

So what would be the Vancouver equivalent of the Sun Life Building ? Or the Windsor Station ? Or the great appartement buildings on Sherbrooke street like Le Château ? Or the Ritz Carlton ? Or City Hall ? Or the Old Royal Bank Buildings on St-Jacques ? And all those other very ornate buildings all over Old Montreal ? And the historic Bank of Montreal HQ on Place d'Armes ? Christ Church Cathedral ? St-Patrick basilica ? The Marie-Reine-Du-Monde cathedral ?The old historic department stores like Eaton or the Bay ? Or the NY Life Insurance building and Aldred and Notre-Dame Basilica, also on Place d'Armes ? Or the Custom house on McGill ? Or the Old Trunk building on the same street ? And all the religious grey stones buildings all over town ? And what about the Museum of Fine Arts, the institutional buildings of Maisonneuve, including the Marché Maisonneuve ? The old Bell Telephone building on Cote du Beaver Hall ? The Old Court house adjacent to City Hall ? The Ernest Cormier court house in front of it ? Château Viger ? Archives Nationales also on Viger square ? The Dominion Square building ? I could go on and on... If there is one thing that Montreal doesn't lack is grand architecture.

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

So what would be the Vancouver equivalent of the Sun Life Building ? Or the Windsor Station ? Or the great appartement buildings on Sherbrooke street like Le Château ? Or the Ritz Carlton ? Or City Hall ? Or the Old Royal Bank Buildings on St-Jacques ? And all those other very ornate buildings all over Old Montreal ? And the historic Bank of Montreal HQ on Place d'Armes ? Christ Church Cathedral ? St-Patrick basilica ? The Marie-Reine-Du-Monde cathedral ?The old historic department stores like Eaton or the Bay ? Or the NY Life Insurance building and Aldred and Notre-Dame Basilica, also on Place d'Armes ? Or the Custom house on McGill ? Or the Old Trunk building on the same street ? And all the religious grey stones buildings all over town ? And what about the Museum of Fine Arts, the institutional buildings of Maisonneuve, including the Marché Maisonneuve ? The old Bell Telephone building on Cote du Beaver Hall ? The Old Court house adjacent to City Hall ? The Ernest Cormier court house in front of it ? Château Viger ? Archives Nationales also on Viger square ? The Dominion Square building ? I could go on and on... If there is one thing that Montreal doesn't lack is grand architecture.

Why bother? Didn't you realize that was a troll post, obviously not aimed solely at Montreal.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

So what would be the Vancouver equivalent of the Sun Life Building ? Or the Windsor Station ? Or the great appartement buildings on Sherbrooke street like Le Château ? Or the Ritz Carlton ? Or City Hall ? Or the Old Royal Bank Buildings on St-Jacques ? And all those other very ornate buildings all over Old Montreal ? And the historic Bank of Montreal HQ on Place d'Armes ? Christ Church Cathedral ? St-Patrick basilica ? The Marie-Reine-Du-Monde cathedral ?The old historic department stores like Eaton or the Bay ? Or the NY Life Insurance building and Aldred and Notre-Dame Basilica, also on Place d'Armes ? Or the Custom house on McGill ? Or the Old Trunk building on the same street ? And all the religious grey stones buildings all over town ? And what about the Museum of Fine Arts, the institutional buildings of Maisonneuve, including the Marché Maisonneuve ? The old Bell Telephone building on Cote du Beaver Hall ? The Old Court house adjacent to City Hall ? The Ernest Cormier court house in front of it ? Château Viger ? Archives Nationales also on Viger square ? The Dominion Square building ? I could go on and on... If there is one thing that Montreal doesn't lack is grand architecture.

I'm paying more attention here to skyscrapers. And notice I specified "until the 1920's". Our first grand-scale towers were in the late 1920's, Vancouver's were in the 1920's. Vancouver was a very young city, and it grew so fast. I believe the money-men involved in the banks and railways of eastern Canada were the main investors in vancouver, and it always amazes me how glorious they built what was back then a small and isolated outpost.

They built architecture that was way out of scale, Montreal didn't have a skyscraper to match until the RBC built their palace on St-James street.

I really like downtown Vancouver, moreso than my hometown Toronto, and my family's hometown of Toronto. I'm sorry if this hurt anyone.

Content removed

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by thomax

Hamilton Aerial - Summer 2015 by urbanmoon, on Twitter

That's bleak and depressing. Hamilton has two good angles for the skyline: when you're driving down the 403, and on top of the Jolly Cut along the mountain brow.

Driving or taking the bus down the Jolly Cut is actually kind of cool. It sort of mimics, in a very small way, what landing at the old Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong was like.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Why bother? Didn't you realize that was a troll post, obviously not aimed solely at Montreal.

Exactly. If you prefer any city to Toronto or Montreal, you're obviously a troll.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Great aerials.

[Symz]

Nice aerials of the hammer!

[scrapin]

once again...great shots guys.

[Martin Mtl]

--------->


Montreal_panoramique_2_public by Nicolas Henley on flickr

[G.S MTL]

Amazing!!! ^

[Monolith]

Just after Sunset - Vancouver downtown by Yuanxi Zhou, on Flickr Taken on October 3, 2015


Sunset -ironworker bridge & Mt. Baker by Yuanxi Zhou, on Flickr Taken on October 3, 2015

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

So what would be the Vancouver equivalent of the Sun Life Building ? Or the Windsor Station ? Or the great appartement buildings on Sherbrooke street like Le Château ? Or the Ritz Carlton ? Or City Hall ? Or the Old Royal Bank Buildings on St-Jacques ? And all those other very ornate buildings all over Old Montreal ? And the historic Bank of Montreal HQ on Place d'Armes ? Christ Church Cathedral ? St-Patrick basilica ? The Marie-Reine-Du-Monde cathedral ?The old historic department stores like Eaton or the Bay ? Or the NY Life Insurance building and Aldred and Notre-Dame Basilica, also on Place d'Armes ? Or the Custom house on McGill ? Or the Old Trunk building on the same street ? And all the religious grey stones buildings all over town ? And what about the Museum of Fine Arts, the institutional buildings of Maisonneuve, including the Marché Maisonneuve ? The old Bell Telephone building on Cote du Beaver Hall ? The Old Court house adjacent to City Hall ? The Ernest Cormier court house in front of it ? Château Viger ? Archives Nationales also on Viger square ? The Dominion Square building ? I could go on and on... If there is one thing that Montreal doesn't lack is grand architecture.

I see both of your points here (how Canadian of me).

Montreal clearly has more landmark pre-war buildings, but the layout of the downtown means that they are often separated by smaller, more underwhelming structures. In Vancouver, the prewar landmarks are more densely framed by walls of glass and this constrast highlights their presence.

I love the old Bell building, but look where it is. It blends in.

[Dylan Leblanc]

Here's a photo of Victoria from Monday. It shows four construction projects, including a new bridge and the cities largest office building.

DSC03125cl by Gary Hoyer, on Flickr

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Why bother? Didn't you realize that was a troll post, obviously not aimed solely at Montreal.

If it is Rico's saying that he prefers Vancouver's downtown to Montreal's or Toronto's is taken as a troll, then the problem is not with him but with this forum.

It is OK to have negative or even eccentric opinions about Canadian cities. It is OK to value qualities other than population size and growth rates. It is OK to make pointedly critical comments about the aesthetics of our cities and structures.

[Daveography]

^Heresy!

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

If it is Rico's saying that he prefers Vancouver's downtown to Montreal's or Toronto's is taken as a troll, then the problem is not with him but with this forum.

It is OK to have negative or even eccentric opinions about Canadian cities. It is OK to value qualities other than population size and growth rates. It is OK to make pointedly critical comments about the aesthetics of our cities and structures.

Don't you see? Not singing praises about a city means you hate it. By not mentioning Calgary you just proved yourself an Eastern-centric Alberta hater.

[kool maudit]

I think everyone already thought that anyway (in truth I've just never been there).

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Exactly. If you prefer any city to Toronto or Montreal, you're obviously a troll.

Believe it or not, it's totally possible to highlight the positive attributes of one city without putting down another city.

A glass half full instead of a glass half empty mentality.

Originally Posted by kool maudit

If it is Rico's saying that he prefers Vancouver's downtown to Montreal's or Toronto's is taken as a troll, then the problem is not with him but with this forum.

It is OK to have negative or even eccentric opinions about Canadian cities. It is OK to value qualities other than population size and growth rates. It is OK to make pointedly critical comments about the aesthetics of our cities and structures.

A lot of critical comments get posted without your thoughtful reasoning to back them up.

Just throw 🞵🞵🞵🞵 against the wall and see what sticks.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Believe it or not, it's totally possible to highlight the positive attributes of one city without putting down another city.

A glass half full instead of a glass half empty mentality.



...

To an extent this is true. But at the same time it restricts things a bit if we can only talk about cities without ever comparing them with one another. I just think it depends on how negative you go. If you say something like "Wow, city X has a beautiful skyline! Waaay nicer than city Y which is a bunch of ugly generic 🞵🞵🞵🞵!" Then that's trolling. But saying "I prefer city X skyline to city Y because I find the architecture to be higher quality and more diverse." Well I can see someone from city Y not liking that, but it isn't insulting or trolling imo.