The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The building in the bottom right hand corner below the Tour CIBC is very nice but you never hear about it: Le Windsor.

Yep. That's the Windsor hotel annex. 9 floors, 1906. The remnant of the now demolished Windsor hotel.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by lio45

Thirded. If that's what you want, it's not that hard to press the "Page Down" key until you see pictures of skylines (Nissans or otherwise), skipping the discussion.

Yep. I've been on the forum long enough to know it's best just to ignore the "stick to the topic" nags. I don't think I'd have enjoyed it much here if I hadn't.

[Chadillaccc]

A tour across Canada...




Vancouver...


http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galleries/cities/vancouver



Burnaby...


http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galleries/cities/burnaby-british-columbia



Calgary....


http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galleries/cities/calgary



Edmonton....


http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galleries/cities/edmonton



Winnipeg...


http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galleries/cities/winnipeg-manitoba



Hamilton...


http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galleries/cities/hamilton



Mississauga...


http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galleries/cities/mississauga-ontario



Toronto...


http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galleries/cities/toronto



Ottawa...


http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galleries/cities/ottawa



Montreal...


http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galleries/cities/montreal



Unfortunately that's all the cities they have for now! Still a beautiful journey though

[hipster duck]

Great tour.

I don't see how people confuse American cities with Canadian cities.

Even from the air, they're completely different. The design of the skyscrapers, the era of their construction, the mostly residential skyline, the road network (i.e. no downtown freeway interchanges), the lack of giant stadia and convention centres (yes, even Toronto which has both does a pretty good job of hiding them), the lack of standout landmark highrises with spires, the obvious clusters of highrises in the suburbs, etc.

It's interesting that Hamilton - which is sometimes thought of as being the most "American" Canadian city, on account of having rustbelt attributes - has the least American looking skyline of them all. If you cropped out the residential area in the foreground, and I didn't know any better, I'd think it was a city in Brazil or South Africa.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

the road network (i.e. no downtown freeway interchanges)

Originally Posted by nephersir7

[lio45]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

It's interesting that Hamilton - which is sometimes thought of as being the most "American" Canadian city, on account of having rustbelt attributes - has the least American looking skyline of them all. If you cropped out the residential area in the foreground, and I didn't know any better, I'd think it was a city in Brazil or South Africa.

I'd agree that Hamilton's commie-block-dominated skyline can look foreign at first sight.

I'd say the most American skylines would be Calgary, Toronto and (when looked at from the right angle) Montreal.

Based on the presence of office towers, mostly.

Vancouver with its blanket of residential towers has an East Asian vibe to me.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

It's interesting that Hamilton - which is sometimes thought of as being the most "American" Canadian city, on account of having rustbelt attributes - has the least American looking skyline of them all. If you cropped out the residential area in the foreground, and I didn't know any better, I'd think it was a city in Brazil or South Africa.

That's always confused me. Canada's 'rust belt' took a very different social outlook from the US. The US side has a lot of rightwing tendencies while Canada's (especially Hamilton, though also Thunder Bay* and I believe the other northern rusty towns: Sudbury and the Sault) took a hard left turn for continued, if not strengthened, union focus and socialist ideals.

I'm not denying there's any similarities at all, but the people I know from Hamilton seem to be generally the least fond of visiting the States of the people I know.

If anything Hamilton embodies the Canadian spirit of having a louder more populous neighbour who's inhabitants have a reputation for ignoring the rest of the us and trumpeting themselves as #1.

*Thunder Bay does have some down right reactionary issues on the social side, but economically they fit.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by lio45

I'd agree that Hamilton's commie-block-dominated skyline can look foreign at first sight.

I'd say the most American skylines would be Calgary, Toronto and (when looked at from the right angle) Montreal.

Based on the presence of office towers, mostly.

Vancouver with its blanket of residential towers has an East Asian vibe to me.

The most American skyline in Canada was probably Toronto ca. 1975, after First Canadian Place was built but before the CN tower.

The most Canadian American skyline is probably Miami. San Diego also has one of those dense, residential non-landmark skylines.

And, yeah, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary are the only Canadian cities with what I would call American "Class A" corporate office towers, so I see where you're coming from.

[Beedok]

I'd say the Toronto of the 1990s would probably be the most American, but modern TO is too buried in condos. So that leaves Montreal, Calgary, and Winnipeg as the main contenders to me (depending on the angle for Montreal, and to a lesser extent Winnipeg).

[Chadillaccc]

Eh, I dunno guys. The Winnipeg skyline is similar to that of a lot of midwestern American cities. A fair amount of 1970s residential development surrounding a loosely defined central business district with amazing historic bones. I actually really like the look and wish every city had a nexus like Winnipeg has Portage and Main.

Calgary's skyline, while very corporate, has very few pomo skyscrapers which define American corporate city skylines. The closest things we have to American style pomo here are the Bankers Halls. Not to mention that the 95% residential highrise skyline of the Beltline is increasingly becoming part of the overall "image" of the skyline.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Calgary's skyline, while very corporate, has very few pomo skyscrapers which define American corporate city skylines. The closest things we have to American style pomo here are the Bankers Halls.

True dat.

A PoMo landmark is a hallmark of a good American skyline. Especially a spire. To my chagrin, no Canadian city has a true PoMo spire except Toronto's Brookfield place which was never meant to be the tallest building in the city. 1000 de la Gauchetiere is kind of going in that direction, though.

[WhipperSnapper]

1990s was a golden moment for the US. The opposite was true for most Canadians. We have early examples with Brookfield and 1000 de la Gauchetiere and late examples with Bankers Hall but, I can't think of anything sustantial from the height of the PoMo Deco era.

[DZH22]

What do you all think are the most similar cities in terms of skyline and urban form between the US and Canada?

I think Boston and Montreal share a lot of similarities, with Philly being Montreal's secondary comparable city. All 3 cities are currently booming as well, an added bonus since I think the Northeast already has the best "bones".

Couple recent Boston by me, with the newest tall building (Millennium Tower) just eclipsing Montreal's tallest at 209m (fully topped off in the 1st pic only):

IMG_4573 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_2977 by David Z, on Flickr

These 2 are not my pics but do a good shot illustrating the low/mid-rise density that I think makes Boston and Montreal so similar as cities and not just skylines.

A beautiful fall day in New England by Paul Hammersley, on Flickr

A beautiful fall day in New England by Paul Hammersley, on Flickr


My other picks would be Toronto paired with Chicago (not NYC, at all) and Calgary paired with Denver. (Calgary pulling away in the skyline department)

Any thoughts on this list or on any other good comparable cities/skylines between Canada and the US?

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Not to mention that the 95% residential highrise skyline of the Beltline is increasingly becoming part of the overall "image" of the skyline.

It's not like American skylines don't have residential highrises... They're just dominated by office towers, unlike, say, Vancouver. (And like Calgary.)

[cyeg66]

Great set of Boston pics, DZH22. I especially like the last 2. Nice perspective.

[Harrij]

That tall flat, turquoise looking tower in Boston reminds me of what Stantec will look like in Edmonton.

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[TorontoDrew]

I wonder how many American's have continuous conversations about which Canadian city theirs look like. LOL.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

I wonder how many American's have continuous conversations about which Canadian city theirs look like. LOL.

If someone posted a bunch of Canadian city skylines in a busy US city skyline thread, I'm sure a few comparisons would be drawn.

[TorontoDrew]

Perhaps but I doubt it would be such a reoccurring hot topic.