Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[someone123]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

This chart looks like a decent estimate: http://demographia.com/db-cancma.htm

Which has Vancouver at 308,000 in 1931, and 586,000 by 1951; and Winnipeg at 284,000 in 1931, and 357,000 in 1951.

This is a mystery meat number though. The page doesn't say where it comes from.

I can see that some cities are a mix of municipal and metropolitan area numbers. For example the 70,000 for Halifax in 1941 is just the city. The table makes it look like 1941-1951 was a weird aberration when the city almost doubled in population but it was just a change in boundaries.

308,000 for metro Vancouver seems small. Vancouver city was 246,593 in 1931. I don't know enough about the history of places like Winnipeg to be able to say much about how plausible those numbers are.

It is not really a suburban vs. urban issue either. Westmount remains a separate municipality to this day and it's right next to downtown Montreal.

[Biff]

Wow! to that Calgary shot.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by someone123

308,000 for metro Vancouver seems small. Vancouver city was 246,593 in 1931.

Does it? That's a population of 62,000 living outside of the city. Burnaby wasn't really developed then, so that would primarily have been in New Westminster and North/West Vancouver - which have a combined population of about 160,000 today. So that wouldn't sound too implausible for 1931. But either way, as we can see here, to determine an accurate urban population for any of these would require a lot of research and a fair bit of estimation.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Does it? That's a population of 62,000 living outside of the city. Burnaby wasn't really developed then, so that would primarily have been in New Westminster and North/West Vancouver - which have a combined population of about 160,000 today. So that wouldn't sound too implausible for 1931. But either way, as we can see here, to determine an accurate urban population for any of these would require a lot of research and a fair bit of estimation.

Here's a map of Vancouver from 1930 that shows municipal boundaries:

https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/uplo...4ae-4b90-8ebb-191360565b3f-LEG1339.1.jpg

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by someone123

This is a mystery meat number though. The page doesn't say where it comes from.

I can see that some cities are a mix of municipal and metropolitan area numbers. For example the 70,000 for Halifax in 1941 is just the city. The table makes it look like 1941-1951 was a weird aberration when the city almost doubled in population but it was just a change in boundaries.

308,000 for metro Vancouver seems small. Vancouver city was 246,593 in 1931. I don't know enough about the history of places like Winnipeg to be able to say much about how plausible those numbers are.

It is not really a suburban vs. urban issue either. Westmount remains a separate municipality to this day and it's right next to downtown Montreal.

Westmount is like the Asterix village.

They are so good at preserving the heritage of their city that it became a National Historic Site of Canada in 2011 !

[Martin Mtl]

And yes, that is a fantastic shot !

Originally Posted by B.ike

Found this on reddit...getting some American city vibes from this vantage and East Village coming along really well:



posted by the photographer here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/8zpesu/i_have_to_share_this_one_from_our_helicopter/

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by logan5

Calgary and edmonton have a smattering of historic buildings here and there, while Vancouver has retained whole neighbourhoods of historic areas. All due respect to Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg, but Vancouver is in a whole different league.

You think so eh? I should be biased towards Vancouver, but I find Winnipeg to have a much larger stock of historical buildings, both downtown in the Exchange District and its early streetcar suburbs like West Broadway, Wolseley and River Heights. I think they blow Vancouver out the water, which has similar neighbourhoods, like Gastown or Strathcona, but that are much smaller. Could be wrong though.

[Hackslack]

Great Calgary shot... too bad it wasn’t a clear day when it was taken, it would have been a great shot of the mountains as well

[Wpg_Guy]

Awesome Calgary picture wow.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by B.ike

Found this on reddit...getting some American city vibes from this vantage and East Village coming along really well:



posted by the photographer here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/8zpesu/i_have_to_share_this_one_from_our_helicopter/

It's interesting because that shot makes it look like the West end of DT at the top right of the picture but that's only Eau Claire. Half of DT can't be seen in this shot. The East Village has really broadened Calgary's skyline.

[Chadillaccc]

That Calgary shot is unbelievable. It is extremely dramatic, but I don't remember a day recently when it was that smoggy, but this is clearly a super recent photo. Amazing, thanks for posting.

And regarding Calgary and Edmonton having a "smattering" of historic buildings, I wouldn't really call the 4 or 5 straight blocks of Stephen Avenue between Old City Hall and Bankers Hall to be a "smattering", nor the 5 straight blocks of historic structures between 6 Avenue and 11 Avenue on First Street. Outside of those significant corridors with mostly century+ old buildings, yeah it's a smattering, but considering one of those two areas is a national historic site due to its historic character, it should be recognized. And as for Edmonton, while yes its downtown has only retained a few (but a couple remarkable) historic structures, Whyte Avenue's 7 or so straight blocks of mostly historic structures (some of which quite uniquely styled by Canadian standards) is also not to be overlooked. The scale between the Winnipeg/Vancouver and Calgary/Edmonton buildings is the main difference, not the number.

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by B.ike

Found this on reddit...getting some American city vibes from this vantage and East Village coming along really well:



posted by the photographer here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/8zpesu/i_have_to_share_this_one_from_our_helicopter/

For some reason, I'm getting a "Prairie Seattle" vibe from this one. Great shot.

[Boris2k7]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

That Calgary shot is unbelievable. It is extremely dramatic, but I don't remember a day recently when it was that smoggy, but this is clearly a super recent photo. Amazing, thanks for posting.

Not smog. There was a big dust storm that evening.

[speedog]

Originally Posted by someone123

It's kind of instructive though (maybe with the correct message being the opposite of what he'd like us to take away from that list). If there's not much relationship between municipal population and metropolitan area size in 2016, why should we assume that there would be more of one in 1931 or 1901, particularly when the big amalgamations have been a modern phenomenon?

If you look at a Vancouver map from 1930 you'll see a lot of streets already built up from the downtown peninsula all the way to New West, past Boundary into Burnaby, with a decent amount of development in North Vancouver as well. By 1950 the city was even more spread out beyond Vancouver's municipal boundaries. A lot of people were commuting by car and the Lions Gate and Pattullo had both been in operation for years by then.

Edmonton would be example to look at, has it's CMA and/or metropolitan population numbers contributed to its stock of historic buildings as compared to Calgary whose municipal, CMA and metopolitan population numbers aren't that drastically different.

A city's stock of historic buildings has quite a few more factors involved than just population - for Calgary, we were very good at having convenient fires in the 80's that took out a variety of buildings that could've contributed to a larger stock of historic buildings today.

[saffronleaf]

Loving these Calgary pics. Also the river looks so damn clean and beautiful.

[TallBob]

That Calgary pic makes the city look much larger than it is.

[Spocket]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

That Calgary shot is unbelievable. It is extremely dramatic, but I don't remember a day recently when it was that smoggy, but this is clearly a super recent photo. Amazing, thanks for posting.

And regarding Calgary and Edmonton having a "smattering" of historic buildings, I wouldn't really call the 4 or 5 straight blocks of Stephen Avenue between Old City Hall and Bankers Hall to be a "smattering", nor the 5 straight blocks of historic structures between 6 Avenue and 11 Avenue on First Street. Outside of those significant corridors with mostly century+ old buildings, yeah it's a smattering, but considering one of those two areas is a national historic site due to its historic character, it should be recognized. And as for Edmonton, while yes its downtown has only retained a few (but a couple remarkable) historic structures, Whyte Avenue's 7 or so straight blocks of mostly historic structures (some of which quite uniquely styled by Canadian standards) is also not to be overlooked. The scale between the Winnipeg/Vancouver and Calgary/Edmonton buildings is the main difference, not the number.

But the point still stands. Compared to Winnipeg, in particular, that is still a smattering. It's nothing to sneeze at in those cities but Winnipeg has an entire "old" downtown with nothing but historic buildings. Vancouver, while its historic districts are impressive, doesn't really compare to Winnipeg in this regard either although it still has a larger stock than Calgary or Edmonton.

In any case, yes, absolutely, it's a matter of scale for Calgary and Edmonton and there is indeed a stock there but nobody can wander through the Exchange in Winnipeg and then say "Calgary has just as many." It simply doesn't.

None of this detracts from the absolute beautiful jewels that Calgary and Edmonton have become.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Spocket

But the point still stands. Compared to Winnipeg, in particular, that is still a smattering. It's nothing to sneeze at in those cities but Winnipeg has an entire "old" downtown with nothing but historic buildings. Vancouver, while its historic districts are impressive, doesn't really compare to Winnipeg in this regard either although it still has a larger stock than Calgary or Edmonton.

In any case, yes, absolutely, it's a matter of scale for Calgary and Edmonton and there is indeed a stock there but nobody can wander through the Exchange in Winnipeg and then say "Calgary has just as many." It simply doesn't.

None of this detracts from the absolute beautiful jewels that Calgary and Edmonton have become.

Welp, everybody's entitled to their own opinion, but I can't see how someone could think Winnipeg's historic district is comparable or even passes Vancouver's. You can see just by looking on Google Earth that Winnipeg's Exchange District has a pretty small concentration of buildings, then as you move outwards there are a lot of parking lots. Far different feel and vibe than Vancouver. Plus the whole peninsula has historic buildings scattered throughout. Granville Street for example, not really thought of as a historic area, still has a good concentration of historic buildings. Homer Street around Yaletown is another example.

[MonkeyRonin]

Aerials by Norm Li:



AirNorm-103-171018-09933 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-73 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-74 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-66 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-42 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-61 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-60 by Norm Li, on Flickr




Lots more great content by this guy:

AirNorm MR-28 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-8 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-6 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm-171002-08767 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-75 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-7 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-2 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-77 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-68 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-55 by Norm Li, on Flickr


AirNorm MR-22 by Norm Li, on Flickr

[FrankieFlowerpot]

Those are pretty outdated - pretty sure they are from late last year - look at Massey tower height for example