Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Razor

You mentioned that before, and it seems like a fair assessment if you were to remove the Capital city tag, and just base Ottawa on a being a regular operating city.

Especially a G7 capital city, though admittedly Canada's membership in the G7 is a bit of a stretch to begin with.

[biguc]

Ottawa isn't so bad for a Canberra-esque compromise. It could be a lot worse. It could be Canberra.

[905er]

Originally Posted by biguc

Ottawa isn't so bad for a Canberra-esque compromise. It could be a lot worse. It could be Canberra.

This much is true.
The fact that Lebreton Flats has remained the way its been for so many years in the national capital is inexcusable. I want better for my national capital. Ottawa has some work to do, but it could be worse too.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Especially a G7 capital city, though admittedly Canada's membership in the G7 is a bit of a stretch to begin with.

I don't agree. It was the Americans who pushed for Canada to be included (as the then 8th largest economy in the World, Canada had its own merits besides), as it was otherwise a European club with Japan and the USA.

Canada fulfills a stop gap between Europe and the USA, except when the occupant of the White House is a belligerent, thin-skinned idiot.

The G7 could use some expansion, but not too much otherwise there are too many cooks in the kitchen. 🞵🞵🞵🞵 Russia...no way they should be readmitted until they become a democracy and stop trying to influence election outcomes (and a whole lot else besides, such as their cyber-terrorism). Australia should be admitted; maybe Brazil (hopefully sans that 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 Bolsonaro), and for sure, South Korea.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Especially a G7 capital city, though admittedly Canada's membership in the G7 is a bit of a stretch to begin with.

That's a tough crowd. The other G7 capital cities are basically a list of "greatest cities in the world plus Washington"

[someone123]

Ottawa is not going to be a Paris or Tokyo but I think Canadians often undersell their country. We have one of the biggest economies in the world and only a few major cities. We could afford nicer landscaping in Ottawa, and just a few hours down the road Quebec City looks nicer. I'd guess that most of the shortcomings have more to do with nuts and bolts of how the NCC/feds, municipality, and province operate, and what the norms of the public realm were like in Canada from about the 80's up until recently. In most of the country this wasn't on the radar, and cities were busy retrofitting their cores with quasi-suburban road infrastructure. It still seems to me like most Canadian cities don't invest in high quality street furniture, finishes, and other visible infrastructure, even for areas that have become considerably more developed (e.g. you can find a row of highrise condos, assessed at hundreds of millions, with basic utility and light poles, suburban style street lighting, signals, and signs, crumbling concrete pavement and curbs, etc.). I think part of this has to do with cities using income from new development to subsidize homeowners. The City of Toronto get huge amounts of cash from the condo towers but they don't result in commensurate improvements to the areas where the towers go in; they are probably used to keep the taxes on $3M homes at $7,000 instead of $10,000 a year.

[Chadillaccc]

A Late March Evening by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/m5m9s5/sunrise_from_the_brookfield_building/

[J.OT13]

Best angle of the Bow I've seen.

[J.OT13]

Not a particularly flattering angles, but different then what we're used to.

Shot from Little Italy towards downtown.


https://twitter.com/BlacksWeather/status/1374322982844313606

View of some towards the east from Billings Bank Street Bridge.


https://twitter.com/BlacksWeather/status/1373956674701123585

[MolsonExport]

Chicoutimi

renewcanada

[J.OT13]

Tunney's Pasture and Downtown beyond.


https://twitter.com/LyneAKADenyse/status/1354971024987664385

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

That's a tough crowd. The other G7 capital cities are basically a list of "greatest cities in the world plus Washington"

Agreed. In fairness, when I think of most of Ottawa not being very capital-esque, I don't think of those cities, but rather the capitals of countries that aren't superpowers.

For example the Nordic capitals. Which are often thought of as much older than Ottawa (or any Canadian city really), but in actual fact a lot of their capital-building years are more contemporaneous with Ottawa's history than a lot of people realize.

I will say that the Wellington "official Ottawa" district, with Parliament, Château Laurier, Confederation Square and other stately buildings, is pretty darn nice.

[Kilgore Trout]

Ottawa always gives me Calgary vibes, which makes sense given they're about the same size and they're roughly the same age (although Ottawa grew more quickly in its early years). The big difference is that Ottawa has all the monumental government architecture which does have an impact on the overall feel of the place.

Speaking of Calgary, that last shot of the Bow and the Telus building by Chadillaccc – wow. Really nice.

[Peggerino]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Not a particularly flattering angles, but different then what we're used to.

Shot from Little Italy towards downtown.


https://twitter.com/BlacksWeather/status/1374322982844313606

I'm rewatching season 1 of the Wire so this one is giving me big Baltimore projects vibes

[drizzo_613]

Ottawa definitely has work to do but it has massive potential.

Originally Posted by drizzo_613

Went for a walk around zibi last night. Heres a couple photos taken with S20 FE. Files were compressed by accident so will upload higher res photos later along with the rest of the collection.

[Martin Mtl]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMw9zX-Dh61/


https://www.instagram.com/p/CMxKJu7H0zK/

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

Ottawa always gives me Calgary vibes, which makes sense given they're about the same size and they're roughly the same age (although Ottawa grew more quickly in its early years). The big difference is that Ottawa has all the monumental government architecture which does have an impact on the overall feel of the place.
.

Technicalities of city foundational dates aside, I've never thought of Ottawa and Calgary as historical contemporaries.

By any observable measure Ottawa seems to have about a century on Calgary in terms of age.

The Quebec side of the river (not Ottawa technically I realize) was settled in the early 1800s and stuff started happening on the Ottawa side not long afterwards.

There are standing buildings in the region that go back to the 1820s and still-functioning taverns and inns that opened in the 1830s.

In terms of Chinese dynasties that's small potatoes but by Canadian standards that clearly puts Calgary and Ottawa in different periods by my book.

[niwell]

Having moved from Calgary to Ottawa way back in 2001 the first thing that struck me was how much older Ottawa seemed. Both in terms of the monumental buildings but also stuff in the Market and neighbourhoods that (at the time) seemed quite far from downtown. At the same time the downtown itself was a bit more underwhelming.

While certainly not to the same extent as Calgary, Ottawa has changed a fair amount since then. The last 10 years in particular have resulted in an Ottawa that doesn't seem as... boring as it once was. I actually look forward to checking out certain restaurants/bars when visiting the in-laws in Ottawa now (or will, I guess - been on pause for a while).

[TorontoDrew]

Untitled by A Great Capture, on Flickr

Davisville Station by A Great Capture, on Flickr

A View Of the Skyline at Yonge and Eglinton from Eglinton Park by A Great Capture, on Flickr

Wilkinson PS by A Great Capture, on Flickr

Old Town by A Great Capture, on Flickr

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Agreed. In fairness, when I think of most of Ottawa not being very capital-esque, I don't think of those cities, but rather the capitals of countries that aren't superpowers.

For example the Nordic capitals. Which are often thought of as much older than Ottawa (or any Canadian city really), but in actual fact a lot of their capital-building years are more contemporaneous with Ottawa's history than a lot of people realize.

I will say that the Wellington "official Ottawa" district, with Parliament, Château Laurier, Confederation Square and other stately buildings, is pretty darn nice.

Yeah, there's a bit of a broken T formed by Wellington, Elgin as far south as Lisgar and Sussex as far north as the National Gallery that feels pretty regal.

It feels like the right amount of pomp for the capital city of a decentralized mid-sized country that was a small dominion until 90 years ago.

Ottawa also has Brasilia and Canberra-like suburban capital qualities in the inner suburbs, particularly along the Ottawa River Parkway and Riverside.