Commie-block (slabsville) capital of Canada

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

alas, the monster is on the edge of le Plateau. surrounded by equally fugly structures
https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.51842,-73...itch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

Speaking of ugly brutalism this building looks like a concrete St. Hubert:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.5172687,-...rJA_c50bk7gSAFetGUPag!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.5174619,-...mqqLNBxVyXZLFryL5Z5VQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

And across the street is the nicest of les Residences Soleil:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.5183667,-...J7Iq25yw4GD6oq04wg3-Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[O-tacular]

One of the greater Montreal island slabs.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

And across the street is the nicest of les Residences Soleil:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.5183667,-...J7Iq25yw4GD6oq04wg3-Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

That building was a hotel a number of years ago and I stayed there. It seemed to have a very awkward underground parking lot. I do recall being there on business and walking out for dinner and having rabbit and lamb and lots of artisinal beer somewhere nearby. Good times. Sorry no quarts of 50 or pickled eggs

[Hali87]

I don't know if there's a standard definition for "commie block", but I've always understood it to imply a bunch of things:

- Building is rectangular; tall, wide, but not deep. Based around a long, straight hallway with elevators in the middle

- There's no variation in unit sizes or layouts; maybe there are 1-br and 2-br units but all of the 1-br units are identical to one another, etc (to me this is what makes it a "commie" block - all of the units are ostensibly "equal")

- Views are incidental; site design (including the siting of similar buildings nearby) is based entirely around perceived efficiency of land-use and simplifying the design process; views from within units are fundamentally not treated as an asset

- Aesthetics are not taken into account. The building is not really designed so much as engineered. There are effectively no decorative elements. The building is maintained to the minimum necessary to avoid (or recover from) catastrophic failure, cosmetic damages are not considered problems and there is little to no landscaping. Everything about the building's design and construction is based around maximizing the amount of leasable space(s) while minimizing the cost to the builder/owner

- Typically single-use (residential)

- Unlikely to have any amenities beyond parking and maybe laundry

There's no real definition but that's how I think of it. A quintessential example I'd point to within Canada is Toronto's St. James Town. Those are definitely commie blocks IMO. When I think of commie blocks I'm thinking of specifically those types of buildings.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Hali87

I don't know if there's a standard definition for "commie block", but I've always understood it to imply a bunch of things:

- Building is rectangular; tall, wide, but not deep. Based around a long, straight hallway with elevators in the middle

- There's no variation in unit sizes or layouts; maybe there are 1-br and 2-br units but all of the 1-br units are identical to one another, etc (to me this is what makes it a "commie" block - all of the units are ostensibly "equal")

- Views are incidental; site design (including the siting of similar buildings nearby) is based entirely around perceived efficiency of land-use and simplifying the design process; views from within units are fundamentally not treated as an asset

- Aesthetics are not taken into account. The building is not really designed so much as engineered. There are effectively no decorative elements. The building is maintained to the minimum necessary to avoid (or recover from) catastrophic failure, cosmetic damages are not considered problems and there is little to no landscaping. Everything about the building's design and construction is based around maximizing the amount of leasable space(s) while minimizing the cost to the builder/owner

- Typically single-use (residential)

- Unlikely to have any amenities beyond parking and maybe laundry

There's no real definition but that's how I think of it. A quintessential example I'd point to within Canada is Toronto's St. James Town. Those are definitely commie blocks IMO. When I think of commie blocks I'm thinking of specifically those types of buildings.

When I think of the term commie-block I basically think of the first and fourth criteria which affects the exterior aesthetic. I assumed the name just comes from how the aesthetic was so prolific in the eastern bloc during the soviet era. I didn't think it has anything to do with the interior aspects of the building since some of these "slab" buildings are fairly high end.

[Wigs]

St. Catharines (est pop. 141,000) has two 21 storey commieblocks under construction. They may be ugly, but they add a lot of units (356)!
I'm pretty sure these are the tallest residential structures in all of Niagara.

Originally Posted by tddasv

Progress on the tallest buildings in St. Catharines (21-storeys)



Source: https://www.niagaradev.ca/profiles/glenridge/theshipman

They're located in St. Catharines densest CommieCluster, across from a Catholic HS

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

That building was a hotel a number of years ago and I stayed there. It seemed to have a very awkward underground parking lot. I do recall being there on business and walking out for dinner and having rabbit and lamb and lots of artisinal beer somewhere nearby. Good times. Sorry no quarts of 50 or pickled eggs

I stayed there as well when it was a hotel. I can't remember the name. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a chain.

I've also stayed right near there at Hôtel Château de L’Argoat which at the time was very inexpensive in March and had really nice rooms. There was even free parking and a really nice breakfast. I remember there was a huge snowstorm and so many restaurants, bars and other attractions were not busy at all.

Here is the link to the hotel if anybody is interested: https://www.hotel-chateau-argoat.com/index.html

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Hali87

I don't know if there's a standard definition for "commie block", but I've always understood it to imply a bunch of things:

- Building is rectangular; tall, wide, but not deep. Based around a long, straight hallway with elevators in the middle

- There's no variation in unit sizes or layouts; maybe there are 1-br and 2-br units but all of the 1-br units are identical to one another, etc (to me this is what makes it a "commie" block - all of the units are ostensibly "equal")

- Views are incidental; site design (including the siting of similar buildings nearby) is based entirely around perceived efficiency of land-use and simplifying the design process; views from within units are fundamentally not treated as an asset

- Aesthetics are not taken into account. The building is not really designed so much as engineered. There are effectively no decorative elements. The building is maintained to the minimum necessary to avoid (or recover from) catastrophic failure, cosmetic damages are not considered problems and there is little to no landscaping. Everything about the building's design and construction is based around maximizing the amount of leasable space(s) while minimizing the cost to the builder/owner

- Typically single-use (residential)

- Unlikely to have any amenities beyond parking and maybe laundry

There's no real definition but that's how I think of it. A quintessential example I'd point to within Canada is Toronto's St. James Town. Those are definitely commie blocks IMO. When I think of commie blocks I'm thinking of specifically those types of buildings.

I tend to associate 'Commie Block' with midrise heights, typically between 4-20 storeys, with a strong horizontal orientation. Anything shorter lacks the mass, and anything much taller is a different beast altogether. Once you get north of 30 storeys it's hard to consider something a commie block even if the other criteria fit.

This complex in Latvia conveys the general idea:



The St. James Town buildings fit the description.

Here's a classic commie block example from Winnipeg. If you had 15 of these you would basically have a whole USSR neighbourhood

[biguc]

A lot of original flavour commie blocks actually have pretty nice landscaping and amenities--playgrounds, chess tables, table tennis, multiple lobbies throughout each building.

The goal was to get people to mingle. And to give them some form of recreation since they weren't allowed to do much else. More recently, in ad-hoc, post-communism urban environments, a lot of them have developed surprisingly vibrant retail ground floors.

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2365321,...oMKx8BInjoJUXG2dqxY8A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[MolsonExport]

and look at that wonderful view of power pylons! Soul crushing.

Grey sky, commie blocks, power pylons. (Ontario: Keep it Beautiful).

[J.OT13]

This guy here in Ottawa. Looks like a re-clad of a 70s commie block, or as if they used the old plans from the neighbouring building, extruded them and made a few modernizations.

Originally Posted by Harley613

Today's progress:
Photo_6553706_DJI_106_jpg_8928713_0_20219913126_photo_original by harley613, on Flickr
Photo_6553705_DJI_105_jpg_8237594_0_2021991310_photo_original by harley613, on Flickr

Then there's Lees Avenue at a major highway interchange. Served by the O-Train and only one station from uOttawa, it's heavily populated by students from the University and a nearby french college, La Cité Collégiale.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lees_Avenue

The building with the wrap around balconies have been modernized. A terrible job that's made it look far worse, taking away the balconies to use as interior space.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4150873,...-h01cuXjGXtw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en-US

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Grey sky, commie blocks, power pylons. (Ontario: Keep it Beautiful).

The MTO gave up on that slogan when it was apparent that people were hucking Tim’s cups into a trash strewn highway ditch from their car wearing those plates.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by thewave46

The MTO gave up on that slogan when it was apparent that people were hucking Tim’s cups into a trash strewn highway ditch from their car wearing those plates.

And I thought it was those people that sported the "A Place To Grow" plates (i.e., anti-liberal plates)

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

This guy here in Ottawa. Looks like a re-clad of a 70s commie block, or as if they used the old plans from the neighbouring building, extruded them and made a few modernizations.



Then there's Lees Avenue at a major highway interchange. Served by the O-Train and only one station from uOttawa, it's heavily populated by students from the University and a nearby french college, La Cité Collégiale.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lees_Avenue

The building with the wrap around balconies have been modernized. A terrible job that's made it look far worse, taking away the balconies to use as interior space.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4150873,...-h01cuXjGXtw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en-US

I am getting Clockzillian vibes.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

The building with the wrap around balconies have been modernized. A terrible job that's made it look far worse, taking away the balconies to use as interior space.

That result may not look great, but I would have appreciated a more usable space instead of an outdoor balcony when I lived in an apartment. Some people make great use of them (I had grand but unrealized plans for mine) but I see so many that are just used for storage and accumulations of junk. Not that enclosing them changes that , but it at least provides some other options.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4150873,...-h01cuXjGXtw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en-US

Cosmo Mart. Cosmo... Cosmo?

• Video Link

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

And I thought it was those people that sported the "A Place To Grow" plates (i.e., anti-liberal plates)

• Video Link

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Notice I posted non concrete examples from the 00's. To me the qualifier is sheer width and ugliness. The materials of "Commie Blocks" are usually concrete or brick. The materials for contemporary versions are now stucco or aluminum siding it seems.

"Commie" is an ignorant, derogatory term used to disparage people more than the political ideology. Of course, there's no limitations on architectural style as its completely made up fanboy nonsense.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I am getting Clockzillian vibes.

I visited friends there and survived, so Clockzilla-lite must have a smaller appetite for souls.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

and look at that wonderful view of power pylons! Soul crushing.

Grey sky, commie blocks, power pylons. (Ontario: Keep it Beautiful).

Look at how they lovingly LOOM over the HS

[niwell]

It wouldn't be Ontario without massive hydro pylons and corridors everywhere! Seriously, it's one of the first things I have memories of visiting as a kid, probably exacerbated because my grandparents lived in Pickering near the nuclear plant. That and the impressive number of slab apartments and massive infrastructure on the drive from the airport across the city (particularly compared to Calgary at the time), yet everything looking a bit disheveled.