Canadian Skyline Thread III

[zoomer]

A few skyline type street shots I took in the past week or so.



Front at York - Toronto, May 13, 2025 by JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr



Yonge Street with One Bloor West Under Construction. Toronto - May 14, 2025. by JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr



Yonge Street with One Bloor West Under Construction. Toronto - May 14, 2025. by JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr



Yonge Street with One Bloor West Under Construction. Toronto - May 14, 2025. by JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr



Front Street, Toronto. May 14, 2025 by JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr

a bunch more May 2025 pictures here

[ssiguy]

Thanks for the great pics. Really show what a complete dump of a street Yonge is. I swear it's the ugliest street in the whole damn city.

[cranes]

Kitchener-Waterloo

The first photo is all Waterloo. Northdale Waterloo's clusters are in the background. The cluster on the left can be seen in more detail here. The cluster on the right can be seen in more detail here. Then you have Uptown Waterloo and the Bauer District (Allen Station) in the foreground. Allen Square office-to-residential conversion has progressed since April.

The second photo shows the Bauer District (Allen Station) in the forground, Midtown K-W (900 King St W), then Downtown Kitchener in the background (with TEK tower now rising 45 floors).

https://media.visualadvantage.ca/50-Freemont-St

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[koops65]

KW growing up fast!

[G.S MTL]

Instagram Montrealdroneguy

[someone123]

Halifax (2024)


Source

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[Gresto]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Thanks for the great pics. Really show what a complete dump of a street Yonge is. I swear it's the ugliest street in the whole damn city.

It certainly is rather shabby and neglected considering it's T.O.'s "premier", "showcase" street. At least in the old days there was a plethora of neon signage.

[Nouvellecosse]

Parts of Yonge may lack the polish of a typical high street but it's nicer than 90% of the suburban arterials in the country.

[someone123]

The Yonge Street pattern is pretty common across Canada. Robson, 17th, Whyte Ave, Rideau Ave, Spring Garden Rd all sort of fit this. I wonder if it has to do with not so great postwar revitalization efforts and other problems around the older areas. The single historical main street that remains a shopping destination is rare outside of smaller towns that in a lot of cases just have the one main drag.

[zoomer]

Nice Halifax pano someone123.

I don't understand the disdain for Yonge street. To me it's the most interesting and busy street in the city with a great variety of architecture in a uninterrupted streetscape with few blank walls or parking garage entrances. It's in danger of losing some of that vibe with the skycrapers but I'll have to see in five years. I'm actually drawn to the low rise historic buildings although I will say that most of the businesses on Yonge I wouldn't actually go into and the food choices are generally not that great, but the emphasis seems to be on quick and affordable. Ya'll forced me to share another pic of it. Is there a more interesting street/walk in the country?



529 Yonge Street, Toronto. May 14, 2025 by JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr

[MonkeyRonin]

It's one of ssiguy's hobbyhorses for some reason. The actual architectural quality and street-level vibrancy of Yonge St. is certainly above average. Its problem is just the very drab, utilitarian streetscaping.

Thankfully, that's a much easier thing to fix than ugly buildings. If and when the City ever gets around to the planned revitalization of the street, it could even look pretty good.

[zoomer]

/\ Very true, the sidewalks could be widened (but with Ford aiming to remove bike lanes on Bloor how realistic is this?) and trees, greenery added. I only noticed after the lack of trees - is this due to the lack of space or the beating they would take/took from winter conditions (plowing, etc) or just being damaged by delivery trucks, accidents, people, etc.?

[Coldrsx]

[someone123]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

It's one of ssiguy's hobbyhorses for some reason. The actual architectural quality and street-level vibrancy of Yonge St. is certainly above average. Its problem is just the very drab, utilitarian streetscaping.

It has also changed a lot over the years. I remember it before Yonge-Dundas Square (or whatever it's called), in an era when one of those old bank buildings around Queen/Shuter was abandoned, and at Gerrard St there was a big parking lot. Several of the storefront stretches were seedier back then too. It was still interesting back then, but I think it was correct to say it was run down and not really living up to its potential. Since then many heritage buildings have gotten renos as well.

It's not a high-end retail strip but that is fine and frankly those places are getting more and more homogenized and boring around the world. I guess some people want Yonge Street to be like Regent Street in London. The equivalent in Toronto is Bloor, not Yonge.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by zoomer

Nice Halifax pano someone123.

I don't understand the disdain for Yonge street. To me it's the most interesting and busy street in the city with a great variety of architecture in a uninterrupted streetscape with few blank walls or parking garage entrances. It's in danger of losing some of that vibe with the skycrapers but I'll have to see in five years. I'm actually drawn to the low rise historic buildings although I will say that most of the businesses on Yonge I wouldn't actually go into and the food choices are generally not that great, but the emphasis seems to be on quick and affordable. Ya'll forced me to share another pic of it. Is there a more interesting street/walk in the country?

If it hasn't lost it by now, then I think it's pretty safe. A lot has been thrown at Yonge Street over the past 30 years: rising rents, development pressure, gentrification, the rise of online shopping, changing consumer habits, etc.

30 years ago, Yonge street was known for record stores, book stores and porn. Those were basically the first casualties of the internet!

[shappy]

As far as substantial shopping streets go, calling that stretch of Yonge the ugliest is not a shocking statement, IMO. Apart from some major attractions like the square and the mall, it's not very tourist friendly, nor particularly family friendly. It's a wild mish mash of a street with an undertone of "reckless abandon" (which I can appreciate, for the record).

[FactaNV]

Skyline of part of downtown Winnipeg facing NW on le sentier La Liberté in St. Boniface a couple nights ago.

[someone123]

Halifax skyline. Composite of a portion of webcam views from here: https://www.novascotiawebcams.com/we...fax-waterfront

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[ZeDgE]

My pic from southern edge of Calgary.

[itom 987]

The first thought that came to my mind on the pic above was Winnipeg.