The Great Canadian Skyline thread for CMAs 1 million and under

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by zoomer

Never been a huge fan of the Halifax skyline mainly due to the commie blocks, but with some of the new additions, and some really great photos that show it at it's best, it's looking quite impressive.

In the skyline? I can only think of Maritime Place, possibly Scotia Square, and maybe Fenwick from certain perspectives, but the rest is either much older or newer... and none is residential.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Halifax, NS by Roger Kennedy, on Flickr

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian

In the skyline? I can only think of Maritime Place, possibly Scotia Square, and maybe Fenwick from certain perspectives, but the rest is either much older or newer... and none is residential.

Park Victoria apartments? That's the only residential highrise slab I can think of that's in some skyline shots. But the Scotia Square buildings sort of have that look from a distance even though the term commie block specifically refers to residential as I understand it.

Some might call Fenwick a commie block too I suppose.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian

In the skyline? I can only think of Maritime Place, possibly Scotia Square, and maybe Fenwick from certain perspectives, but the rest is either much older or newer... and none is residential.

I would agree that normally when people say "commie blocks" they mean highrise housing with bare concrete. Usually they're talking about large public housing projects consisting of many buildings that look similar to each other. Toronto has a lot of projects like this from the 60's and 70's. They're not very common in Halifax.

Halifax does have some unattractive bare concrete buildings downtown. I think the worst ones are the law courts and the totally generic Cogswell Tower. Hopefully the first one will be demolished and the second one will get a reclad.

The Ralston Building looks like concrete in skyline shots but it's clad in limestone. The Maritime Centre and Duke Tower are debatable, in my opinion. They could be nicer but they still have some architectural interest and they give the city a more urban appearance. They're not at all like public housing projects in design and appearance.

One big mistake with Duke Tower and its twin is that they're perpendicular to the waterfront. They look good from Argyle Street and they have good views but they are turned sideways in a lot of skyline shots, like the one above.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Park Victoria apartments? That's the only residential highrise slab I can think of that's in some skyline shots. But the Scotia Square buildings sort of have that look from a distance even though the term commie block specifically refers to residential as I understand it.

Some might call Fenwick a commie block too I suppose.

True, I guess Park Vic and Fenwick would be the two... maybe some of the stuff around Cogswell.

That being said, Park Vic isn't front and centre in the skyline shots... Fenwick is being reclad and isn't a true commie block.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by someone123

I would agree that normally when people say "commie blocks" they mean highrise housing with bare concrete. Usually they're talking about large public housing projects consisting of many buildings that look similar to each other. Toronto has a lot of projects like this from the 60's and 70's. They're not very common in Halifax.

Halifax does have some unattractive bare concrete buildings downtown. I think the worst ones are the law courts and the totally generic Cogswell Tower. Hopefully the first one will be demolished and the second one will get a reclad.

The Ralston Building looks like concrete in skyline shots but it's clad in limestone. The Maritime Centre and Duke Tower are debatable, in my opinion. They could be nicer but they still have some architectural interest and they give the city a more urban appearance. They're not at all like public housing projects in design and appearance.

One big mistake with Duke Tower and its twin is that they're perpendicular to the waterfront. They look good from Argyle Street and they have good views but they are turned sideways in a lot of skyline shots, like the one above.

Good points. Overall, Halifax has more glass and older buildings than commie block per se (in the skyline), so I was confused by the statement.

[MonctonRad]

Posted by Shift (a BC forumer) in the Moncton thread. He was apparently in town.



This perspective is from the riverfront, with a portion of the Hal Betts Sports Complex in the foreground. The Riverfront Trail can also be seen in the foreground. This trail actually extends for about 27 km on both sides of the Petitcodiac River, with cross connections via the Gunningsville Bridge and the Petitcodiac River Causeway.

The photo captures most of the downtown, except for the twin office towers at 1222 Main & 1234 Main (just out of the frame on the left). On the left you can see the new 8,500 seat events centre currently under construction next door. Just to the right of Assumption Place (the 20 storey building to the centre-right of the image), you can make out a yellow tower crane where FiveFive Queen is under construction. It is a combined condo/hotel project, which will also contain a Gahan House brew pub (very popular chain here on the east coast). There is another tower crane in the city at present (in Dieppe) where a large apartment building (Horizon Place - 10 stories) is under construction.

There is an urban redevelopment project just outside the image to the left (Junction Urban Village). This is in it's early stages. A Hilton branded hotel and a six storey commercial/residential building (Tannery Place) have been approved, with construction imminent. At the very right hand of the image there is a new proposal for a 14 floor hotel, currently referred to by it's generic name "Harper Street Hotel". Approval for this project is going to the city planning committee this month. Harper Street's name has it's origins from Stephen Harpers family.

For those interested in a bit of history; Stephen Harper's family actually has deep New Brunswick roots. His grandfather was a school principal here in Moncton. He has a distant ancestor who was a hero of the American Revolutionary War (at least if you were cheering the British side). His 7-8x great grandfather lived in Sackville NB, and aided in the defence of Fort Cumberland (Formerly Fort Beausejour) during the Eddy Rebellion (a little known sideshow of the revolution). Many of the settlers in NB after the Seven Years War were recent immigrants from the colonies further south and had mixed loyalties. The settlers in Sackville however were loyal Yorkshiremen. Jonathan Eddy recieved a patent from George Washington authorizing him to foment rebellion in Nova Scotia and to encourage NS to become the 14th colony in the insurrection. Fort Cumberland was the most substantial fortification in the region outside Halifax, and the gateway to the NS peninsula, but poorly defended. Eddy attacked the garrison at Fort Cumberland, and very nearly won, save from intervention by Harper and the other Yorkshiremen in Sackville, and ultimately also relief by a naval squadron from Halifax. If Eddy had won this battle, there is a good chance there would be an American flag flying over Moncton city hall.

There's lots of interesting history in Canada that you hear very little about because it didn't happen in the central Canadian corridor.......

[q12]

Source Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BW53zGYB8Es

[esquire]

One thing I always found a bit odd about Moncton was how downtown suddenly trails off south of the main drag. Is that area prone to flooding, or is there some other reason it's barely developed? Most of the buildings in that area look like newer builds.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by esquire

One thing I always found a bit odd about Moncton was how downtown suddenly trails off south of the main drag. Is that area prone to flooding, or is there some other reason it's barely developed? Most of the buildings in that area look like newer builds.

Moncton used to have a working riverfront with wharves, warehouses and rail sidings. That disappeared in the 1960s, mostly with the river silting in after the causeway to Riverview was built upstream (this tragedy is being remediated with the causeway being replaced by a new bridge. Work is currently ongoing).

All the old industrial building have been removed, but it's only been in the last 5-10 years or so that the city has gotten really serious about redevelopment in the area. This started with the construction of Riverfront Park, Assumption Blvd and a few small condo buildings. A few years back the new courthouse was built on reclaimed industrial land (Beaver Lumber property). Last year phase one of the Downing Street reconstruction was opened. Below is a render of what phase two of Downing might look like.



The building in the foreground is proposed as a new city market (ground floor) and new public library (top floors).

Things are looking up!

[esquire]

^ Thanks for the explanation... that's interesting. I've been to Moncton a couple of times (1996 and 2009), but I don't recall hearing about a working waterfront at all. I certainly enjoyed walking along the Petitcodiac River, though!

[ainvan]

20161005-DJI_0009 by Dominic Leblanc, on Flickr


Ville de Québec by Pier-Olivier Veilleux, on Flickr

[hipster duck]

^That's a really interesting QC shot because it downplays the old city and upsells the dense 19th century triplex areas in St. Roch etc.

Is that a shipbuilding installation, or is there some massive construction project underway at that cape in Levis?

[Laceoflight]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Is that a shipbuilding installation, or is there some massive construction project underway at that cape in Levis?

That's a shipbuilding installation. It's called Davie and it's there since 1829. It's known as Canada's largest shipbuilding facility.

[niwell]

Agreed, those are really great and interesting QC shots. Those parts of the city really fascinate me because we don't see much of it (Old City gets the coverage).

[q12]

Source Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TheDrake1001/sta...85740949757957


Source Twitter:
https://twitter.com/SteveCSilva/stat...99644631314432

[JM5]

Originally Posted by Brizzy82

source

Awesome Winnipeg shots Brizzy, but you might want to leave out the photos showing actual rooftoping. A lot of people on here actually own or manage properties so they are likely frowning in your general direction. Plus, a good rule of thumb is to never post evidence of your crime sprees online.

[Tone]

Rimouski

[GreatTallNorth2]

London, Ontario - Courtesy Ian McAlpine

[MonctonRad]

A pox on Photobucket!!!

I've moved my business to Flickr...........