Ugly Canada 2 (Only architecture, planning and design faux pas)

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Slide

Newly minted monster in Edmonton
Photo from here

Is that another Edmonton Special?

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Slide

I can show you the world... for those looking westward on their way into or out of Calgary to Edmonton
The anticipated sequel that never quite lived up to the original

Airdrie: the blandest and most boring exurb of Calgary with not a trace of a civic core or historic downtown. Even Cockring has more charm. At least there's a historic section and some nice natural surroundings.

For all the flack it gets Okotoks would be my only choice of the exurban cities if forced to move outside the city.

[O-tacular]

.

[ScreamingViking]

Airdrie... the Gateway* to Okotoks!

*via Calgary

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Airdrie... the Gateway* to Okotoks!

*via Calgary

I was gonna say. That's like Mississauga being the gateway to Oshawa.

Maybe Airdrie: Gateway to Ballsack. That water tower belongs in Balzac.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

I was gonna say. That's like Mississauga being the gateway to Oshawa.

Maybe Airdrie: Gateway to Ballsack. That water tower belongs in Balzac.

How about "Airdrie: we're actually one of the things Okotoks would have you do"

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

How about "Airdrie: we're actually one of the things Okotoks would have you do"

Lol!

I'd rather go for a visit here in Okotoks:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.7252...7i13312!8i6656

Also the world's largest Glacial erratic boulder is kinda cool. That access ramp is ridiculous though:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.7038...7i13312!8i6656


Than on Airdire's Main Street:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2927...7i16384!8i8192

OR the part that 90% of people see:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2893...7i16384!8i8192

[O-tacular]

The worst exurb of Calgary is probably Langdon. Here's the historic centre:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.9752...7i16384!8i8192

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

The worst exurb of Calgary is probably Langdon. Here's the historic centre:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.9752...7i16384!8i8192

I love that! It's like a modern take on a cowboy town from a spaghetti Western. Are they original buildings? How old?

[_Citizen_Dane_]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

I love that! It's like a modern take on a cowboy town from a spaghetti Western. Are they original buildings? How old?

A handful of them date to the turn of the last century (although some are so botched by cheap restorations you'd be hard pressed to tell). Prairie Towns has got some old shots.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

I love that! It's like a modern take on a cowboy town from a spaghetti Western. Are they original buildings? How old?

That strip is like the only section that isn’t shitty suburban houses or a stripmall. I actually had a client (a doctor’s office) in one of them and it was a legitimate historic building that was impossible to properly set a network up in. They must have redone the exteriors as they look more modern. Not sure if all the structures are original or not.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by _Citizen_Dane_

A handful of them date to the turn of the last century (although some are so botched by cheap restorations you'd be hard pressed to tell). Prairie Towns has got some old shots.

Wow! Thanks for sharing the link. I had no idea there was that much to the original town.

[MolsonExport]

Milton is the gateway to every city in Canada. The Miltonization of the universe.

[SignalHillHiker]

Oh no. The far-flung suburbs of St. John's have discovered faux stone.



"Pou is not included" ??? One for the philosophers, I guess.

I'll never understand the suburban obsession with Dutch Lap vinyl siding. Traditional lap has always existed, it's everywhere downtown, looks great.

[MolsonExport]

^ewww, poooo! Siding and fake stone, side-by-side.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Oh no. The far-flung suburbs of St. John's have discovered faux stone.



"Pou is not included" ??? One for the philosophers, I guess.

I'll never understand the suburban obsession with Dutch Lap vinyl siding. Traditional lap has always existed, it's everywhere downtown, looks great.

Faux stone has become the comic sans of building materials. Never used properly and terribly installed. There's an office building in Calgary that had chunks of it falling off several years after it was built. The corners can also look comical.

[MolsonExport]

https://mcmansionhell.com/post/15655...canada-edition

[SignalHillHiker]

Those were great, Molson.

*****

Just walking home from the grocery with this in mind and I spotted some:



From left, it's clapboard, Dutch Lap vinyl, and Traditional Lap vinyl. The trad stuff does not bother me at all. I'd want to spend enough to have minimal joining lines on the facade but I'd lose no sleep over it being vinyl. Dutch Lap, on the other hand, should be banned (and is in wealthier parts of the core). The above is an unfortunate example of trad lap because they've obviously painted it (that's what causes it to warp - in the past it was the chemicals in the paint that did it, these days it's because the painted colour is darker than the starting vinyl so the sun warps it when it absorbs more heat).

Edit: Better example without Dutch Lap. From left, trad lap vinyl, same, then three clapboards.



IIRC, all clapboard-vinyl looks cheap to mainland Canadians, the same way stucco does to me (just seems like visible fireproofing insulation to me; I can't not see that, unless it's used and applied like white European plaster with an identical finish).

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Calgary's finest! I remember seeing that house in my childhood and thinking the exterior was eventually going to be stone, before it became pink stucco. It seemed to take years to finish the outside. Not sure if the owners ran into money problems after blowing the budget on all the excessive sprawl of the house.

I liked the description of patches of grass between driveways as soul patches.

[SignalHillHiker]

Mine was "you know a house is tacky if it makes real stone look fake" - and the pillars not lining up with the rest lol