The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[CdnEh]

A reclad like they're doing on Simpson Tower in Toronto would look nice to bring Brunswick Square out of the 60s. The buildings are similar looking.

[Fischbob]

I like our trio of 60s/70s towers. Together, they contrast well with the heritage architecture south of King and their massing contributes to the tiered effect of the skyline. I wouldn't want to reclad any of them, TBH.

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by CdnEh

A reclad like they're doing on Simpson Tower in Toronto would look nice to bring Brunswick Square out of the 60s. The buildings are similar looking.

Brunswick Square doesn't look that dated to be honest, not the tower anyway. It looks much nicer now than Simpston ever did. The recent partial street-level reclad on the hotel makes it much more friendly without sacrificing the brutalist aesthetic. Brunswick Square tower and City Hall could both use a sandblast to make them much brighter, but I'd really hate to see NB's tallest building get covered in spandrel. Saint John has a ton of really great midcentury and late modern builds (albeit alongside a few terrible ones) that people see as negatives because of their decrepit condition or the fact that they were built as the city began its decline. In 30 years we may come to "taking it out of the 60s" as being no better than tearing down the General Hospital.

Any major changes to Brunswick Square should come along Union, where the Bell Aliant utility building and parking garage form a hulking, desolate mass towering over pedestrians and the weird lawn next to Loyalist House only makes the area seem more dead.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Franco401

Any major changes to Brunswick Square should come along Union, where the Bell Aliant utility building and parking garage form a hulking, desolate mass towering over pedestrians and the weird lawn next to Loyalist House only makes the area seem more dead.

Agreed. That stretch of Union is a major deadzone. Parking garage, blank grey wall, tiny lawn, then Loyalist House. Perhaps a small park with benches could be added to that lawn or something...not sure what could be done with the Bell building, honestly.

[CdnEh]

Looks like the new management company of Lancaster Mall is starting to push for a new development on the empty land at the corner of Catherwood and Fairville. Advertisements are up on the site.




#1 is 2000sq ft and #2 is 8000sq ft.

https://strathallen.com/resources/documents/properties/site_plan_61.pdf

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Agreed. That stretch of Union is a major deadzone. Parking garage, blank grey wall, tiny lawn, then Loyalist House. Perhaps a small park with benches could be added to that lawn or something...not sure what could be done with the Bell building, honestly.

The bell Aliant “tower building” as it’s called (not the office tower rather the telephone switching exchange building) was a beautiful historic building - before it was clad in ugly slabs. If you google it you may be able to find what it originally looked like. Be nice to peel back layers to reveal its beauty.

[cdnguys]

The building on top of the photo from The Lost Valley blog shows the Art Deco style “tower building” which is now all covered up with a concrete curtain - would love if it wasn’t a telephone switching office and layers peeled back to expose beautiful building

.

[RaginRonic]

http://noreenrussell.com/real-estate-pro...06-thornbrough-saint-john-new-brunswick/

I happened upon this listing in my usual internet trawling here today...could be something interesting lined up for this patch of the North End.

It kind of looks like they're looking to take Parkwood Ave. and have it link up with Thornbrough St....I'd actually like to see that happen, because to me, Thornbrough's always looked a little...empty.

Would be nice to see a bit of infill there.



And a nice shot of this area too.

=B

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by RaginRonic

http://noreenrussell.com/real-estate-pro...06-thornbrough-saint-john-new-brunswick/

I happened upon this listing in my usual internet trawling here today...could be something interesting lined up for this patch of the North End.

It kind of looks like they're looking to take Parkwood Ave. and have it link up with Thornbrough St....I'd actually like to see that happen, because to me, Thornbrough's always looked a little...empty.

Would be nice to see a bit of infill there.



And a nice shot of this area too.

=B

I would see a Mix housing development there with Parkwood Ave extended right to Thornbrough Street It would fit well but I was looking at the lot its in parts for 1, and 2 it seems if the lines are corect people Seem to have built sheds/garages, and even what looks to be a rental home onto the vacant land.

If that is the case land owner may actually have a harder time to sell because people don't want to have to deal with all the legal to get other peoples buildings off your newly purchased land.

[Southpaw78]

Am I correct in remembering there was once a Boston Pizza planned for this site? I always thought that corner would be a good location for a family style restaurant of that nature.

Originally Posted by CdnEh

Looks like the new management company of Lancaster Mall is starting to push for a new development on the empty land at the corner of Catherwood and Fairville. Advertisements are up on the site.




#1 is 2000sq ft and #2 is 8000sq ft.

https://strathallen.com/resources/documents/properties/site_plan_61.pdf

[CdnEh]

This one?

[Ire Narissis]

That's the building alright... not the best angle on it, though, since that's the corner that Brunswick Square now wraps around (unless my perspective's off, the Loyalist House would be *just* out of frame at the right). Would have to see the Union Street facing to get a sense of what lurks under its cladding there.

Interestingly, that expanded bit that pokes out toward King St. is still quite visible in its original brick today, complete with that row of large windows on the top level. It's just obscured from most sight lines by the parking garage and shopping centre:

https://goo.gl/maps/9kuVHYu6e9F2

Take a trip up to the little 'observation deck' in City Hall and you can have a peek down at it.

[cdnguys]

Here is view from google earth :
(Building had a different facade facing union street)

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Southpaw78

Am I correct in remembering there was once a Boston Pizza planned for this site? I always thought that corner would be a good location for a family style restaurant of that nature.

There have been limitless rumours over the years.

Originally Posted by Scarface

I would see a Mix housing development there with Parkwood Ave extended right to Thornbrough Street

The real estate listing for it says that they've already completed an engineering study and a development plan for 350 residential units. The parcel to the north (towards Thornborough & Sandy Point) fits the bill for the size of the parcel and the medium-rise zoning, but they've photographed mostly the more southerly parcel which is zoned for smaller residential, so i'm a bit confused which parcel is actually for sale. Either way I don't see an extension of Parkwood in the cards on the basis of the through traffic it would create on Parkwood, essentially shortcutting the Thornborough/Sandy Point intersection. Thornborough's always been this weird deadzone of a street for the 20 seconds you spend driving down it.

Either way it'll be another nice residential infill for the central part of the city.

[Franco401]

I think you guys are mistaken about that NBTel Building. The beautiful building that faced the street and was demolished was completely separate from the brick switching facility that barely exists today.

The tower (highlighted in this 1966 photo) had no facade and was in the middle of the block. Properties that were demolished are dark here.



What's really interesting here is that they tore down a then-brand-new parking garage facing Germain Street, which was the perfect location for it as Germain was envisioned as a back street, and it was replaced with a garage facing Union, which was expected to become a wide boulevard.

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by Franco401

I think you guys are mistaken about that NBTel Building. The beautiful building that faced the street and was demolished was completely separate from the brick switching facility that barely exists today.

The tower (highlighted in this 1966 photo) had no facade and was in the middle of the block. Properties that were demolished are dark here.



What's really interesting here is that they tore down a then-brand-new parking garage facing Germain Street, which was the perfect location for it as Germain was envisioned as a back street, and it was replaced with a garage facing Union, which was expected to become a wide boulevard.

Great pic. Seems to me on harbour passage there is a photo of the building I’m referring to with the facade - maybe is wasn’t completely on union. I’d love to find a pic of that building from Union Street. I think the pic is on info board by hydro station on Smythe Street/Union St

[Ire Narissis]

I don't think that tall rectangular building at the left corner of the tower building was demolished; I think it was incorporated into the existing network building with a new piece constructed where that lower building with the pitched roof used to be.

Note the little raised square near the Union Street corner of the 'demolished' building's roof on the Loyalist House side - if you look at the present-day imagery of the Bell monolith, that raised bit is plainly visible.

[Edit]: I made a super quick mockup; I'm pretty sure this is what constitutes the current Bell 'tower building' (light blue section being the newer construction compared to the other wings):

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by Ire Narissis

I don't think that tall rectangular building at the left corner of the tower building was demolished; I think it was incorporated into the existing network building with a new piece constructed where that lower building with the pitched roof used to be.

Note the little raised square near the Union Street corner of the 'demolished' building's roof on the Loyalist House side - if you look at the present-day imagery of the Bell monolith, that raised bit is plainly visible.

[Edit]: I made a super quick mockup; I'm pretty sure this is what constitutes the current Bell 'tower building' (light blue section being the newer construction compared to the other wings):

On second thought, I think you're right.

Exhibit A: Comparing the city's aerial photos from 1967 and now, I've highlighted the same areas. It initially tripped me up that the building footprints don't quite match up, as the modern building goes all the way back to meet the mall/hotel, but the rectangular shape I pointed out here survives, meaning they definitely added onto the front of it.



Plus, you can see the old wall of the original, something that would never normally get preserved on builds from that era.

[McKay]

Neat stuff, guys. I've always wondered about that building.

Does anyone know what's on the top floor, with all the large windows?

[uptownres]

I'm loving this topic. Why the need to cover everything up?