Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[MolsonExport]

I don't mind at all if people insult London Ontario for having shacks a couple of blocks from the downtown core. Because it is the literal truth.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9802...7i13312!8i6656

180 degree view of same spot: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9802...7i13312!8i6656

[lio45]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Exactly. Who would expect Calgary, Alberta to be thick with prewar tenements? Who would take offense to some traveler's mistaken idea that it might be?

Just to set the record straight here, I never expected Calgary to be full of pre-war tenements. I merely dared point out that the contrast between the CBD and the detached SFHs that can be found right outside it is "fascinating" (and also "exotic" and "weird"). As you say, "Calgary is a young frontier-ish place" and the result is that this kind of fascinating contrast can be observed there. A boomtown of 1.5 million is not a common thing in the First World. Therefore, it's fascinating. I'm not going to apologize for my solidly fact-based opinion that Calgary has (fascinating) characteristics of an oversized boomtown, nor withdraw it, especially given how many other users here agreed with it in this thread - in slightly different words maybe, but their point was the same as mine.

Originally Posted by kool maudit

For what it's worth, I think those old houses are interesting and evocative. They make me think of the old prairie and the west, particularly the one on the left.

Did I ever say they weren't interesting? I'm a fan of the Old West. Why do you guys think I took the time to visit places like Tombstone (and Maple Creek) in my life? People not interested would not have bothered. And as stated already, I thought Maple Creek had potential.

Originally Posted by Pavlov

Agree.

For what it's worth, I apologize to my fellow formers for my role in this silly but protracted argument. Sometimes I just can't help myself.

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

/another thread is ruined by pedantry and twisted panties.

I'm also sorry that one can't point out stuff like that on a urban affairs / buildings / architecture / cities website without causing a shitstorm. (Thankfully, it doesn't always happen that way - did you notice you were able to say the original Phare was grossly oversized without anyone taking it as a personal insult? )

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

You clearly had to dig through all of streetview to just find one.

This couldn't be any further from the truth. I swear on everything that's holy that the very first place I picked to go into streetview mode was right in front of that house, even facing the correct direction in the street.

(However I will readily admit that I immediately thought "okay, I don't need to look any further, this is pretty much jackpot on the first try!")

It wasn't just luck though, from the satellite view it was pretty clear where to try to find the smallest detached houses, you can see the roofs and therefore the footprints.

So... no, I did not do any digging, and it took me only a couple minutes to prove my point

(still a waste of time IMO, given that you and O-Tacular could have simply admitted such houses did exist in the "Sunnyside" neighborhood, sparing me that two minutes.)

[lio45]

Originally Posted by niwell

I also think that example is fascinating, and interesting view into Calgary's fading past. But we all know it's the term "shack" that's getting people riled up - which it was obviously intended to do with a specific target in mind. Without fueling the fire too much, in my mind that's an old, somewhat dilapidated woodframe house, not a shack. A shack is an ad-hoc slum dwelling, and shack town is another colloquialism for slum/informal settlement/shantytown/favela, etc.

Actually, I'm again sorry to have to disagree, but it's easily verifiable that people got "riled up" way before the term "shack" got used for the first time. So the problem here clearly isn't the term "shack".

It seems pretty clear that what got people riled up was that I dared point out I found this pretty extreme contrast to be fascinating, weird, and exotic:

Untitled_2

As WS pointed out above, from a construction perspective the Calgary house is probably not dissimilar from these (I know someone who lived in one, they are truly grim inside), which are actually much closer to FCP than the Calgary example: https://goo.gl/maps/qfPKo4BNDQayDGyx8

Sure, but from a density, architecture, urban function point of view, which I would say is what matters more, it's not the same type of built form at all. Those Toronto examples are attached rowhouse multiplexes that are at least 3 stories high. (For the record, inner city neighborhoods in Montreal are also full of that type of housing.)

[905er]

this is draining.. I don't think anyone cares anymore. Canadian cities, with all their grandeur sometimes have "wooden shacks" nearby... lets all move on

[lio45]

There's a thread for shacks now, so it shouldn't be a problem anymore here

[Siriusb]

CHARLOTTETOWN

[logan5]

The thing is, most North American cities drop off to detached homes quite quickly outside the dt core. It's not rare at all.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by lio45

Actually, I'm again sorry to have to disagree, but it's easily verifiable that people got "riled up" way before the term "shack" got used for the first time. So the problem here clearly isn't the term "shack".

It seems pretty clear that what got people riled up was that I dared point out I found this pretty extreme contrast to be fascinating, weird, and exotic:

Sure, but from a density, architecture, urban function point of view, which I would say is what matters more, it's not the same type of built form at all. Those Toronto examples are attached rowhouse multiplexes that are at least 3 stories high. (For the record, inner city neighborhoods in Montreal are also full of that type of housing.)

For somebody who supposedly has a property portfolio, with properties all over North America, and now you have some business you are doing in Vancouver, you spend an awful lot of your time trolling.

It's a nice day, so get out of your parents basement and go for a bike ride, or go for a walk, or better yet go look for a job.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by logan5

The thing is, most North American cities drop off to detached homes quite quickly outside the dt core. It's not rare at all.

I think that's a pretty Western-centric (Western North America, not the Western World) view.

I guess that this striking contrast in Calgary is a feature that one can likely find in, say, Denver (though less extreme there), which means I'd also find Denver somewhat "exotic" for going from huge office towers to detached SFHs extremely quickly.

Keep in mind I've never been to Denver, and I've barely been to Calgary, so these cities are more unfamiliar to me than even places on the other side of the ocean (Paris, London, Frankfurt) where I've been.

So maybe that's the norm in the interior west - still exotic to an Easterner.

I had a good laugh at your insults though. Whatever you say... FYI I wouldn't be interested in investing in Vancouver real estate, I have little faith in the long term future of the place. I'm renting, both the apartment in Strathcona and the industrial warehouse we needed for the project. Then I'm gone (Though, there might be other phases of this project in 2021 and beyond, requiring me to again spend time in Van, despite it not being my favorite place.)

[Chadillaccc]

Lio, you knew you were trolling, you didn't engage in this 12 day argument (of which I've only been around for 3 of them) just to display your "fascination". You are a ridiculous idiot, and at least most people finally know what a fool you are because of it. Only took 13 years and countless pedantic tirades of yours.



Anyways, enough is enough... here's some beauty after this ridiculous beast...


July Bow River Float by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

July Bow River Float by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

Sunset Skyline by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

Elysian City by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I don't mind at all if people insult London Ontario for having shacks a couple of blocks from the downtown core. Because it is the literal truth.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9802...7i13312!8i6656

180 degree view of same spot: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9802...7i13312!8i6656

It’s more than that. He’s made these snide comments regarding any sfh in the inner city for years. He flat out stated that Calgary is the only major city in North America to have wooden shacks and sfh’s adjacent to the CBD multiple times, even as examples were shown of much larger cities like Atlanta and Denver and LA having the exact same thing. As usual he’s gaslighting and feigning ignorance.

And FTR it annoys me that he does this to other cities too. He said Medicine Hat is shockingly ugly after only having driven through on the TCH and not visited any of the city proper. That would be like only seeing the main autoroute that crosses the St. Lawrence into Quebec city and not visiting the historic core.



Medicine Hat





I've only been to Medicine Hat one time and managed to see all of this.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by lio45

You mean, the unassailable assertion... that this, below,

1) is a wooden shack;

2) given its location at 68 6A Street Northeast, Calgary, AB, is right outside Calgary's CBD, and thus, is a stone's throw away from some of the tallest towers in the entire country - a pretty stark contrast in the eyes of most reasonable observers interested in buildings and urbanism.

wooden_shack



And again for good measure:

(if you guys continue to deny that this is a wooden shack, I'll agree with rousseau, let's get Calgary's tap water tested)


wooden_shack_2

YOU NEED HELP. Thank you for proving your mental illness.

[Sewciu85]

Those last 2 are so good - love that angle from the south.
Personal opinion is like asshole but man, Calgary tower looks like something out of disneyland - skyline would look more mature without it. Every time I see it, it reminds me of a small town with big town ambitions, nothing city-like about it.
No offence, love the cgy skyline.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

YOU NEED HELP. Thank you for proving your mental illness.

You two (you and Chad) insist on forcing me to take a couple minutes of my time to prove to you something I'm sure you already knew about your own city, and *I'm* the one who needs help?!? Lol

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Lio, you knew you were trolling, you didn't engage in this 12 day argument (of which I've only been around for 3 of them) just to display your "fascination". You are a ridiculous idiot, and at least most people finally know what a fool you are because of it. Only took 13 years and countless pedantic tirades of yours.

No, you guys are the ones who turned this into a 12-day argument. You could simply have admitted 12 days ago that there are indeed areas of modest detached SFHs right at the doorstep of Calgary's CBD, and you'd have spared everyone the drama (and I'd have saved a few minutes of my time).

(On the other hand, we now have a new thread that's of great interest to me, so maybe it was worth it. I love old houses and find them even more fascinating when they're now surrounded by much more urban built form.)

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by lio45

You two (you and Chad) insist on forcing me to take a couple minutes of my time to prove to you something I'm sure you already knew about your own city, and *I'm* the one who needs help?!? Lol

We didn’t force you to do anything. We rightly pushed back against your ridiculous proclamations that everything outside the CBD is a wooden shack and that Calgary is the only city in all of North America to have small 100 year old wooden homes near the city’s core. But, just like Dwight scalding himself with hot coffee trying to drink it with his feet to make a point, you couldn’t help yourself.

[Martin Mtl]

Nice to see skyline pictures once in a while in this thread.

[itom 987]

Alright guys, enough of this bickering. Let's get back to looking at skylines.

[craner]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

It is still better than the Current Events section.

But, to get us back on topic. St. John's from a while ago (2008). If someone has the same view from now I'd like to see if anything has changed.


Waterfront by (HomeInMyShoes), on Flickr

What is the gigantic house looking thing in the upper left ?
I don’t recall ever seeing that before, almost looks like it was photoshopped in at the wrong scale.

For the record, as a Calgarian, I took no offence to Lio’s post.
Now let’s see more skyline photos people.