Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by someone123

Do you mean the yellowish one? That is Park Victoria, a single apartment building from the 60's or so.

I'm pretty sure that's the one he means. I lived in Park Vic for two years in the early 1980s. It was very convenient to the hospital district. It seemed old when I lived there though. I believe the vintage is early to mid 1960s.

[someone123]

Buildings like Park Victoria and Fenwick are not beautiful but they are interesting, from an era when the city tolerated more risk and ambition. It is impressive that somebody built a 30+ storey building there 50 years ago, and this kind of thing is as "big city" as it gets in the area.

Here is another skyline shot showing farther north. If you look closely you can see two cranes on the far right which are both for the same fairly large tower project (5415 Cogswell). I think it might look a bit taller than anything else in this shot when complete just based on floor count and elevation; this implies the fully assembled crane probably needs to be raised.


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[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by NewIreland

Vladivostok vibes...

I'm sure someone123 will appreciate the comparison.

Halifax comes by it's persona honestly. It is after all on the cold North Atlantic, and with it's military heritage (Warden of the North) and active waterfront, will always have a somewhat brooding presence. This outward presence however hides the real Halifax which is actually Bohemian and eclectic, with lots of restaurants, good downtown shopping and lots of museums and galleries. Halifax is the heart and soul of Nova Scotia.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Vancouverites would always give me a blank stare when I asked about Kelowna but feel like that's finally changing. Kelowna (+14.30%) was Canada's fastest growing CMA 2016-2000. There's nothing quite like the Okanagan Valley anywhere in Canada. The region has a bright future and will eventually grow into a significant population centre. There are only 400,000 in the valley today but wouldn't be surprised if there were 1 million by mid-century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_census_metropolitan_areas_and_agglomerations_in_Canada

Kelowna was definitely looked down upon in Vancouver back in the day. Growing up in Kelowna, I had no idea. It wasn't until I moved to Vancouver that I'd get razed for growing up in a trailer park by the lake (so many Vancouverites would equate Kelowna with trailer parks).

It's a lot different now. Kelowna's reputation within the Lower Mainland has improved significantly within the past 15 years or so. I'd attribute a lot of it to the growth of the wine industry, and the positive press it gets all over the province.

The Okanagan Valley has always been appreciated though. It was mainly Kelowna that would take the brunt of the jabs towards the interior. I mean, it's kinda tough to hate on this.



photo credit: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/explore-canada/okanagan-valley-wine-region/

[zoomer]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM2P9otn3Yj/

This will qualify for SSP Skyline Shot of the Year, as well as the Vancouver Stanley Park skyline shot on the same page. Also that Kelowna pic was one of the best I've seen from that city. Also enjoying the new contributions of Saskatoon. Reminds me of how years ago St. John's had a terrible reputation on SSP but one Signal Hill Hiker came along and showed the beauty of the place we were all smitten and it became a SSP darling.

As for the Halifax - Vladivostock comparison, I assume that was based on the commie blocks? It could also be a flattering comparison, because Vladivostock is rather pretty! It has a population of 609,000 and China still would like to get it back one day..

Vladdy pics - if we're sticking to North American comparisons I would say a mix of Halifax, St. John's, Victoria and San Francisco:



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To be fair it does have one of the worst stretch of commie blocks in the world not seen in those pics, so ugly I can't even bear to show it here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/UrbanHell/comments/6k9dgo/vladivostok_russia/

some more beautiful pics of Vladdy:

Harbour pic

Cruise ship

I agree with MonctonRad that Halifax has a serious brooding feel to it, well, the skyline, not so much the city itself. Which is not the impression the rest of of Nova Scotia gives, which is more laid back and colourful.

[zoomer]

Ok, back to Canadian skylines - a partial view of Victoria including the naval base:







source of three pics



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The tallest building you see there is The Hudson, one of three (one currently under construction) buildings built on the former Hudson Bay Parkade land and you can see the Hudson Bay building which now has a public market, bank, yoga studio, hair dresser, other shops on the bottom and condos with an additional floor added on. Not to mention a killer roof top deck:



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[csbvan]

Looking great!!

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by giallo

Kelowna was definitely looked down upon in Vancouver back in the day. Growing up in Kelowna, I had no idea. It wasn't until I moved to Vancouver that I'd get razed for growing up in a trailer park by the lake (so many Vancouverites would equate Kelowna with trailer parks).

It's a lot different now. Kelowna's reputation within the Lower Mainland has improved significantly within the past 15 years or so. I'd attribute a lot of it to the growth of the wine industry, and the positive press it gets all over the province.

The Okanagan Valley has always been appreciated though. It was mainly Kelowna that would take the brunt of the jabs towards the interior. I mean, it's kinda tough to hate on this.



photo credit: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/explore-canada/okanagan-valley-wine-region/

The wine industry has indeed changed everything. Suddenly the Okanagan isn't the place you camp during road trips in the summer (though Penticton's great motel strip along the lake is a wonderful reminder of mid-century vacation land!), but is instead wine country with resort hotels and high end restaurants. Just look at Phantom Creek ($100 million) to see the types of investments being made in the industry.

It's still going to require time to mature, but there is a rapid change afoot. Kelowna is a good representation of it, from decades of hillside sprawl with Albertans cashing out, to a Vancouverization of the lakefront downtown with sprawl being banned, and infill becoming the only option for new growth. Thankfully this is being accompanied by a mini office boom as well, and a UBC campus that grew from 4,000 students to well over 10,000. Tourism will always remain large, but the valley is also growing an economy separate from that, which is important.

[The Great Scaper]

Really great photos Zoomer. I've never seen these angles/vistas of Victoria before. Thanks for sharing these.

[MolsonExport]

Is that Vaseux Lake in the OK shot? Looks like the area between Oliver and Penticton. I lived in Osoyoos for several spells in the late 00s, after having lived north of Kelowna in 94-95.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by someone123

Halifax South End skyline:


Source

It's even more impressive when you realize that this is not the "main" Halifax skyline

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Is that Vaseux Lake in the OK shot? Looks like the area between Oliver and Penticton. I lived in Osoyoos for several spells in the late 00s, after having lived north of Kelowna in 94-95.

Looks like Vaseaux Lake from Blue Mountain winery. Kind of be one the 'quintessential' OK shot.

[Rico Rommheim]

I visited Quebec City last week...


Quebec_Skyline_03_for_in_Quebec_City_Series_50 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Center_of_a_Nation_Quebec_City_Series_37 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Center_of_a_Nation_Quebec_City_Series_34 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Quebec_Skyline_Quebec_City_Series_06 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr



Big_Boy_in_Quebec_City_Series_14 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


A_Beautiful_Day_for_Quebec_City_Series_23 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Old_Meets_New_in_Quebec_City_Series_05 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Sunset_Over_Quebec_City_Series_02 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Center_of_a_Nation_Quebec_City_Series_32 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

It's even more impressive when you realize that this is not the "main" Halifax skyline

This view might be changing a lot too since there are 3x30 storey or so towers proposed for the western end of Spring Garden Road. They would go up approximately where that taller radio tower is, but just behind the highrises in front. It is possible that in a few years downtown Halifax won't have any buildings in the top 5 in the metro by height. The city's new tallest is under construction in the North End (103 m), and the tallest proposal is in Dartmouth (36 storeys).

As for whether people like the aesthetics of these pictures or not, that's fine with me either way. Often the "feel" comes down to lighting, filters, and season (e.g. cloudy March picture with desaturated filter is not going to look like a sunny summer day). I think Vladivostok is a cool looking city. I'm not sure about this idea that Halifax is full of "commie blocks". What is a commie block? In downtown Halifax, none of the older towers are residential. Most Canadian cities have 60's and 70's residential towers in neighbourhoods, BC included (most of West End Vancouver, or examples like Orchard House in Victoria). Ontario generally has more slab style concrete buildings than metro Halifax. A lot of the 70's and older residential buildings in Halifax are masonry clad, not concrete. Park Victoria for example is yellow brick. Many of the buildings in those downtown and South End shots are older style brick and stone masonry, and blue glass is probably more dominant overall than exposed concrete.

[J.OT13]

I love the entire HBC redevelopment in Victoria. Awesome adaptive re-use and great modern architecture like that tower. I wish we had more of that.

[Rico Rommheim]

From_Afar_in_Quebec_City_Series_53 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Quebec_in_Quebec_City_Series_54 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

[Monolith]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ross_strachan/51045069196/

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by someone123

Do you mean the yellowish one? That is Park Victoria, a single apartment building from the 60's or so.

That's it, thanks!

It just looked so wide in the photo (and it is quite wide, looking at the satellite and street views of it), and with the three mechanical penthouses it made me wonder.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Center_of_a_Nation_Quebec_City_Series_32 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Nice set, I wish they would reclad that tower.

[ScreamingViking]

So much going on in this photo! It's really great.

Also makes me wonder if there is a matching set of upper torsos on display elsewhere in the city?

Originally Posted by Monolith

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ross_strachan/51045069196/