Historical Winnipeg discussion - Page 90

Urban recluse · #**1781** Posted **Apr 9, 2016, 7:27 PM**

Hatchery? Main Street?

Andy6 · #**1782** Posted **Apr 9, 2016, 9:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Great pics 1ajs! Thanks for posting those.

I like that they have the Volunteer monument just sitting out in front of the concert hall, probably having just been dragged across the road from wherever it was stored after the new City Hall was built.

The "Manitoba 100" logo, which was everywhere that year, on the sign.

The Museum just a hole at that point. They'd have had to drag the Nonsuch in there in the not too distant future.

How the Playhouse didn't get turned into a parking lot at that time I'm not sure.

Urban recluse · #**1783** Posted **Apr 9, 2016, 9:12 PM**

Love the buildings on Notre Dame between Princess and Adelaide; you know, where the ugly Towne 8 theatre is.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9513047@N05/24322878396/

And of course, this beauty:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9513047@N05/24053528360/

Urban recluse · #**1784** Posted **Apr 9, 2016, 9:37 PM**

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9513047@N05/23981375269/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9513047@N05/24322985546/

esquire · #**1785** Posted **Apr 9, 2016, 11:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

Love the buildings on Notre Dame between Princess and Adelaide; you know, where the ugly Towne 8 theatre is.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9513047@N05/24322878396/

And of course, this beauty:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9513047@N05/24053528360/

Amazing. Great photos, recluse.

LilZebra · #**1786** Posted **Apr 10, 2016, 12:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

Love the buildings on Notre Dame between Princess and Adelaide; you know, where the ugly Towne 8 theatre is.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9513047@N05/24322878396/

And of course, this beauty:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9513047@N05/24053528360/

I lived thru the 70s and I can tell you that by the time it was demolished in '79 when I was about 13 yrs....I just let out a big "good riddance" when it was no longer there.

Towne Cinema 8 building opened in July 1981 when I was 15, and it's a more beautiful, well-kept building.

It was our 2nd multiplex, after CinePlex 7 opened Dec. 18th, 1980, though I don't see many going to that theatre nowadays. Towne could close and not be missed by most.

I like the Red & Yellow signage inside (unless they've changed it since '81).

Urban recluse · #**1787** Posted **Apr 10, 2016, 1:09 AM**

You are pathetic if you really think that.

Andy6 · #**1788** Posted **Apr 10, 2016, 1:57 AM**

The McIntyre Block was pretty decrepit. It would have been great to see it restored, but at the time it was pretty hard to imagine what all these dreary old buildings (as they would mostly have seemed to us then) would ever be needed for. It's too bad, since the McIntyre Block would look really good if it had managed to hang on until it was safely into the era of heritage consciousness (not that that saved the Childs Building or Eaton's).

drew · #**1789** Posted **Apr 10, 2016, 3:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy6

The McIntyre Block was pretty decrepit. It would have been great to see it restored, but at the time it was pretty hard to imagine what all these dreary old buildings (as they would mostly have seemed to us then) would ever be needed for. It's too bad, since the McIntyre Block would look really good if it had managed to hang on until it was safely into the era of heritage consciousness (not that that saved the Childs Building or Eaton's).

IMO, it would have better had TD built where the McIntyre Block was, and the whole Trizac development just didn't happen.

I like the TD building, but not enough to make up for what it took.

We got it right (or OK) on two corners at Portage and Main.

Urban recluse · #**1790** Posted **Apr 10, 2016, 4:13 PM**

I could not agree more, Drew. If the block that was razed for the Trizec Building was retained (the buildings restored), as well as the Child's/TD/Nanton, and as you said, the TD Centre built where the McIntyre Block was, the corner this area would be so cool.

Tacheguy · #**1791** Posted **Apr 10, 2016, 5:31 PM**

I think that when the site is finished people are going to feel better about it. hope it happens in my lifetime..

Urban recluse · #**1792** Posted **Apr 10, 2016, 5:46 PM**

Based on the recent slew of announcements, and increased interest, I would say sooner than later. It does not have to be taller either. A stunning design at 10 stories would satisfy me.

esquire · #**1793** Posted **Apr 10, 2016, 6:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew

IMO, it would have better had TD built where the McIntyre Block was, and the whole Trizac development just didn't happen.

I like the TD building, but not enough to make up for what it took.

We got it right (or OK) on two corners at Portage and Main.

This is one instance where we could have easily had our cake and eaten it too. It's not hard to imagine the TD Building on the site of the McIntyre Block leaving those other buildings intact. It's also not hard to imagine 360 Main having been built right at the corner of Portage and Main, without taking out an entire block. Sigh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

Based on the recent slew of announcements, and increased interest, I would say sooner than later. It does not have to be taller either. A stunning design at 10 stories would satisfy me.

I agree. As long as it has a good interaction with the sidewalk and street, I don't think it has to be a soaring tower. Even a building of middling height would work well there. But does the value of the land rule out the possibility of an 8-12 storey building?

Urban recluse · #**1794** Posted **Apr 10, 2016, 7:18 PM**

I would think Harvard could make money on it.

crocket · #**1795** Posted **Apr 14, 2016, 3:39 PM**

Nice shot of where the Public Safety Building used to be. Tore down some nice buildings for the one now that will be torn down..
https://www.instagram.com/p/BELi6ZKoT8d/

TimeFadesAway · #**1796** Posted **Apr 14, 2016, 5:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by crocket

Nice shot of where the Public Safety Building used to be. Tore down some nice buildings for the one now that will be torn down..
https://www.instagram.com/p/BELi6ZKoT8d/

Just being pedantic here...None of the building in the photo were torn down to build the PSB. The building that was torn down is outside the frame to the left, which was the Market building. It had long ago been emasculated from its original glorious appearance and converted into civic offices, essentially looking like a box. It looked so bad, it's hard to find photos because it had been rendered so unremarkable.

The facades of the most prominent buildings in the photo still exist except for the one on the far left that was torn down independent of the civic centre project.

The buildings on the very right hand side of the photo (Queen's Hotel, etc) were torn down for the parkade. The footprint of the PSB ends 3/4 of the way into Market St.

Again, just being super pedantic. My (minor bordering on major) obsession is with the historic locations of buildings.

GarryEllice · #**1797** Posted **Apr 15, 2016, 1:40 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimeFadesAway

Just being pedantic here...None of the building in the photo were torn down to build the PSB.

Just to clarify, for anyone who didn't make the connection: the buildings in the photo are the ones whose facades are now part of the Red River College building.

Urban recluse · #**1798** Posted **Apr 15, 2016, 1:50 AM**

A quick glance may trick the eye, as the buildings on the right are so foreign. It is easy for it to not register that those are the RRC facades. That certainly was a lovely collection back in the day. Very charming; had they all been saved and restored, what a stunning shopping district that area could have become.

EndoftheBeginning · #**1799** Posted **Apr 28, 2016, 2:17 PM**

Have some old aerial photographs of downtown - 1928 and 1945. Thought I'd provide the south of Portage Avenue view below (cropped from the original much larger photos). Have scaled them down to 1280 size as well, but even so, the jpgs are large.

Note the absence of surface parking lots downtown and residential component in north Broadway area.

1928 south of Portage Avenue

1945 south of Portage Avenue

esquire · #**1800** Posted **Apr 28, 2016, 2:42 PM**

^ Great aerials... thanks for posting. Those photos make it clear that one of the fatal mistakes in relation to downtown Winnipeg was allowing it to expand drastically during the postwar years. It's clear that in the 1945 photo, which was still very much within downtown's heyday, commercial activity was focused on the busiest arterials... mainly Portage and Main. As soon as you got off those streets, you were pretty much in a residential area. You can literally see homes a stone's throw from Portage Avenue where Portage Place now stands.

In hindsight, turning the large swaths of land south of Graham into parking lots punctuated by buildings was a terrible mistake. If the development that took place downtown in the 60s, 70s and 80s had been concentrated on Portage Avenue and Main Street, we probably could have avoided the situation where downtown commercial activity is simply spread too thinly over way too large of an area.

When people talk about the "good old days" of Winnipeg's downtown, those aerials make it clear that they're talking about Portage Avenue, Main Street and maybe Graham Avenue and a block or two of Fort and Garry Streets. Ironically, a small CBD made for a much better downtown... making downtown physically larger than it had to be killed its mojo.