Beautiful Canadian architecture - Page 6

Kilgore Trout · #**101** Posted **Jan 8, 2021, 11:36 PM**

Westmount Square, Montreal – 1967
The International Style is so simple, you can really tell the masters from the imitators, and this is a perfect example of how well-proportioned minimalism feels airy and transcendant rather than alienating.

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BC Electric Building, Vancouver – 1957
This building always makes me happy when I pass by. It's cheerful and optimistic and I love the tilework on the ground floor.

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Caserne 30, Montreal – 1905
Montreal has a lot of nice fire halls but this is my favourite. It's a great example of the château style of architecture that was popular in Canada in the early 20th century. Every neighbourhood should have a castle like this.

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Central Library, Calgary – 2018
I can understand if some people think the façade is a bit kitschy, but I loved walking through this building. It's warm and inviting, the details are nice and it feels exactly like a contemporary library should. Plus it's really cool that it was built on top of a train tunnel portal.

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esquire · #**102** Posted **Jan 9, 2021, 4:15 PM**

^ What a wonderful selection. All of those are great, but Westmount Square is one of my absolute favourites.

wave46 · #**103** Posted **Jan 9, 2021, 4:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

^ What a wonderful selection. All of those are great, but Westmount Square is one of my absolute favourites.

There's just something about Westmount Square.

It's '60s, but timeless. There's a solidity to it that it'll be around for a long while, but without the ugliness of Brutalism. It's minimalistic and clean, not cluttered.

There was a certain era of late-'60s cars that embodied the same aesthetic. Not chromey like the '50s, nor faux-ostentatious like the '70s. Cars with good proportions and clean lines.

I always try and remember that even though the pictures and aesthetic of the '60s were cool, it was most definitely a dirtier and grimier era. I try and imagine the vague hint of cigarette smoke on everything, the less manicured appearance of people, the haze of unburned hydrocarbons and filth from every car. It helps keep the reality of the era intact in my mind.

Kilgore Trout · #**104** Posted **Jan 9, 2021, 7:13 PM**

Yeah, when I was a kid I remember my grandmother telling me about how she would come home after working in downtown Calgary in the 1950s, and when she wiped her neck the towel would be nearly black with grime. And it's not like Calgary was a big city back then.

rousseau · #**105** Posted **Jan 9, 2021, 7:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wave46

...the less manicured appearance of people...

What? People were far more manicured in the 1960s than at any time since.

megadude · #**106** Posted **Feb 5, 2021, 10:09 PM**

I don't think this is beautiful, but I also don't think it's ugly. But I'll put this here anyway as it's at least interesting. Though I'd rather have any of the other houses in the pic.

Located in Leslieville, Toronto.

KnoxfordGuy · #**107** Posted **Feb 6, 2021, 9:41 PM**

This is a beautiful convent that was bulldozed in Saint John in 2012. It was 147 years old. So sad. The lot has set vacant for almost ten years but there seems to be activity there now with dirt being moved from the site.

Photo from CBC.

by James McGrath, on Flickr

The site today from Google Street View:

by James McGrath, on Flickr

Kilgore Trout · #**108** Posted **Feb 7, 2021, 1:05 AM**

Love that Leslieville house. So much better than the generic pseudo-modernist boxes that seem to be popping up all over the place.

J.OT13 · #**109** Posted **Apr 27, 2021, 5:41 PM**

Some beauties in Ottawa. Part of our rich collection of early 20th Century apartment blocks. In many of these examples, the interiors are also well preserved.

https://twitter.com/mchkzn/status/1386378486957363204

https://twitter.com/mchkzn/status/1386382426906181633

https://twitter.com/mchkzn/status/1379147857006104576

http://urbsite.blogspot.com/2016/05/...nt-houses.html

https://www.historynerd.ca/tag/elgin-street/

Rico Rommheim · #**110** Posted **Jun 22, 2021, 10:44 PM**

My favourite apartment building in the entire country:

Le Château Apartments was commissioned by the owner of La Presse newspaper at the time. It was constructed between February 1925 and 1926, and was designed by Montreal architecture firm Ross and Macdonald (Fort Garry Hotel, Maple Leafs Gardens, Union Station, Chateau Laurier, Hotel MacDonald, etc) . Its facade is Tyndall limestone from Manitoba and its structural material is steel. It ranges from 12 to 14 stories tall. There are 136 apartments.

Le Château Apartments were designed to resemble both French châteaux and Scottish fortified houses. The roof of the building is copper, which is commonly found in Canada's grand railway hotels.

Le_Chateau_04 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Le_Chateau_03 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Le_Chateau_02 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Le_Chateau_01 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Le_Chateau_05 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

esquire · #**111** Posted **Jun 23, 2021, 2:22 AM**

That is a really wonderful building. It looks exactly like a grand railway hotel of its era.

HomeInMyShoes · #**112** Posted **Jun 23, 2021, 3:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.OT13

https://www.historynerd.ca/tag/elgin-street/

I'm pretty sure I lived in this one when I had workterms in Ottawa a long time ago. Back when it wasn't yet a hundred years old.

MolsonExport · #**113** Posted **Jun 23, 2021, 4:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

My favourite apartment building in the entire country:

Le Château Apartments was commissioned by the owner of La Presse newspaper at the time. It was constructed between February 1925 and 1926, and was designed by Montreal architecture firm Ross and Macdonald (Fort Garry Hotel, Maple Leafs Gardens, Union Station, Chateau Laurier, Hotel MacDonald, etc) . Its facade is Tyndall limestone from Manitoba and its structural material is steel. It ranges from 12 to 14 stories tall. There are 136 apartments.

Le Château Apartments were designed to resemble both French châteaux and Scottish fortified houses. The roof of the building is copper, which is commonly found in Canada's grand railway hotels.

Le_Chateau_04 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Le_Chateau_03 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Le_Chateau_02 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Le_Chateau_01 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Le_Chateau_05 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

I love this to death, along with their similar counterparts, the Gleneagles and Trafalgar apartments on Cote-des-Neiges (Montreal)

Gleneagles

Trafalgar

rofina · #**114** Posted **Jun 23, 2021, 5:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

Westmount Square, Montreal – 1967
The International Style is so simple, you can really tell the masters from the imitators, and this is a perfect example of how well-proportioned minimalism feels airy and transcendant rather than alienating.

Source

Holy, this is an amazing esthetic. Wow. Beautiful.

Berklon · #**115** Posted **Jun 23, 2021, 6:42 PM**

^ Almost identical to the TD Centre buildings in Toronto.

Architype · #**116** Posted **Jun 24, 2021, 12:15 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

...
BC Electric Building, Vancouver – 1957
This building always makes me happy when I pass by. It's cheerful and optimistic and I love the tilework on the ground floor.

Source

Source
...

The lighting display also makes it a local landmark at night.

source

J.OT13 · #**117** Posted **Jun 24, 2021, 12:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berklon

^ Almost identical to the TD Centre buildings in Toronto.

Same architect, Mies van der Rohe, arguably the father of the international style.

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

esquire · #**118** Posted **Jun 24, 2021, 1:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Same architect, Mies van der Rohe, arguably the father of the international style.

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

Is there a better complex of buildings in Canada (as opposed to an individual building) than Westmount Square and Toronto-Dominion Centre? Because I can't think of any... those two are as good as it gets. And as similar as they are, they both have their own unique character. Westmount Square is smaller, a little more compact and more cohesive, while Toronto-Dominion Centre is spread out a bit more but taller and more imposing.

Those two complexes are crown jewels for each city as far as I'm concerned.

kool maudit · #**119** Posted **Jun 24, 2021, 2:37 PM**

You'd have to go all the way to Parliament before a real competitor emerged. Maybe if Vimy Circle had been built...

EspionNoir · #**120** Posted **Jun 25, 2021, 2:12 AM**

Post-WWII Art Deco: Winnipeg Techinical-Vocational High School.
Source: Winnipeg Architecture Foundation