Canadian skylines of the past - Page 145

esquire · #**2881** Posted **Jun 11, 2020, 7:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I used to dismiss the CN HQ (where my father was entombed for decades) as banal, but I now think it is quite elegant.

imtl

It has held up better than its adjacent, similar counterpart, the QE hotel (which is nicer on the inside: I've stayed there about a dozen times over the years)

travelweekly

Plus CN has one of the best logos in the land.

Those are two great examples from that transitional era that Rico Rommheim was getting at... we don't have many large-scale buildings from that 40s/50s era, but Montreal is fortunate to have several. Thinking of Toronto, the Imperial Oil Tower comes to mind as an outstanding example.

Rico Rommheim · #**2882** Posted **Jun 11, 2020, 9:34 PM**

There's also a good example of a true hybrid. The Bell Telephone annex. The lower art deco portion was built in phases thought the 20's and 30's, while the top half was built in 1959.

someone123 · #**2883** Posted **Jun 11, 2020, 9:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

Those are two great examples from that transitional era that Rico Rommheim was getting at... we don't have many large-scale buildings from that 40s/50s era, but Montreal is fortunate to have several. Thinking of Toronto, the Imperial Oil Tower comes to mind as an outstanding example.

Halifax has managed to demolish 100% of its larger 1950's office buildings. One of them (Ralston Building) was a federally-registered heritage building.

Source

Martin Mtl · #**2884** Posted **Jun 11, 2020, 9:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

There's also a good example of a true hybrid. The Bell Telephone annex. The lower art deco portion was built in phases thought the 20's and 30's, while the top half was built in 1959.

I like that building a lot.

someone123 · #**2885** Posted **Jun 11, 2020, 10:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

I like that building a lot.

I wonder if it would be better if the style of the top matched the bottom more. For example, there is more ornamentation around the top of the lower portion.

esquire · #**2886** Posted **Jun 12, 2020, 2:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by someone123

Halifax has managed to demolish 100% of its larger 1950's office buildings. One of them (Ralston Building) was a federally-registered heritage building.

What a gem. I googled it and I see that it came down recently? Or was that another building by the same name? If it's in fact the same building, it looks like it was significantly altered over the years.

MolsonExport · #**2887** Posted **Jun 12, 2020, 3:14 AM**

This place is one of my favorite buildings in Montreal
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ci...gIgAQ?hl=en-US

I am trying in vain to find a picture.
Edit: found one. I love this building (the art deco-ish brown brick building on the right, foreground)

wookiepedia

someone123 · #**2888** Posted **Jun 12, 2020, 3:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

What a gem. I googled it and I see that it came down recently? Or was that another building by the same name? If it's in fact the same building, it looks like it was significantly altered over the years.

It came down during the past year or so. It had been renovated in, I guess, the 80's. It had some kind of cladding problem and the stone panels were stapled on for a while, then Canada Lands decided to tear it down and redevelop. It look much nicer in that old photo than it did in the 2000's.

Next door was the old Bank of Canada building. That empty lot to the right of the Ralston building in the shot above is the BoC construction site.

Hollis Street side of the Bank of Canada and Ralston buildings:

Source

The Ralston Building was a little odd in that it never occupied the full end of the block. You can see some small buildings to the left of it in the picture. This often spells doom for older buildings since there is a bigger payoff to building out the full site.

These ones, originally next to the Bank of Canada Building, bit the dust around the late 80's or early 90's:

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

This southern end of Hollis was cursed or something. It had a decent inventory of medium sized historic masonry buildings at one point but there is literally nothing left from before 2000 along that stretch now. And some of the early 2000's buildings were crap.

MolsonExport · #**2889** Posted **Jun 14, 2020, 7:31 PM**

wiki

someone123 · #**2890** Posted **Jun 15, 2020, 1:40 AM**

I thought this one was impressively detailed considering the date. Halifax's skyline painted in 1762 by Dominic Serres:

Source

Interesting to me that there would be a French painter working there during the Seven Years' War. Turns out he was taken prisoner by the British navy in the 1740's then decided to move to London after. He did a tour of North America in the early 1760's.

One thing that I find striking in these old paintings is how they cleared most of the trees away in early cities. There used to be more small farms near the cities plus it was advantageous to eliminate hiding places for invaders.

Bonus slightly creepy Victorian shot of the graving dock in Halifax, with the Acadia Sugar Refinery (a casualty of the Halifax Explosion) in the background:

Source

Parts of this structure looked quite old and were made out of granite block.

davidivivid · #**2891** Posted **Jun 16, 2020, 10:31 PM**

"During WWII, Quebec City was chosen as the meeting place for two strategically significant conferences. The First Quebec Conference was held in August 1943, while the Second Quebec Conference took place in September 1944. Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King hosted Canada's two allies, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

https://www.facebook.com/USConsulateQuebec/

Dr Awesomesauce · #**2892** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 12:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by someone123

I thought this one was impressively detailed considering the date. Halifax's skyline painted in 1762 by Dominic Serres:

Source

Anything left from this period?

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidivivid

"During WWII, Quebec City was chosen as the meeting place for two strategically significant conferences. The First Quebec Conference was held in August 1943, while the Second Quebec Conference took place in September 1944. Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King hosted Canada's two allies, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

https://www.facebook.com/USConsulateQuebec/

Who's the gent on the far left? I'm guessing he was the highest ranking officer in the army. McNaughton? Crerar?

someone123 · #**2893** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 1:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

Anything left from this period?

Yep. The church in the middle, St. Paul's, is still there. Carleton House was 1759 and the Auction House might have been around. The Morris House was 1764 so missed this painting by 2 years. The Little Dutch church was around during this period (built 1756) but I think it was too far north.

One larger building you can make out is the Great Pontack. It made it to the 1920's then I think got replaced by an Imperial Oil building.

The most famous event to take place at the establishment was on May 24, 1758, when James Wolfe, who was headquartered on Hollis Street, Halifax, threw a party at the Great Pontack prior to departing for the Siege of Louisbourg (1758). Wolfe and his men purchased 70 bottles of Madeira wine, 50 bottles of claret and 25 bottles of brandy.[7] Four days later, on May 29 the invasion fleet departed.[8] Wolfe returned to his headquarters in Halifax and the Great Pontack before his Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

J.OT13 · #**2894** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 12:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

Anything left from this period?

Who's the gent on the far left? I'm guessing he was the highest ranking officer in the army. McNaughton? Crerar?

I think it's Major-General Georges Vanier. He served in numerous diplomatic positions for the Canadian Government in France, including Ambassador to France in 1944 (after the Allies liberated France).

He was later the Governor General from 1959 until his death in 1967. Eastview was renamed Vanier in his honour.

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

SignalHillHiker · #**2895** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 3:23 PM**

A few Facebook finds over the past several weeks...

The tower is now gone. St. John's lost sssooo many towers/steeples on buildings that still exist.

Even more on buildings now gone.

Newfoundland Hotel.

Adjacent East End Fire Hall.

Dominion Ale still exists, but is brewed by Molson or Labatt (I forget which). Both breweries, in addition to the national brands, continue to brew the established local ones - Dominion, Jockey Club, India, Blue Star, and Blackhorse. I love that sort of thing. Same as Loblaw's here maintaining the local Dominion branding they bought out (the logo is even the L turned to be a D).

Caine's Grocery on Duckworth Street (still exists) used to deliver hot food this way:

Military parade after WWII. Presumably Americans?

esquire · #**2896** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 7:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Dominion Ale still exists, but is brewed by Molson or Labatt (I forget which). Both breweries, in addition to the national brands, continue to brew the established local ones - Dominion, Jockey Club, India, Blue Star, and Blackhorse. I love that sort of thing. Same as Loblaw's here maintaining the local Dominion branding they bought out (the logo is even the L turned to be a D).

For what it's worth Dominion supermarkets were historically a national brand, although for whatever reason NL appears to be the final holdout.

Although my only visit to NL was a long time ago, I do recall the distinctive local beer brands brewed by the national brewers at a time when the big brands (Blue, Canadian, Bud, Coors Light, etc.) dominated the scene. NL must have more unique regional consumer brands than anywhere in Canada apart from Quebec.

Rico Rommheim · #**2897** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 9:56 PM**

I'm still bitter about the loss of the Newfoundland hotel. It just added a sense of old fashion big city feel that is sorely lacking in the st John's skyline.

esquire · #**2898** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 11:07 PM**

^ I totally agree.

SignalHillHiker · #**2899** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 11:11 PM**

Same, but that's not a stretch or sadness for me. We had far grander buildings than that lost. I'd like to go back to the late 1920s, I think, was our best period in terms of the quality of public buildings. I wish I could say just before the 1892 fire, but we built a lot of nice shit just after.

Anyhow, so go back to late 1920s, freeze the core, including the Central Slum - bulldoze the buildings but keep the knotted street grid of streets you could touch both sides of and wide plazas with water pumps (replace with fountains, whatever). Just keep the street grid, and replace with proper buildings.

And then put all our post-then growth outside the core. We'd feel HUGE. St. John's felt bigger even in the 1940s than it possibly could now, with just the expanse of commercial/rowhouse areas.

davidivivid · #**2900** Posted **Jun 20, 2020, 3:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

I'm still bitter about the loss of the Newfoundland hotel. It just added a sense of old fashion big city feel that is sorely lacking in the st John's skyline.

Absolutely.