Canadian skylines of the past

[Rico Rommheim]

Call me crazy but I prefer TO's "old" skyline. There's something cool about the big brash bank towers surrounded by smaller highrises around it. And the CN tower is there! Not a fan of TO's insanely huge skyline.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Call me crazy but I prefer TO's "old" skyline. There's something cool about the big brash bank towers surrounded by smaller highrises around it. And the CN tower is there! Not a fan of TO's insanely huge skyline.

It just looks much more generic now with all the glass condos. It used to look like your typical big american city CBD.

[harls]

nevermind..

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

Montreal skyline sometime in the mid-eighties

Reynald Comeau rey232.jpg by Reynald Comeau, sur Flickr

Whoa cool angle. I especially love the muscular presence of the older pre-60's towers. Would like to see a modern shot.

[SignalHillHiker]

From my outside perspective, the new skyline enforces the fact that Toronto is a large city and elevates the impression of that older, less reflective, more muscular core. When it was just as that 12-year-old shot, it's just, "That's cool... is that all?" but now with all this development around the core, including lots of that buffness that comes from Vancouver-style condos, it just seems much larger, more layered, more interesting. And knowing that core is still there it feels more impressive and engaging, like the city has something special at its heart you can't see from afar. And on top of that it makes this heart, in contrast to the newer developments surround it, feel even older, established, historic.

In my impression, it's a very positive change. It elevates the visitor visual impression of the city, and I'm sure the urban experience of it.

[MolsonExport]

TO's skyline is better now. Much better. Montreal's too.

Although Lower Manhattan's best time was the 1930s-50s. The greatest skyline that ever was.

the atlantic


dailymail

[Architype]

^ Agreed on the New York skyline.

But, to answer SHH's questions;

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

A before/after via FB. The same block just after the 1892 Great Fire, and what replaced it.
....
The metal guardrail in the first pic confuses me, did that really exist back then? And, if so, why? Cars would've been very few and far between on the island at all, let alone heading out the end of the Battery.

Judging from the fashions, the photo of the two women is from the late 50s or early 60s, when there were lots of cars and guard rails.

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

One more then/now. Someone who knows cars can tell me when this pic (from FB) was taken:
...

The older photo of Water Street is from the 80s, after 1981, since the TD building, in the distance, is already built.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

From my outside perspective, the new skyline enforces the fact that Toronto is a large city and elevates the impression of that older, less reflective, more muscular core. When it was just as that 12-year-old shot, it's just, "That's cool... is that all?" but now with all this development around the core, including lots of that buffness that comes from Vancouver-style condos, it just seems much larger, more layered, more interesting. And knowing that core is still there it feels more impressive and engaging, like the city has something special at its heart you can't see from afar. And on top of that it makes this heart, in contrast to the newer developments surround it, feel even older, established, historic.

In my impression, it's a very positive change. It elevates the visitor visual impression of the city, and I'm sure the urban experience of it.

Yes, that's a great way of putting it. You get the same effect in the City of London, where the crazy mish-mashed skyscrapers of the last 15 years don't necessarily detract from St. Paul's and the venerable stone blocks.

I like the fact that Canada, as small as it is, can actually lay claim to having one city with a cacophonous, crazy skyline.

If the CN tower didn't loom over this hot mess it would be a little unfocused, though.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Franco401

Couple from Saint John:

View of Uptown in the '20s:

That's one of the greatest shots I've seen on this thread in months.

I went exploring that neighbourhood in the upper left-hand corner on Streetview, though, and while most of the buildings are still there, it seems to look a lot less concentrated at street level.

[Architype]

^ Here is the streetview of the diagonal corner on the left. It was clearly a superior urban environment to any other city in the province, perhaps even the region, rivalling Halifax back in the day.

https://goo.gl/maps/DSjDyQtkoNU2

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Call me crazy but I prefer TO's "old" skyline. There's something cool about the big brash bank towers surrounded by smaller highrises around it. And the CN tower is there! Not a fan of TO's insanely huge skyline.

I had a similar reaction. Toronto's skyline is obviously awesome but I miss when skylines were dominated by office buildings, not residential. This is true for Vancouver as well. I don't even know if it's office or residential actually, I think maybe I'm just getting tired of all the glass.

[ssiguy]

I have never been a huge fan of the Toronto skyline. I'm not a fan of the new glass towers and I don't really care how all the skyscrapers are so tightly clumped together, I prefer them a bit spread out so you can see the buildings as opposed to the "volcano" effect. Now that the Toronto is expanding it is starting to lose that but unfortunately all the new ones are blue glass. I actually prefer the Yong/Bloor are as I find it has a more organic look than huge condo developments and the buildings are more spread.

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

That's one of the greatest shots I've seen on this thread in months.

I went exploring that neighbourhood in the upper left-hand corner on Streetview, though, and while most of the buildings are still there, it seems to look a lot less concentrated at street level.

That's a fantastic shot. The scale is so damn good.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I went exploring that neighbourhood in the upper left-hand corner on Streetview, though, and while most of the buildings are still there, it seems to look a lot less concentrated at street level.

Saint John has lots of great stuff left but that part of town really declined. I assume it was ground zero for urban renewal projects and slum clearance after WWII.

Here's a shot of Main Street when the old hospital was still around:

Originally Posted by someone123

[someone123]

It is kind of fuzzy but here's a few of the northern side of downtown Halifax (the date given is 1934 but I am not sure if it is correct). This is a higher resolution version than I've seen in the past.


https://novascotia.ca/archives/eastc...hives.asp?ID=1

[someone123]

Here's another one, slightly older (and a bit higher resolution than I've seen previously, but I still haven't found an original digitized one on any of the archive sites):


Source

[mistercorporate]

TO's present skyline is just filler for what is yet to come. It will be a whole other beast in 6 years.

[SignalHillHiker]

A couple of similar view comparisons, via MUN Archives and FB.

View from the site of former Hotel Newfoundland. 1890s:



1976:



View from the Basilica Clocktower. 1920s:



2017:

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

TO's skyline is better now. Much better. Montreal's too.

Although Lower Manhattan's best time was the 1930s-50s. The greatest skyline that ever was.

the atlantic


dailymail

Those pictures give me shivers.

[esquire]

^ There is certainly something to be said for being the first to have such an epic skyline. A collection of towers like that must have looked otherworldly in 1925.