Canadian skylines of the past

[SteelTown]

This picture has changed a lot though. The two office buildings merged together to create Chateau Royale and the other building on the left got a facelift.

[Trans Canada]

Originally Posted by CanadianCentaur

From the Vintage Edmonton page on Facebook...

Probably most likely taken between 1961-65. The CN Tower doesn't seem to be up at the time this photo was taken..

Whoa, didn't notice until now, the Annex is 6 stories in this photo! I've looked before but have never been able to find a picture of it pre-expansion.

[SignalHillHiker]

A few more from Vintage St. John's.

All from 1892-1918.







Then/now.

[BretttheRiderFan]

Loving that Edmonton pic! The postwar apartment building that I live in is usually not visible in skyline photos, but it's clearly visible in that one!

Found this one today and thought I'd share. Website says it's pre-war.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a.../historic2.jpg

[Hali87]

(wrong thread)

[CanadianCentaur]

A few more vintage aerials of Edmonton from Vintage Edmonton's FB page.

Circa 1971. The highrise u/c to the right of Chateau Lacombe (the round hotel tower by the river valley) is Edmonton House. Check out the smokestack in the far centre left - this was an incinerator and a garbage dump - no, I am not joking!!!. The Muttart Conservatory sits there now. The bridge u/c in this pic is the James McDonald Bridge.


Not the most flattering vintage pic of Edmonton, I know. But this was the western limits of Edmonton's built-up areas in 1971. 170 St in this pic was the westernmost major street at the time. The long building at right and just east of 170 St is the Misericordia Hospital. Where's West Edmonton Mall? It wasn't even built until 1980! WEM is directly west across 170 St from the Misericorida, so there was practically nothing at the time of this pic.


The U of A main campus circa 1967. The U of A Hospital is off the frame to the left.


Downtown Edmonton during the mid to late 1950s. Quite of few of those buildings in this pic are now long gone. The old post office with the clock tower is now replaced by the Westin Hotel. The old courthouse (the yellowish building on the west side of 100 St) is now City Centre Mall East, which went up in around 1974 and was originally Edmonton Centre.

The Tegler Building in the far right was torn down in the early 1980s, and is now the site of the BOM building. The Hotel Macdonald Annex, the drab grey highrise right in front of the original Hotel Macdonald, was torn down in 1986 - a nice little park now sits there. The brown building and parking lot in the bottom left is now Churchill Square.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by CanadianCentaur

A few more vintage aerials of Edmonton from Vintage Edmonton's FB page.

That building with the clock tower on the left: does it still exist?

It looks like one of the Dominion Public Buildings that the Feds built all across Canada in the 1910s. We have one in Vancouver (now called the Sinclair Centre), but you can also see versions of them in Lethbridge, Moose Jaw, Regina, Brantford and probably many other places.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

This picture has changed a lot though. The two office buildings merged together to create Chateau Royale and the other building on the left got a facelift.

When did those where Chateau Royale went up get destroyed? I don't remember them at all (though considering Chateau Royale seemed to take like 5 years to get built I think I was like 8 when it started).

[bulliver]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

That building with the clock tower on the left: does it still exist?

No, though the clock still tenuously exists, as the face was built into a new tower which sits directly in front of the Westin Hotel which is on that property now.

[Daveography]

Originally Posted by CanadianCentaur

A few more vintage aerials of Edmonton from Vintage Edmonton's FB page.

Thanks for sharing these. I love looking at old photos of Edmonton, but it's always a mixed bag since I'm also reminded of some of the incredible architectural heritage we've lost.

[BretttheRiderFan]

Such lost history in this city.

[thomax]

Originally Posted by Beedok

When did those where Chateau Royale went up get destroyed? I don't remember them at all (though considering Chateau Royale seemed to take like 5 years to get built I think I was like 8 when it started).

They weren't destroyed, those buildings were called The Undermount Office Complex and they are the Chateau Royale. It was an office to condo conversion. I would have been about 8 when the Chateau Royale project started too, so I don't remember them with their original façade either. I kinda wish they still looked like that, they seemed to match City Hall nicely.

Here's a before & after from the same angle:

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^ You can see the blank wall on the south side is still there, and you can see the addition they made in between the two towers to connect them.

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[Beedok]

Originally Posted by MeIsThomas

They weren't destroyed, those buildings were called The Undermount Office Complex and they are the Chateau Royale. It was an office to condo conversion. I would have been about 8 when the Chateau Royale project started too, so I don't remember them with their original façade either. I kinda wish they still looked like that, they seemed to match City Hall nicely.

Here's a before & after from the same angle:

Source

^ You can see the blank wall on the south side is still there, and you can see the addition they made in between the two towers to connect them.

Larger Size:

Source

Okay. The Chateau Royale project just took so long it's hard to remember what was there before. They do look like they matched City Hall fairly well. They're not my favourite style (so much blank wall) but Chateau Royale is pretty hideous are replacements go.

It's weird having something like that just totally absent from my memory.

[drawarc]

Postcard of Ottawa, ca. 1970:

Source:http://www.ebay.com/itm/POSTCARD-Vis...item43d31956c4

[thomax]

Hamilton sometime before 1870...


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[someone123]

Some Halifax photos from the NS archives. Some of these are higher-quality versions of photos posted previously.

1930's Barrington Street looking down at the Dominion Public Building


Unfortunately a bit fuzzy, but here's an aerial view of the northern end of the downtown (Prince to Cogswell) in the 30's:


Barrington, 1960's


Barrington and Prince, 1890's. The taller building here was built with a steel frame and large plate glass windows running up two stories. That was cutting-edge construction technology at the time.


I found an elevation for the building with the tower in the background of the last picture. This building is actually in the process of being restored, but the tower is gone and won't be replaced unfortunately (for a very stupid reason: it violates height restrictions put in place in the 1970's after the tower was removed).

The New York Life Insurance building used to have a clock on its roof:


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Grand Parade, 1950's


Hollis circa 1890

[SignalHillHiker]

Ugh, the second one is better than sex.

Also... why was Paramount such a popular theatre name? Was it chain? They seem to have been everywhere at the time.

[Daveography]

^ They were built by Paramount Pictures in just about every city on the continent mostly during the 20s, if my Google/Wikipedia skimming skills are correct.

[thomax]

Hamilton - 1950s


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[MolsonExport]

cool Halifax shots.