Ugly Canada 2 (Only architecture, planning and design faux pas)

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by megadude

Couple from York, TO.

For the second I don't think the roof matches the house. And for what was there before, the driveway/yard situation, along with the neighbours, looked interesting to me.

Very curious why the homes are set so far back from the street. I would gather the city owns most of the setback. For a road that was never built?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by niwell

Large portions of York were known for a time as the "Shack Lands" so this is literally true. https://quillandquire.com/review/the...%20in%20Canada.

Lauren Harris of the Group of Seven even had some paintings of it!


National Gallery of Canada

Group of Seven paintings of urban shacks feels like peak SSP Canada

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

And the finest artisanal olive oil and bespoke cupcakes.

If you can't retain the artisanal olive oil shoppes and bespoke cupcake emporiums, your mall will end up experiencing the shopping mall crisis that befell Bari about a decade ago.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by niwell

Large portions of York were known for a time as the "Shack Lands" so this is literally true. https://quillandquire.com/review/the...%20in%20Canada.

Lauren Harris of the Group of Seven even had some paintings of it!


National Gallery of Canada

very interesting. I have a fascination for the grottier parts of Canadian cities. Montreal had a lot of shack-y locales (e.g., Griffintown), but most are now gone. There are still plenty of eclectic, grotty working-class neighborhoods though (Villeray, Parc-Ex, Rosemont, St. Henri, Ville St. Pierre, Ville Emard, Cote St. Paul, Maisonneuve, Verdun, ....)

[MolsonExport]

reposted from the skylines thread:

Originally Posted by kool maudit

In one sense, this is quite ordinary. In another, it is so irredeemably ugly that it appears like some sort of remote resource-camp town where you go to work on lucrative timed contracts and you only have to pay 8% in taxes or whatever. Like if Svalbard had a city. Like the sort of place where you tell yourself it's only 12 months and you're going to go to Vegas for a week once you're done.

Which I guess raises the question of how this became ordinary?

[esquire]

I certainly wouldn't say it's gorgeous (the grey, overcast skies and bare trees in the picture don't help), but at the same time I don't think it's quite as hideously dire as kool m. so colourfully put it

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by esquire

I certainly wouldn't say it's gorgeous (the grey, overcast skies and bare trees in the picture don't help), but at the same time I don't think it's quite as hideously dire as kool m. so colourfully put it

Did you look at it on Streetview? I think it maybe is as hideously dire as kool m said.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.48267...7i16384!8i8192

[esquire]

It looks to me like an area that is undergoing a quick transition. I'd check back and see how it looks in another 10-20 years.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by esquire

I certainly wouldn't say it's gorgeous (the grey, overcast skies and bare trees in the picture don't help), but at the same time I don't think it's quite as hideously dire as kool m. so colourfully put it

You mean Waterloo’s student ghetto? It is awful.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Did you look at it on Streetview? I think it maybe is as hideously dire as kool m said.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.48267...7i16384!8i8192

It's actually this street.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.48089...7i16384!8i8192

And yeah, it is awful. But the residents are all students concentrating on their studies and partying, so there's no reason they should care.

I've mentioned before on SSP that the area also features some density with ground-level retail that may not be pretty, but now there are all these Chinese businesses catering to the Chinese exchange students that the rest of us get the benefit from as well. It actually feels a bit granular in places.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.47583...7i16384!8i8192

[esquire]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I've mentioned before on SSP that the area also features some density with ground-level retail that may not be pretty, but now there are all these Chinese businesses catering to the Chinese exchange students that the rest of us get the benefit from as well. It actually feels a bit granular in places.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.47583...7i16384!8i8192

That's not bad at all

Give it a few years for the trees to grow and it will look pretty decent. Maybe not a design award winner, but a fine urban neighbourhood.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by esquire

That's not bad at all

Give it a few years for the trees to grow and it will look pretty decent. Maybe not a design award winner, but a fine urban neighbourhood.

I agree, my second link to the street-level retail isn't bad for a student ghetto. Though that's just one small section of what we're talking about. The rest of the area really is bleak, per that initial photo that I complained about.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by niwell

Large portions of York were known for a time as the "Shack Lands" so this is literally true.

Had no idea. But yeah, so true. I actually drove through today, taking roads or stretches I had never taken before. First time on Symes road and first time on certain sections of Jane, Weston and Woolner, etc. I know there's quite a bit of elevation changes (like on Dufferin or Eglinton and so on) here and there that GTA or even TO proper people don't realize but I was further surprised by some of the ups and downs and lefts and rights I drove through today.

There really are so many shacks in York. Mostly in decent condition, thankfully. But man, Toronto city living is not for me. Whether it's in those middle class shacks or ghetto or a mansion on Bridle Path. I covered so much today. Old Mill, Kingsway, much of York, Belgravia, Briar Hill, Bridle Path, Flemingdon Park, Don Mills, Lawrence Heights, Stockyards, Weston and Finch, etc. I visited eight properties so I had to get out and walk around too. For all that city living offers, I can't get past the traffic, buses, tights spaces, construction, masses of people, run down plazas/industrial and occasional house, etc.

Don't know if this green goblin of a building has been posted here before but here is one heck of an eyesore on Woolner in York. Thought I'd compare to some other emerald gems that fare better in the looks deparment albeit not by a whole lot, depending on your tastes.

Second one in North York, third one in Mississauga. My bro in law told me his father in law owned 1/3 of that. Yes, he was smart enough to invest in real estate many years ago after starting a successful tool and die company. There was a murder suicide there two decades ago. My former employer also had a piece of the loan on that too. And the famous Mississauga cougar bar, Croc Rock was there for a long time. All my Mississauga peeps know what I'm talking about.


restaurants on sawmill rd


https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/complex/308


https://lisgardev.ca/wpproperty/10-k...sauga-ontario/

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by esquire

That's not bad at all

Give it a few years for the trees to grow and it will look pretty decent. Maybe not a design award winner, but a fine urban neighbourhood.

Way better than whereever I got lost in.

Has anyone had trouble navigating in streetview? It used to work quite well, but now it seems impossible to move any more than a couple of meters forward and it usually just throws you sideways at any street corner.

[MolsonExport]

"Green Goblin of a building"

Very apt depiction.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by megadude

https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/complex/308

They went with an interesting shape and design, they just got the colour wrong. Reminds of True North Square.

[IMG][/IMG]
https://www.pcl.com/ca/en/our-work/true-north-square

[esquire]

^ I was thinking the same thing! Totally reminds me of True North Square.

[Nashe]

That green is very '90's. I don't like it, but that's just me because everything built here in that time frame has that same colour and glass.

[megadude]

House under construction in North York. Oh, wait... It's supposed to look like the roof is missing. Not ugly. Just looks... incomplete. At least the front yard filled out.

[O-tacular]

Unidriveways be damned. Let's pave the entire front yard!

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.9906...7i16384!8i8192