Toronto Spire Condos | 144.77m | 45s | Context Development | a—A

Let's see how long that one lasts.

See: Shoppers Drug Mart on Sherbourne.
See: Indigo on Bay.
See: YMCA, 3 underground pools at St. Jamestown.

Still, it doesn't negate the fact that the tower would have been fine without the long north-south building along Church.

Let's just look at the mess Bay St. has become. Every tower is right to the curb. Then compare that to, say, Plaza 100 on Wellesley. You barely notice Plaza 100 as a pedestrian. When I walk down Bay St., I am horrified.

I can't wait until Burano/Murano and all the rest are finished.:rolleyes:
 
Good point about recognizing the design merits of contemporary buildings when they're first built not after they've gone. Getting a warm and fuzzy feeling about preserving second rate Victorian piles is an easy sell, but when you look around at how quickly some of our better modern buildings have been monkeyed with ( Commerce Court's outside plaza junked up; Royal Bank Plaza's interior spaces closed off; Eaton Centre's spacious north and south entrances severely modified etc. ) it makes for a depressing sight.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Good point about recognizing the design merits of contemporary buildings when they're first built not after they've gone. Getting a warm and fuzzy feeling about preserving second rate Victorian piles is an easy sell, but when you look around at how quickly some of our better modern buildings have been monkeyed with ( Commerce Court's outside plaza junked up; Royal Bank Plaza's interior spaces closed off; Eaton Centre's spacious north and south entrances severely modified etc. ) it makes for a depressing sight.
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Let's not forget the atrocity that has become the CIBC tower at Yonge/Bloor. The Eaton center has become pretty tarted up, too.

I know I am new around here, but at 47 years old, I have lived in and around Toronto most of my life, and I have finally had it: I am getting me some civic action here. My over all point is that every generation of urban studies graduates out of York have a new and improved opinion of what makes a city work. Most of those opinions are bone-headed.
The Eaton Center was supposed to revitalize Yonge St. It did not. In the '70s, tall buildings were out and when Malls were built, they turned a blank wall to the city streets. Fine. We now know that was wrong thinking.
But then the owners of the Eaton Center go to Silly Hall and say, 'well, let's put retail along the outside of the Eaton Center," and look what we end up with . Tacky and no sidewalks.
Now, tall towers are suddenly 'in' again, because the tree-huggers have decreed that sprawling out is worse than up. What will we be told in another 20 years?
Tall towers were never 'ugly,' they just got a bad name because someone decided Victorian was better than modern. Well, Victorian doesn't stand up to pigeon poop very well and modern is easier (cheaper) to maintain. A 50 story tower has a smaller carbon footprint than a 8 story building like those in St. Lawrence, so big and tall it is! :rolleyes:

Forgive me for getting suspicous when the new urban planners try and shove their latest version of utopia down our throats.

Some of us have heard it all before.
 
Indeed. The TD would never have been built today because it doesn't have "retail at the base", doesn't "meet the street", and is a "tower in the park" ... but it is internationally recognized as one of our ( and Mies's ) best buildings ... and it works!

As for Yonge and Bloor, the lobby wall artwork in 2 Bloor West disappeared ( destroyed, presumably ) when they renovated it several years ago. The listed Quebec artist who designed it is represented in the excellent Government of Ontario art collection at Wellesley and Bay. There's a vulnerable time, about 30 years after a building is completed, when things become "unfashionable" no matter how well designed they are.
 
Except that it's the limestone facing that defines its external expression, not concrete--that's how it manages to be "modern" and "crypto-historicist" at the same time. Back in the 1960s, "New Formalism" was the label typically given to this kind of architectural expression.

Interesting thing to note is that the somewhat later 56 Wellesley building at the NW Bay-Wellesley corner has a very similar facade pattern--only now it's of exposed concrete, not faced in limestone. And with that change, what seemed almost Gothicky becomes a Breueresque Brutalism...
 
Retail at the base of Spire has been cleaned up considerably. Better signs and it's much more open now. The gym area on the north end facing Church St is still closed off with white solar blinds which is unfortunate, but it is much improved now.
 
Great to hear! I really like that little park in behind the tower as well... does anyone know who designed it?
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
Retail at the base of Spire has been cleaned up considerably. Better signs and it's much more open now. The gym area on the north end facing Church St is still closed off with white solar blinds which is unfortunate, but it is much improved now.
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The gym faces a bit of Lombard, but mostly the pickup/dropoff area. The 'multi-purpose' room is what's facing Church, and I imagine the blinds will never be opened.
 
XXIV/VII said:
The gym faces a bit of Lombard, but mostly the pickup/dropoff area. The 'multi-purpose' room is what's facing Church, and I imagine the blinds will never be opened.
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Ok, thanks & sorry about that. I thought I spotted some gym equipment through the blinds.
 
Sheesh, your right. I looked at the Church Street side as I was cycling home and it appeared much improved. The Adelaide Street side is a mess. Sorry folks, I'll get my eyes checked soon.
 
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