CN Tower announces base expansion

[interchange42]

Finally! Some movement to fix up the base of the tower:

Thanks Hendrik!

PS - Here's the link if you can't see the above.

42

 

[urbandreamer]

Happy April 1st!

 

[MetroMan]

Ahhhhhh you muthafucka!! I fell for it!! I was so giddy when I read the title! Gahh!!

 

[MetroMan]

...since we're on the topic of the base of the CN Tower, check out this image:

What a difference! I didn't recall cars being able to drive by that close to the tower. What different times we live in now where everything is pre-emptively considered a bomb.

Does anybody know where that road led to? Eventually it would reach the tracks, and I don't remember a bridge.

 

[Archivist]

The Universal Man has been banished to Yorkdale. It is possible that it has been renamed the Universal Shopper.

What in heavens is Urban Shocker doing in the advertising for the CN Tower? Perhaps it's the "Urban Shocker Festival of Modernism" show?

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Just look at the clean, uncluttered, modern-yet-futuristic lines of the original base building compared to the ugly fussiness of the remake that took place (late 90s?). What a travesty. The whole area really had a coherent look to it at that time. Man, walking into there from the yellow bridge from Front Street, and seeing the stainless steel and the television screens and everything else was like walking into the future circa. 1978. Is the giant Lego model of the tower still in there?

And yes, I do remember cars being able to pull up there, and there used to be a mini-golf course at the base as well. That road used to lead to what I think is currently Bremner, then branched out towards Queen's Quay (still had to pass over numerous tracks though, as the CN roundhouse was still very much active).

That TTC fishbowl is interesting too, as it could very well have been my father driving it as he used to pick up a lot of weekend work driving chartered buses to the tower and other spots downtown.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Noticed as well how astonishingly good FCP looks in the '77 photo, clean and with no clutter on the roof (original logo too).

 

[Aaron]

Good Lord, what's up with that disgusting sculpture?

 

[ProjectEnd]

/\ Says 'The Ugly.'

 

[Aaron]

I've always envisioned something rather artsy that works well with the tower, rather than some sort of need-for-space afterthought - a base sculpture if you will, with tendrels and swirls which give the tower the appearance of exploding out of the ground.

 

[nrb]

Just look at the clean, uncluttered, modern-yet-futuristic lines of the original base building compared to the ugly fussiness of the remake that took place (late 90s?). What a travesty. The whole area really had a coherent look to it at that time. Man, walking into there from the yellow bridge from Front Street, and seeing the stainless steel and the television screens and everything else was like walking into the future circa. 1978. Is the giant Lego model of the tower still in there?

And yes, I do remember cars being able to pull up there, and there used to be a mini-golf course at the base as well. That road used to lead to what I think is currently Bremner, then branched out towards Queen's Quay (still had to pass over numerous tracks though, as the CN roundhouse was still very much active).

That TTC fishbowl is interesting too, as it could very well have been my father driving it as he used to pick up a lot of weekend work driving chartered buses to the tower and other spots downtown.

Are you serious? Just looking at those photos, the later layout is much more pedestrian friendly. Who wants to be surrounding by rubbernecking tourists in tauruses and dodge massive coach buses?

Here's an interesting photo I found on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcwidi_2/2875609877/in/photostream/

Smell the fumes!

 

[Soho]

Noticed as well how astonishingly good FCP looks in the '77 photo, clean and with no clutter on the roof (original logo too).

Note the condition of the tower itself in that 70s shot compared to today. What a mess the concrete is now - mottled, patched, blotchy. Any view of the tower from less than a kilometer reveals what an eyesore the tower has become. EnWave refinished their smokestack on Bay at Elm St. and it looks terrific (for a smokestack) Same should be done to the city's landmark tower.

 

[andomano]

Note the condition of the tower itself in that 70s shot compared to today. What a mess the concrete is now - mottled, patched, blotchy. Any view of the tower from less than a kilometer reveals what an eyesore the tower has become.

I suppose we should just let it slowly crumble away to pieces, instead of completing maintenance?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Note the condition of the tower itself in that 70s shot compared to today. What a mess the concrete is now - mottled, patched, blotchy. Any view of the tower from less than a kilometer reveals what an eyesore the tower has become. EnWave refinished their smokestack on Bay at Elm St. and it looks terrific (for a smokestack) Same should be done to the city's landmark tower.

I was thinking the same thing when comparing those photos, in fact the patching has troubled me for some time now.

 

[jks]

I really wish the CN tower was clad in something...