Toronto Clear Spirit | 131.36m | 40s | Cityscape | a—A

The perverse thing is that Montreal kept Old Montreal in part due to an economic downturn. The Distillery is being developed to death because of its success.
 
The same thing could be said about Toronto in general. Its mega-fast rise to the top is probably a major reason why its built form looks so random, unplanned and haphazard.
 
Particularly the harsh contrast between bright new towers and poorly maintained streetscapes.

I guess we'll have to see how much of the Distillery is left after it's completed.
 
Hydrogen said:
The perverse thing is that Montreal kept Old Montreal in part due to an economic downturn. The Distillery is being developed to death because of its success.
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It was less an economic downturn than the desire of the Anglo business community to build closer to the West Island. Sort of an accidental parting gift. The only exception is the 500 Place D'Armes building, which was built by the only Francophone bank, the National Bank. It's a big, hulking black modernist building cladded with cheap granite (or granitesque substance) which was supposed to start a flood of new construction in the traditional financial quarter. Very fortunately, it didn't succeed. The building itself is somewhat interesting, though. It's in very poor condition, which means that everything, including the tiny lower retail concourse, is pretty much exactly as-built.

Aside from its state of preservation, it doesn't appear to be a very architecturally distinguished building. Anybody have more insights? Adma?
 
It was less an economic downturn than the desire of the Anglo business community to build closer to the West Island.
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There was a plan to put the Ville Marie expressway through Old Montreal (along present-day de la Commune). The plan was halted because of the cost and the poor budgetary climate at the time.

And don't forget the Palace de Justice. It was also part of the redevelopment plan - which was to include the tearing down of the old court house in Old Montreal.
 
Hang on... I thought the Ville Marie was always going to take its present route. It was the extension eastward along Blvd Notre Dame (for which the demolitions were carried out) to the tunnel that was cancelled due to lack of funds.
 
I think a more relevant, and interesting, example of how Montreal approaches heritage preservation will be the redevelopment of Griffintown, an area that is starting to undergo development and will see a great deal more in the near future. Though most of it unforgetable, light industry, or pure blight, there are sections that are a very similair case to the Distillery District.

And I am going to guess that the approach taken for many Griffintown sectors (at least the ones that will not be emtpy vessels) will be just the same too. At least that is the approach I am advocating since I see the Distillery District developing into something far more interesting and real than if it were just handled through flat out preservation and restoration.
 
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Ugh, it looks soooo wrong.
 
unimaginative2 said:
It was less an economic downturn than the desire of the Anglo business community to build closer to the West Island.
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West Island?! That had nothing to do with it. The commercial district's move away from Old Montreal was a 200-year trend. First the city's main node of commecial activity shifted away from St. Paul St. to Place d'Armes, then up St. Laurent and over to Victoria Square. The city's retail heart crept up Beaver Hall Hill in the mid-19th century as the wealthy flocked to the Golden Square Mile. (A smaller francophone retail district spread east towards the Dupuis Frères store at Ste. Catherine and St. Hubert.) By the early 20th century, offices were starting to follow and a number of prominent buildings were built on Beaver Hall Hill and around Phillips Square. The final shift came with the construction of Dorchester Boulevard and Place Ville-Marie in the 1960s which sparked an uptown office boom.

Keep in mind that the West Island was still considered countryside until the 1950s. Even today it's just a bunch of suburbs that account for only 15% of the island's population and less than a quarter of the island's anglophone population.
 
I don't mean that they actually tried to move the offices to the West Island or something, but it's hard to argue that the then-Anglophone-dominated business community caused much of that migration northwestward to the more historically Anglophone part of the central area. It's not coincidence that every major office save Hydro-Quebec and Desjardins is located west of Place d'Armes.
 
I think the most important factor for Montreal was the location of the railway termini. Business centres have often migrated towards major railway stations unless there are other factors keeping them from doing so. Think of Midtown Manhattan or even Toronto saw a slight shift in centre of gravity away from the Yonge/Church area towards Bay and University.
 
Good point CDL. Before the Grand Trunk (whose main terminus was Bonaventure Station, south of present day CP Windsor Station), the port was the main transportation hub, so it made sense that the 1750s-1850s Vieux-Montreal is where it is. The newer parts of Downtown had less constricted streets for trade, which was particuarly important when automobiles entered the mainstream after 1910.

Also, as the city expanded, the main east west streets were no longer Notre-Dame and St. James, they became Dorchester, Ste-Catherine, Sherbrooke.

The Ville-Marie is the coolest highway I've now driven on.

Anyway, back to the Pure/Clear Spirit topic, I thought of this as I walked the extremely busy Vieux-Montreal district yesterday. There is little to distract one from feeling like he or she is in an ancient commerical and trade centre, even though few buildings date from the New France period.

The intrusions like the Banque Nationale building on Place d'Armes don't feel as bad as the Distillery District, even the BN building is shorter than what is planned or U/C. Now, I'd like someone to say 40 floor modernist towers should be allowed in Vieux-Montreal, because it a district that's something that Montreal, in general, is not.

We have Historic Conservation Districts through out the old City of Toronto for a reason. Not that one or a collection of buildings are significant, but as a whole, the neighbourhood or district is worth preserving, even if some newer, ugly buildings are thrown in, so you can control against unsympathetic development.
 
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