Toronto Eaton Centre (Ongoing Renewal) | ?m | ?s | Cadillac Fairview | Zeidler

Using old names isn't just because of a backlash against corporatism or even old habits. There's the "Hurontario/Highway 10" thing. Even young people and immigrants who have never known the street as a real highway still use the number..
 
Edward Skira said:
First of all the original name was based on a corporation. And back in the day there were many Eaton Centre's across the country. How different is adding CF to a bunch of malls across the country from having Toronto Eaton Centre, Montreal Eaton Centre, Edmonton Eaton Centre, Eaton Centre Metrotown etc. back in the day? The more things change the more they stay the same.
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The Eaton's example you've given is completely different than this sad, after-the-fact CF prefix branding. At least those Eaton Centres you referred to were built to accommodate Eaton's stores, or connected to an Eaton's store (as in the case of the Montreal mall), and generally referred to what was initially a unique form of downtown retail development. The name actually related to the shopping experience, and to a banner well-known by Canadians. In contrast, most Canadians likely don't know what CF is, don't care, and there is no brand value/identity to CF. The reason the whole CF branding is getting well-deserved mocking is because it is so out of left field. I can only imagine there are some big egos involved.

Nobody ever said that corporations don't ever name things after themselves (when Cadillac Fairview's predecessor used to be in the business of actually building new malls, it used to name them after itself too - Fairview Mall, Fairview Pointe-Claire, etc.). I think people are saying that (a) in some cases it can be inappropriate/tiring/fill in your negative adjective here, and (b) in the case of CF, it's dumb and unlikely to have any effect.

And, at least in the case of the Toronto Eaton Centre, the name relates to a Torontonian who at one time revolutionized retail on that site. CF, on the other hand, is just a silly acronym. There is good and effective corporate branding - this one just seems bizarre.
 
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CF doesn't sound good. Initials on a buildings name are uninteresting and especially meaningless when nobody knows what they stand for, so why add them on. If they really wanted their name advertised on the Mall, they should just call it Cadillac Fairview Center/Mall. Which doesn't sound good but at least they are getting their name out there. CF Eaton Center might not be a great name change but at least they didn't totally erase Eaton Center out of the name.
 
Oh, anyone we've lionized over the years in bronze or stone, less controversially or not, gets the same treatment from our avian guano-bombers. Maybe someday there'll be another famous Blue Jay statufied beside him like Paul Godfrey, and then he can take half of the burden off Ted's shoulders.

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interchange42 said:
Oh, anyone we've lionized over the years in bronze or stone, less controversially or not, gets the same treatment from our avian guano-bombers. Maybe someday there'll be another famous Blue Jay statufied beside him like Paul Godfrey, and then he can take half of the burden off Ted's shoulders.

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Munenori Kawasaki please!
 
Today:
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The Yonge Street frontage is officially a Frankenstein building. The way the older Sears elevation sits above the Nordstrom looks ridiculous.

It's an irony, too, that the strong vertical lines of the Sears store (with the relieved / set-back stair shafts), which could have been expressed down to ground level to create variation at grade, were straightened out into a long, horizontal frontage for Nordstrom. We've already gotten into this before, and I realize that Nordstrom has their own aesthetic they require for their locations, but I think this should have been handled more creatively.
 
modernizt said:
The Yonge Street frontage is officially a Frankenstein building. The way the older Sears elevation sits above the Nordstrom looks ridiculous.

It's an irony, too, that the strong vertical lines of the Sears store (with the relieved / set-back stair shafts), which could have been expressed down to ground level to create variation at grade, were straightened out into a long, horizontal frontage for Nordstrom. We've already gotten into this before, and I realize that Nordstrom has their own aesthetic they require for their locations, but I think this should have been handled more creatively.
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Indeed. The bastardization of Eaton Centre is finally complete. It would have been so much more handsome if they simply refreshed the set-back stair shafts with high quality glazing that eliminates the mullions and celebrate them for what they are while replacing the original panels with the new cladding system aligned vertically - but that requires a developer with good taste. Like seriously, you can give them Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and they'd turn it into a Walmart.

AoD
 
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