Toronto Lumiere Condominiums | ?m | 32s | Lifetime | Wallman Architects

from today
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There's a new super-sketchy alleyway running between Bay and LaPlante on the north side of Lumiere. It's the sort of thing that makes you wonder why they didn't just build all the way to the property line instead of leaving a dank, useless corridor.

If they did build all the way to the property line and that alley is actually part of the office building's land then it might possibly be excusable, but it still feels like the alley should be gated off or something.
 
Many thanks for the ground level pictures Jasonzed. We don't get enough of those on the forum.
 
^^ +1. Ground level is what really counts. Anyone can look at a building on the skyline. Or well, many of us here can, since we're downtown a lot or live downtown.

I can't escape my love for Lumiere. The massing is brilliant and I love how the south facade with its stepbacks and large vented section atop, has such a different facade than the Bay Street facade. In fact, I find the rear (LaPlante Ave.) facade to be very imposing, in a very sexy way. Great stuff.
 
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I’ve been to one of the offices at 790 Bay street lately, which is on the north side of the lumier. These two buildings are so close to each other even worse that what you can think of. While sitting in the waiting room I was able to watch few of the units and had the feeling that I’m in their living room. I am sure that owners of units on the north side (and west on lower floors) will have hard time (if not impossible) to sell their units.
 
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The Can is a heritage property and there are more than enough development opportunities east of Bay Street
 
Lumiere provides nice contextualization to the PoMo buildings to the south, and provides ever sharper contrast to it's drab neighbour. You can't blame people for having architectural design dreams about 790 Bay: few know and fewer appreciate the history of the 1959 Peter Dickinson Continental Can building, and that it represents a then-novel design and method of construction. If only the Can was the O'Keefe: the corner would have carried the elegance of Eaton's west. The Can represents the sort of Regent Park design that characterizes Dickinson's darker design moments. Lumiere's northern neighbour was a notable experiment, but from my viewpoint, it is wasted energy to belabour the development or protection of a weak or ill-favored concept if a stronger concept presents itself.
 

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College Park said:
Lumiere provides nice contextualization to the PoMo buildings to the south, and provides ever sharper contrast to it's drab neighbour. You can't blame people for having architectural design dreams about 790 Bay: few know and fewer appreciate the history of the 1959 Peter Dickinson Continental Can building, and that it represents a then-novel design and method of construction. If only the Can was the O'Keefe: the corner would have carried the elegance of Eaton's west. The Can represents the sort of Regent Park design that characterizes Dickinson's darker design moments. Lumiere's northern neighbour was a notable experiment, but from my viewpoint, it is wasted energy to belabour the development or protection of a weak or ill-favored concept if a stronger concept presents itself.
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Somehow, "darker design moment" seems like an overstatement re Continental Can's supposed demerits--and remember: unlike his Regent Park slabs, it's but a humble office building, untainted by functional or sociological failure. And to knock it for not being the O'Keefe is like condemning the Ryrie Building for lacking the grace of Simpson's.

And if "few know and fewer appreciate the history of the 1959 Peter Dickinson Continental Can building"--well, how many people know or appreciate the history of *anything* in Toronto which isn't (like O'Keefe) an obvious coffee-table potboiler? There's more to heritage and preservation than the obvious potboilers, you know--and the fact that the first Dominion Modern exhibitions took place here (Dickinson, Panda, etc) mean that more design-sensitive people latently know of Continental Can than you're giving credit for.

Now, if you want to point to a contemporary building that, technically speaking, truly does embody your characterization of Continental Can, go a block eastward to 2 Carlton--and I'm even willing to defend that one, even if it lacks Continental Can's refinement, provenance, or record of being "known and appreciated"...
 
What was so dark about Dickinson's Regent Park, anyway?



It's not like he designed it to deteriorate. In fact, it was quite sophisticated housing for its time with the two-floor apartments.
 
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True; but as is so often the case, it would've had a better chance for a better rep etc were it not public housing. (Almost like the 999 Queen of its day...)
 
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