News   Mar 27, 2024
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The Shell Oil Tower

The demolition of the Grandstand will lead to the demise of the rest of the vintage 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, and 1960's buildings that have been part of the Canadian National Exhibition for so long.

Hyperbole much? The demo of the tower was indeed to make room for the Molson Indy.

I can assure you that the current CNE BoD and Exhibition Place BoG recognize the value of our heritage and wouldn't think of demolishing the historical buildings on site. In fact, the direction we're headed in now is towards renovating these buildings and finding a year round use for them.

Rebuilding the Shell Oil Tower isn't in the works and this "movement" appears to be a single nostalgic person for whom the tower was an important memory.

I can value that but show me a significant number of people representative of this "movement" and then I'll be convinced that it's something worth looking at.
 
I wonder if Shell would put up funds to rebuild this tower. From the looks of it, it wouldn't be a very expensive venture at all.
 
There is a movement afoot to rebuild the Shell Oil Tower at Exhibition Place.

http://pages.interlog.com/~urbanism/shelltower.html

That's about a decade too un-fresh to qualify as "a movement afoot"--although John Martins-Manteiga (whose Dominion Modern concept emanated from that site, among other things) would gladly advocate such an effort if it came to realistic fruition.

Hyperbole much? The demo of the tower was indeed to make room for the Molson Indy which has helped keep Exhibition Place relevant. I believe it is the second most attended event at Exhibition Place, second only to the CNE itself, and just as – if not more – effective at putting the grounds in the public eye and perception. The race will be sorely missed this year but welcomed back the next.

I can assure you that the current CNE BoD and Exhibition Place BoG recognize the value of our heritage and wouldn't think of demolishing the historical buildings on site. In fact, the direction we're headed in now is towards renovating these buildings and finding a year round use for them.

Rebuilding the Shell Oil Tower isn't in the works and this "movement" appears to be a single nostalgic person for whom the tower was an important memory.

I can value that but show me a significant number of people representative of this "movement" and then I'll be convinced that it's something worth looking at.

Well, rebuilding a demolished structure is one thing; and while it'd be a neat idea in Shell's case, I personally wouldn't make a crusade out of it sans a well-connected supporter with deep pockets.

But: let's go back to 1985, and I can tell you there *was* an active, visible crusade on behalf of the Shell Tower, involving architects, heritage types, arts types etc. In fact, even in failure, the crusade helped generate a movement t/w appreciating and recognizing Toronto's modern heritage--starting with this book.

So, let's suppose that 1985 was 2008, and the tower still existed, and the threat-of-Indy came today. If you had to do it all over again, would you? And I've already implicitly answered (at least, when it comes to retention, rather than rebuilding) the "significant number of people representative of this "movement"" question...
 
Today, I would have insisted that certain features remain such as the Grand Stand and possibly even the Shell Tower.

However, I wouldn't have had the retrospect advantage of knowing that the Molson Indy would have been such a success for Exhibition Place.

As for rebuilding, if Shell put up the money to accurately rebuild it and there were enough support, I'd likely strongly consider it – just not for its original location. Such a tower would fit in nicely in the Western gardens of the grounds. It would need to be built in an area where it wouldn't impede the natural development of Exhibition Place.

Knowing corporate interests though, Shell would want to rebuild it with their modern corporate logo which would defeat the whole purpose. Nonetheless, Shell is welcome to sponsor the wind turbine as part of their green energy initiatives or initiate another green energy structure as part of Exhibition Place's substantial environmental platform.

That all being said, bring me a sustainable business plan for rebuilding the tower along with Shell's willingness to pony up the money and I'll champion the cause because it is indeed worthy of being considered and falls in line with maintaining and restoring Exhibition Place's heritage.
 
Knowing corporate interests though, Shell would want to rebuild it with their modern corporate logo which would defeat the whole purpose.

Depending on the discretion used, not necessarily. Besides, the top was already rejigged from a dial to a digital clock in the 60s, and then switched sponsors from Shell to Bulova in the 70s.

Still, I suspect that a resurrection would likely involve the 1955 clock-faced form rather than its digital successors...
 
Some other pics of it:

cne_fair70s.jpeg


bulova1.jpeg


Looks like nothing but a glorified billboard to me...
 
some pics i took just now from the book "mean city".

DSC07948.jpg

DSC07949.jpg

DSC07950.jpg

DSC07951.jpg

DSC07953.jpg

DSC07954.jpg
 
Shell didn't even have their logo or name on it! That would never happen today.

I'd love to see it rebuilt - the CNE grounds have definitely lost a lot of the things that made them interesting over the years.
 
I only remember it as the Bulova Tower as a kid in the 70's. The last few times I went by it or up it in the 80's, it was terribly run down. Once the Bulova Tower, Flyer, Alpine Way and Grandstand were taken down, the place was never the same for me. The 80's & 90's were not kind to the old lady.
 

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