Toronto Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Toronto | 203.9m | 52s | Lifetime | a—A

April 15, 2012

About time I contributed a new photo update to UT!

Here is a big update of the new Four Seasons Hotel & Condominiums. Some interesting shots in here, including a shot showing stone curbs and sidewalks going in, the facade along Scollard Street, and a variance notice posted about splitting it into five different properties.

Warning: If you have trypophobia, some of the images of the podium facade may give you the creepy-crawlies.

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I think its pretty safe to make a judgment call on the slate itself, its not as if they are going to remove it and replace it with something else. And its not as if the slate can really be cleaned up, its hard enough to clean when used as interior flooring, only here its being used as the exterior cladding of a building. But aside from the cleanliness of it, the dull and uneven pattern really doesn't appeal to me when the rest of the building shimmers like a crystal.

Black Granite, as seen below, would of been a far more appropriate treatment;
Caltrane said:
 
The stone is one of my favourite parts of the Four Seasons! Obviously the photos don't communicate its texture as well, and right now it's VERY dusty and dirty.
 
I'm not opposed to the use of stone, only the kind they chose. I just think it would have been far more appropriate to use a more lustrous treatment to go along with the rest of the building, such as a polished black granite.
 
Well to each their own... I just like the contrast. Too much shiny would be tiresome on the eyes. The stone they used and its rough, grainy texture provides a lovely counterpoint to the shiny, smooth glass.
 
It's a matter of taste but I don't like the narrow, apparently randomly spaced windows. It looks too 60's to me... a era of great bands, Leafs Stanley Cups but less than pleasing architecture, IMO.
 
I like the slate too. Uptown's granite is one of the poorest examples of stone application I've seen; somehow they managed to make polished black granite look disgraceful (much like the entire project itself).

I think once all the glass and finishing touches have been installed, and cleaned up, 4S's base will look even better.
 

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