Toronto One Bloor East | 257.24m | 76s | Great Gulf | Hariri Pontarini

Ed007Toronto said:
They shut the street down back in the 70's for a few years. It was not a success.
Click to expand...

I vaguely remember that. Below, Yonge s. of Gerrard facing east

Rio_early1970s.jpg
 
Ed007Toronto said:
They shut the street down back in the 70's for a few years. It was not a success.
Click to expand...

I have a hazy recollection of this - I was a kid then. Perhaps to some it wasn't a success at that time, but then again we live in different times now with a much greater population living downtown. I'm also sure we could do better than some cheap parks and rec picnic benches scattered around.
 
I used to enjoy the old Yonge Street Mall, and I like to think that it could work again - as a permanent feature - if it was reintroduced.

Returning, briefly, to the ribbon of mid/late Victorian commercial buildings that runs south of Bloor to King, nobody could object to the hustle and bustle and the variety of businesses there, just to the way in which the collective architectural statement the buildings make has been obscured by the treatment of their commercial fronts. Much as the old Gooderham and Worts buildings have been renovated, and play off of the new Distillery condo towers, so could these Yonge Street buildings be brought back. Their collective identity is strong enough to stand as a counterpoint to whatever individual residential/office towers are built behind them. I can only think of Queen Street ( east and west ), Front Street just east of Yonge, Colborne Street and a few other small pockets, as equivalent runs of mid/late Victorianred brick commercial buildings with an equivalent strong character that exist near the downtown core. Bay Street doesn't have them, nor University Avenue. Bloor never had them, east and west of Yonge. Spadina has a wonderful collection of big, stocky warehouse and factory buildings that are from a slightly later date and have a different character, and neither Church, Jarvis, Sherbourne nor Parliament have the equivalent ribbons of commercial buildings from the same era that Yonge does. They're quite a treasure, despite the incursions of decades of development by large projects such as the one proposed for the south east corner of Bloor and Yonge, and I wish they'd be refurbished and seen for their collective effect.
 
Last edited:
I was just a kid as well so I have no idea why they stopped. I think the general seediness of the area plus lots of drug dealers might have had something to do with it. There are older forum members here who might be able to help.
 
Yes! Is anybody with a camera going by today? I would LOVE to see this rendering, but I cannot make it down today.
 
Looks... awkward. :( ... but maybe it's just the blue colour. Just looks awkward and chunky-- trying to put curves and squared forms together. In real life I think it'd be better but... we'll see!

Is the rendering posted at the intersection much more clear than those on the website?
 
Last edited:
Urban Shocker said:
Returning, briefly, to the ribbon of mid/late Victorian commercial buildings that runs south of Bloor to King, nobody could object to the hustle and bustle and the variety of businesses there, just to the way in which the collective architectural statement the buildings make has been obscured by the treatment of their commercial fronts. Much as the old Gooderham and Worts buildings have been renovated, and play off of the new Distillery condo towers, so could these Yonge Street buildings be brought back. Their collective identity is strong enough to stand as a counterpoint to whatever individual residential/office towers are built behind them. I can only think of Queen Street ( east and west ), Front Street just east of Yonge, Colborne Street and a few other small pockets, as equivalent runs of mid/late Victorianred brick commercial buildings with an equivalent strong character that exist near the downtown core. Bay Street doesn't have them, nor University Avenue. Bloor never had them, east and west of Yonge. Spadina has a wonderful collection of big, stocky warehouse and factory buildings that are from a slightly later date and have a different character, and neither Church, Jarvis, Sherbourne nor Parliament have the equivalent ribbons of commercial buildings from the same era that Yonge does. They're quite a treasure, despite the incursions of decades of development by large projects such as the one proposed for the south east corner of Bloor and Yonge, and I wish they'd be refurbished and seen for their collective effect.
Click to expand...

Very well said. I agree completely. I always liked the idea of Yonge Street as a "valley" (rather than canyon) where towers give way to a 3-4 story historic streetscape.
 
SP!RE said:
Looks... awkward. :( ... but maybe it's just the blue colour. Just looks awkward and chunky-- trying to put curves and squared forms together. In real life I think it'd be better but... we'll see!

Is the rendering posted at the intersection much more clear than those on the website?
Click to expand...

I like the idea of incorporating curves and shape in general into a building's form, but I agree that it appears awkward and chunky in this rendering. The building is still a box, and that is pretty clear from the rendering. Even if the use of balconies as a design element appeals to you in this rendering, their use is excessive. What will they look like when the project is finished and they are littered with personal possessions?
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top