Toronto Wellesley on the Park | 194.15m | 60s | Lanterra | KPMB

[innsertnamehere]

heck, the only not so nice circular building I can think of in this city is parade.

 

[AlbertC]

Empire Plaza on University Ave is one of my favourite curved buildings in the city.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

50 Alexander is another fine mid 60's example, formally known as Vaseline tower.

 

[DtTO]

Ideally, two towers along Wellesley St. (hopefully with some retail) and then a small parkette along the Breadalbane side.

This is a great idea. I would love to see something like that.

^The Met buildings on Carlton are quite nice too. Love looking at them when I walk past.

+1! I love those two.

I know a lot of people won't agree, but I think Waterclub look pretty good. I like the use of silver.

 

[urbansuburban]

City Hall? Panorama?

city hall is an eyesore to me. panorama isnt anything special. same with ice. I think my issue is that they are all just ovals or circular tubes with wraparound balconies. Really the only good curved building in this area is the absolute towers in mississauga imo.

 

[someMidTowner]

Doesn't this count for anything?

*From wikipedia

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Doesn't this count for anything?

That's the restored facade of the University theatre (note that the original door handles into Pottery Barn are even original) that closed in fall of '86, auditorium demolished in '87 or '88.

After the auditorium was demolished in '87 or '88 it sat like this for the better part of a decade:

 

[urbandreamer]

^It looked better then. That condo was a mistake.

 

[CN Tower]

What a shame that the Province didn't play ball. I love downtown intensification, but a large, totally unspoiled piece of land in the middle of downtown is an opportunity we can't really ever get back. That said, I think the possibilities here were somewhat limited by the lack of frontage of the parcel to major streets.

Fortunately Queen's PARK is a mere one block west.

City TO can ill afford to squander $65 million land cost + development charges, + Section 37 benefits + Property Tax Revenue + a $300 million condo project.

 

[Ramako]

Fortunately Queen's PARK is a mere one block west.

Again, I wasn't really thinking about a park here, but that's the only kind of public space that people seem to be able to compute in Toronto, so whatever.

 

[someMidTowner]

That's the restored facade of the University theatre (note that the original door handles into Pottery Barn are even original) that closed in fall of '86, auditorium demolished in '87 or '88.

After the auditorium was demolished in '87 or '88 it sat like this for the better part of a decade:

I remember the facade from when I was a kid. I was always fascinated with the old University Theatre, thats why I cited it as an example of a good curved building.

^It looked better then. That condo was a mistake.

I think it looks better restored, though I will agree with you that the condo is less than perfect.

 

[Thernan]

i dont know. I have yet to see a curved building in this town that was any good.

Heh, I can dream!

A curvy Burj al Kalif would be awesome. But it won't happen. It will be another boring Lanterra project like Murano/Burano, which I find to be three of the ugliest buildings in the city. Another glass box with too many balconies please!

 

[greenleaf]

Fortunately Queen's PARK is a mere one block west.

City TO can ill afford to squander $65 million land cost + development charges, + Section 37 benefits + Property Tax Revenue + a $300 million condo project.

This is weak, and from someone who thinks a place like Massey Tower is a bad place to add residential, I take all your comments with a bucket of grains of salt.

But I will argue anyway, and hammer this point home, again and again because it cannot be said enough.

There much more to life than the almighty dollar. This is about building a better city with a vision of what downtown will look like 100 years from now.

The city can ill afford a loss of a piece of civic city building (you know, actual urban planning) that involves building a park on the only large piece of empty land in downtown Toronto in a neighbourhood that has added immense density. And it will only become more dense.

 

[ProjectEnd]

Again, I wasn't really thinking about a park here, but that's the only kind of public space that people seem to be able to compute in Toronto, so whatever.

There are other kinds of public space?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

But I will argue anyway, and hammer this point home, again and again because it cannot be said enough.

There much more to life than the almighty dollar. This is about building a better city with a vision of what downtown will look like 100 years from now.

The city can ill afford a loss of a piece of civic city building (you know, actual urban planning) that involves building a park on the only large piece of empty land in downtown Toronto in a neighbourhood that has added immense density. And it will only become more dense.

Well put. A vibrant, growing and thriving city cannot afford not to have green spaces and public gathering spots. There can never be too many of these spaces.