Bay Street Corridor

[scarberiankhatru]

NIMBY's of Ni: Firstly, you must find... another shrubbery! [dramatic chord]
Kyle Rae: Not another shrubbery!
NIMBY's of Ni: Then, when you have found the shrubbery, you must place it here beside this shrubbery, only slightly higher so you get the two-level effect with a little path running down the middle.

 

[roch5220]

I've often felt bay at streetlevel has been very neglected. I don't know, plant more trees or something but there seems to be something missing. Highrise views being blocked, too bad. I'm sure they never realized what views their building blocked.

I'm pretty sure as well that the price of the unit they purchased, never factored in a 'guaranteed view' premium, like some on the waterfront.

 

[blixa442]

The canyon factor will only get worse in coming years as developers prepare to erect massive new high-rise projects...

Worse? I'd say the canyon is going to get better with all these new buildings.

 

[TdotTrickyRicky]

"The Annex residents, through their various ploys, have done their darndest to button down their neighbourhood so tightly that it will never, ever change."

True to a point but you argument would have more force if there weren't a half-dozen new residential projects going up as we speak on Bloor, Spadina, Dupont and Brunswick.

 

[adma]

Should high-rise residents in the Church/Jarvis/Isabella area be spited if they protest any threat to any remaining old Gooderhamesque dwellings out there?

 

[jmacmillan]

The undeveloped site on the south side of Wellesley Street just east of Bay Street was originally planned to be a fitness centre. It struck me at the time as mildly adsurb given that the downtown YMCA is next door! Why not offer a bulk membership discount to those buying condos in the Opera Place development? I wish more condo developers in the vicinity would do just that, to keep costs down! (i.e., don't bother building endless rooms to house exercise bikes).

As a rule of thumb, only half of condo-dwellers use the fitness facility in their building.

 

[The Burgher of TO]

A fitness centre? I'd never heard that. I know at one point it was supposed to be the home of the Opera House, but then the project got cancelled, and by the time it got revived the new site at Queen and University had been found. What I've heard is that the rest of the site will carved up with some new interior streets, and it'll be developed with midrise buildings.

 

[SD2]

This all sounds like good news to me. It's nice to see the residents taking some positive action.

 

[adma]

Other recently "ruined views" include Old City Hall viewed from the west along Queen (now obstructed by KPMB's Canada Life building) and Commerce Court North viewed from the east (now effaced by the Stinson speed stik). But those were frontal obstructions, not backdrop--indeed, these are both cases of exemplary backdrops (CCW, Cadillac Fairview).

I generally agree that the critical moment of ruination for OCH from the south wasn't RoCP, it was Bell a quarter century ago (shorter, but more "immediate")

 

[Archivistower]

And, I suppose, if one wants to go back further, the 12 storey Dominion Building (also known as the City Hall Annex because it contained municipal offices), 1928-1987, would have pretty much obscured the view in the same way Bell Trinity does.

It was obviously important to catch the view of Old City Hall from the north in that 1987/88 period, much as there is a new and interesting view of the west side of lower Bay until the BA Centre rises up. Myself, I intend to make the best of the vacancy for photographs in this important period.

 

[Archivistower]

No one seems to have touched this, so I will: ruined the view corridor up Bay Street by looming over historic buildings such as Old City Hall. Is the suggestion here that upper Bay should have been lowrise to preserve this view? That seems an extremely odd thought to me, given that the intent of Old City Hall's tower seems quite obviously to provide a view to lower, not upper Bay, and which it does quite well.

I remember being at a dinner party and someone said that the CityPlace condos were bad because they "obstructed the view of SkyDome". I almost choked up my meal, but not knowing the crowd well I held my counsel and graciously supposed that I had misheard. About a year later, however, I had this suggestion come up again, about the SkyDome.

It seems no less strange to me that we would have only, what, 10 or 12 storey buildings on upper Bay to preserve the rear, off centre view of a historical building. Surely the Bell Trinity Building, and the Marriott already killed that view before any condos did. And, the thing about views is, depending on where you stand, a one storey building or a tree (or temporarily, a truck) ruins your view.

I'd ask the question, leaving the lake alone, are there any "view corridors" where what is being viewed is a building important to you? What are they? How should be views be preserved?

 

[The Burgher of TO]

It's not really a corridor, but I would want the view of City Hall from Nathan Phillips Square preserved. The negative space between the two towers is an integral part of the building's design, so any buildings that would encroach into that space could ruin an important aspect of the building's architecture.

 

[mark simpson]

^don't you mean '75

 

[building babel]

Archivist: I was referring to the view of Old City Hall from the south: the bell tower, symbolic of city government, was positioned at the intersection with Queen to dominate the horizon when seen from the south. It was a view that survived for over a hundred years, though Bell Trinity encroached on it too.

I think The Burgher has a reasonable point about preserving the negative "breathing space" between the two towers of Revell's building, when seen from the Square.

If our main government and cultural buildings are symbols of the city, why shouldn't the views of them also be? Part of the argument against the ROM condo, for instance, was the effect it would have had on the view of the Provincial legislature, when seen from the south.

 

[Archivistower]

Yes, I see what you mean. It actually makes perfect sense. I'll shut up now.