Toronto L-Tower | 204.82m | 58s | Cityzen | Daniel Libeskind

3Dementia said:
I still prefer a passable corned beef and a pickle to looking at this monstrosity despite its place in highrise Toronto history. This is where/when the term "fugly" was coined.
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Er...monstrosity? If that thing still stood and you advocated its demolition, you'd be tarred, feathered, incinerated, and fed to rabid dogs.

That said, as per usual, I would *not* agree to its reconstruction, whatever the merits-or-lack-thereof of EDS. Now, *that* would be a monstrosity in a way the original never was...
 
The Board of Trade ( 1889 ) was important as the first Toronto building with a steel frame, but the exterior was a clumsy mess, despite the will-ya-look-at-them-curves roof. Toronto's first reinforced concrete building ( 1900 ) stood a block away at 60 Front West.
 
oh wow, I love that old building! I love the eclectic mix of stylings and the curved shape where it meets the corner. Only thing wrong in my eyes is that is comes across as being a chunk out of what should be a much larger building. Shame we couldnt have saved more of this heritage content at Yonge & Front and built up around it... ah well, atleast we have the hockey hall of shame...
 
I think that, given the extent to which Toronto embraced concrete - both as a structural material and as an alluring exterior finish - in our construction boom of half a century later, the loss of the simple, unadorned, visibly concrete building at 60 Front West may have been the greater loss, even though very little is known about the actual structure.
 
The Board of Trade building was a bit clumsy, but at least it had character, something the EDS building lacks.

Enough of this though. These old shots of Toronto can be so depressing!
 
Agree. Lovely as they are, these buildings are gone and are not coming back.
 
Sir Novelty Fashion said:
Even Eric Arthur, I believe, wrote on the subject of its conspicuous ugliness. It wore Toronto's original funny hat.
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Though remember that Eric Arthur was speaking from a generational perspective that abhored (or at best struggled to appreciate) eclectic later Victoriana, to say nothing of its c20 Edwardian/Beaux-Arts sequel. By the late 60s, even he was at the wrong end of an architectural/heritage appreciation generation gap.

By the time the Crombie era rolled around, methinks the case for destroying the Board of Trade (had it survived) on grounds of eyesoreness and aesthetic defects would have been effectively cancelled out--indeed, the "eyesoreness" would likely have morphed into a "lovable follyness". (Perhaps it's best to think of the building as a somewhat garbled provincial rendition of Boston's Grain Exchange.). So, if it wound up surviving up to that time, it'd almost certainly still be standing today, maybe as part of a boutique hotel or something...
 
very interesting read....looks like construction will be starting in July 2008, with the only question mark whether the podium will be a "City Centre" cultural venue, or a commercial space?
 
3Dementia said:
I still prefer a passable corned beef and a pickle to looking at this monstrosity despite its place in highrise Toronto history. This is where/when the term "fugly" was coined.
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Revisiting this thread, I'm trying to piece together this mindset and the Cathedral Square facadectomypalooza concept...
 
Are they building the condo first or the base, I mean I don't understand how they can build the condo before the base, and what I get from briefly running over the document is that it really won't be built until 2010?? Am I getting that right???? I hope not.
 
Man...I thought this would be starting in the next few months, now it seems it will be a while...Im way to impatient to wait that long...year and a half just to start...maybe.... if they get the funding raised?
 
from what I read, I thought it said they were starting foundation work, partial demolition of a section of the Sony Centre, below-grade work, and retrofit of the SC interior, as of this July, 2008...it then went on to say that they would be working on the podium by July of 2009 - presumably after a year's working on the other stuff.

The theater itself is supposed to close as of this July, 2008..
 
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