I don't buy the whole "it's a cycle" thing. Architecture, in terms of design, relationship to the environment, and quality of materials used, took a serious nosedive in the middle of the 20th century. It ain't comin' back.
But the paradox, as I've indicated, is that it might still be the modernism, rather than the retro/traditionalism, that'll inspire rallies in the future.
Maybe that turns the preservation movement into something of a modernist relic in its own right--at least, re the values involved...
Some good news - I understand that a book about Toronto's brutalist buildings is going through the editing process, though I don't have a publication date yet.
In case anybody is interested, the original architects rendering for the magnificent General Post Office is in the special collections department of the Toronto Reference Library - at least it was when I saw it about twenty years ago. If memory serves me correctly (and it doesn't always do so) in the rendering, the stone was a lovely pale yellow/beige and the roof rather suprisingly was a pale mauve though I have no idea if it was so when completed.
Ah, well, there's the question. I think it looked slatish (or at least like wooden shingles but it's difficult to imagine such a prominent civic structure using wooden shingles) but I don't know if slate even comes in pale mauve. I do recall raising an eyebrow ever so slightly in surprise when I saw it. It might well be a case of artistic license, a grand tradition which renderers still stubbornly cling to.
It is. It's kind of a neat looking building. Seems so out of place when you see photos of the construction. But at least Old City Hall's still with us. I've seen plans that eliminated it, or, interestingly, left behind only the clock tower, standing alone like a spire.
At the time, this was considered as "progress" and "modern". I think the appreciation of heritage structures came later. We are lucky that the Old City Hall didn't get torn down to make way for the Eaton Centre.