Mosaic (736 Spadina s of Bloor, Greenco/Pinedale/Wycliffe, 20s, Northgrave Architect) COMPLETE

[current]

Photos taken February 11, from Bloor and Robert St looking south.

From Robert St. looking east.

From Bloor and Spadina looking southwest.

From Spadina looking west.

 

[ProjectEnd]

Wow, those banners don't do it any favors...geez

Thanks Current!

 

[alklay]

Certainly not great but at certain angles, it certainly could have been worse. Thanks for the photos.

 

[Redroom Studios]

you would really need to be in the top 6 floors of that place facing south to avoid a nasty view of that old bunker...

 

[adma]

you would really need to be in the top 6 floors of that place facing south to avoid a nasty view of that old bunker...

...or, you need a copy of "Concrete Toronto" on your coffee table in order to live in peace with said bunker. (It's not referenced in there, but you get my point, I hope.)

 

[Hypnotoad]

you would really need to be in the top 6 floors of that place facing south to avoid a nasty view of that old bunker...

For all of its faults, this building accomplishes one thing nicely: it hides that bunker.

 

[Mongo]

Speaking for myself, I have no problems with "that bunker", as people here are calling it.

Perhaps this is simply because of my age -- I remember when these buildings were being built (not this one in particular, but structures of its overall type and style), and clearly remember that there was nothing like the hostility now directed at them.

I cannot help but wonder what the attitudes will be in 20 or 30 years, directed at those buildings currently under construction. They are being lauded today, but are probably going to be sneered at sometime in the future, just as this building is today.

The younger visitors to this site may not believe this, but having lived through several architectural fads, it seems to be a near-certainty to me.

Bill

 

[Hypnotoad]

I cannot help but wonder what the attitudes will be in 20 or 30 years, directed at those buildings currently under construction. They are being lauded today, but are probably going to be sneered at sometime in the future, just as this building is today.

So valid.

 

[ProjectEnd]

...or, you need a copy of "Concrete Toronto" on your coffee table in order to live in peace with said bunker. (It's not referenced in there, but you get my point, I hope.)

Slightly off topic, but I can't find one of those anywhere? Thoughts?

(you can PM me if you like so as not to throw the thread too off balance)

 

[greenleaf]

This building is in an excellent location offering up good density for an area that can easily absorb it. The building looks decent from a distance. However, when up close, the light-coloured cladding looks really cheap and subsequently quite ugly. That's my main disappointment with this project.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

This is just painful to look at. Mediocre design and crappy materials. We are definitely going to look back on this period of development in Toronto and cringe at projects like this, and it won't be in 20 years.

 

[adma]

Speaking for myself, I have no problems with "that bunker", as people here are calling it.

Perhaps this is simply because of my age -- I remember when these buildings were being built (not this one in particular, but structures of its overall type and style), and clearly remember that there was nothing like the hostility now directed at them.

Funny, I'd almost think the reverse, i.e. those who were born *significantly after* buildings like this were being built would feel most charitable--the "Concrete Toronto" generation, IOW.

I guess the hostility's deepest among those primarily conditioned over the final quarter of the c20, i.e. from the peak of the Crombie/Sewell/Jane Jacobs era to the dawn of next-generational modernist revisionism...

 

[Redroom Studios]

I dont have a general disagreement with brutalist modernism... I just always found that this particular example to the south of Mosaic seems to be shabby and looks in need of repair from street level. Perhaps my memory is exaggerating things...

 

[urbandreamer]

Now I wish Dominion's would sell their store for a 12 story Mozo-style condo with a grocery store@base. And the JCC needs to be bulldozed: it's ugly and looks like it belongs at Bathurst and Centre not in red brick Annex!

 

[TrickyRicky]

This building is no prize but honestly I don't understand the particularly strong feelings people have about it. Take a walk around this intersection, this is probably the best addition to the surroundings for 50 years, although that point is more a critizism of past failures than a vote of confidence in Mosaic itself.