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Ontario Legislative Building Restoration

rdaner said:
In all seriousness is this an opportunity to do something with the north side of the building that faces QP? An addition with buried parking? An accessible provincial library? I bet that Libeskind could do something amazing! Lol
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I can't imagine this government is the type to do it - besides is there a case for addition to the QP complex?

Correct me if I am wrong - I understand that the library is already in the northern part of the building.

AoD
 
rdaner said:
In all seriousness is this an opportunity to do something with the north side of the building that faces QP? An addition with buried parking? An accessible provincial library? I bet that Libeskind could do something amazing! Lol
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The aim is, supposedly, to bring the existing heritage building up to Code; similar to what is happening in Ottawa. I doubt the project would be expanded into building a Provincial Library (certainly not by the illiterate Fordites).
 
fiendishlibrarian said:
Part of it, mostly collections. Cataloguing, acquisition and other back-end work takes place partially in the Whitney Block, or at least it used to when I worked there.
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The Library is not by any way a "Provincial Library" - it is the Library of the Legislature which is completely different as its main purpose is to serve MPPs, or those among them who can read. ("The Legislative Assembly of Ontario provides library and research services to MPPs, their staff, legislative committees, and Legislative Assembly staff. Some information is available to the public.")
 
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DSC said:
The Library is not by any way a "Provincial Library" - it is the Library of the Legislature which is completely different as it's main purpose is to serve MPPs, or those among them who can read. ("The Legislative Assembly of Ontario provides library and research services to MPPs, their staff, legislative committees, and Legislative Assembly staff. Some information is available to the public.")
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I had a friend in university who went there in the expectation of getting information but was told ‘no!’ Lol

The reason that I mentioned the north façade is that it has always seemed like wasted space and an opportunity for expansion. Libeskind was a bad joke. Parking could definately be moved underground and landscaping to create a plaza of sorts at the very least.

Also this may hopefully be a part of a larger plan to redo QP Crescent and the Hearst Block. Where is Claude Cormier when he is needed!
 
rdaner said:
In all seriousness is this an opportunity to do something with the north side of the building that faces QP? An addition with buried parking? An accessible provincial library? I bet that Libeskind could do something amazing! Lol
Click to expand...
No! Been there done that, don't need any more Libeskind tumours on our historic buildings lol.

Bury the parking, maybe build a public plaza or something that highlights this view:

Untitled14.jpg


edit: Just read you were joking about the Libeskind thing, I jumped the gun lol
 
egotrippin said:
No! Been there done that, don't need any more Libeskind tumours on our historic buildings lol.

Bury the parking, maybe build a public plaza or something that highlights this view:

View attachment 544337

edit: Just read you were joking about the Libeskind thing, I jumped the gun lol
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I wonder if there's opportunities to in-fill between the annex and the main legislature building + the parking lot, with perhaps a new library situated underground?
1709161999384.png
 
It would require a longer time horizon, because it involves refitting two heritage buildings instead of one, but it should be Old City Hall.

Legislative chamber can be built into the courtyard, as was done for the Canadian House of Commons in the West Block of Parliament Hill. Then when QP is done, Old City Hall will be partly fixed up already and ready to become a museum (whether an annex to the ROM, a Museum of Toronto, or potentially a split use as both).
 
A Torontonian Now said:
It would require a longer time horizon, because it involves refitting two heritage buildings instead of one, but it should be Old City Hall.

Legislative chamber can be built into the courtyard, as was done for the Canadian House of Commons in the West Block of Parliament Hill. Then when QP is done, Old City Hall will be partly fixed up already and ready to become a museum (whether an annex to the ROM, a Museum of Toronto, or potentially a split use as both).
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Interesting! I am sure that you know that Jack Diamond did a scheme to put an opera house in Old City Hall’s courtyard.
 
jje1000 said:
I wonder if there's opportunities to in-fill between the annex and the main legislature building + the parking lot, with perhaps a new library situated underground?
View attachment 544349
Click to expand...

There isn't much they can do on the east side of the site: there's a tunnel that runs from the Whitney Block under Queen's Park Crescent East to the main building, and as I recall there is an entire basement level that has (or had), numerous services: a cafeteria, a couple of shops and I vaguely remember a barber shop there. The library's collections wouldn't fit, they'd have to dig down even further as the collection is quite large and unless they've conducted a massive purge of their holdings, it is a *very* extensive print collection, including some sensitive old and archival material.
 
A Torontonian Now said:
It would require a longer time horizon, because it involves refitting two heritage buildings instead of one, but it should be Old City Hall.

Legislative chamber can be built into the courtyard, as was done for the Canadian House of Commons in the West Block of Parliament Hill. Then when QP is done, Old City Hall will be partly fixed up already and ready to become a museum (whether an annex to the ROM, a Museum of Toronto, or potentially a split use as both).
Click to expand...

Definitely a creative solution.

I imagine a key factor guiding their decision is security. If you're familiar with the grounds of Queen's Park, you will often see an OPP vehicle and/or officers circling the grounds. Once inside the pink palace, there are layers of security restricting your access. In the case of Old City Hall, they would have to balance the requirements of a public court house with the needs of a secure Legislative Assembly and political offices.
 
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