Pretty much the last gasp for TTC type & tile preservation

[joeclark]

TTC staff are trying to secure advance permission to gut, destroy, and remodel any of 63 subway stations in any manner they want.

I acknowledge in advance that not all of you will view this as a bad thing. But I expect quite a few of you will.

 

[Chuck]

The consistency of the subway stations between Lawrence and Finch is a little tasteful, however the rest of the system, particularly the entire Bloor Line, is shockingly ugly save for the odd station. It's almost as if the TTC's design intent was to produce stations as ugly as possible. Good riddance to them all.

A good compromise might be to mandate that the new stations use the original station's colour scheme, and to maintain station consistency wherever there is a link today. The new St. Clair station might still be green and orange. Finch, Sheppard, York Mills, and Lawrence might have identical designs, only with different colours at each.

As for the font, I do like the TTC's subway station font, but only for station names. When placed on signs, I find it difficult to read. I prefer whatever font is used on new signs such as on the Sheppard subway.

 

[junctionist]

I can't wait until they remake Dupont station. Good, it's not even on the list of stations to save .

Why can't the TTC improve its stations while keeping the tiles and fonts? They have already made the system distinctive and have a place in Toronto's history. They do not make stations ugly. Everything will be replaced with average grade materials and average grade designs that will be called ugly in a couple of decades. Why do I say this? Museum or the Pape rendering hardly look spectacular.

 

[M II A II R II K]

The tiles make the stations looke like public toilets.

 

[junctionist]

Tiles aren't what make public toilets unpleasant. It's hard to believe people make that association.

 

[Hipster Duck]

I can't wait until they remake Dupont station. Good, it's not even on the list of stations to save

You're being facetious, right? Just checking. If you aren't, Dupont station is one of the most distinctive subway stations on the system with its mosaic flower and orange tiles. I hope they never touch it.

Why can't the TTC improve its stations while keeping the tiles and fonts? They have already made the system distinctive and have a place in Toronto's history

Yeah, Toronto is not exactly an iconic city, so destroying the few icons we have - such as the subway stations and their tiles - is incredibly counterproductive.

Everything will be replaced with average grade materials and average grade designs that will be called ugly in a couple of decades. Why do I say this? Museum or the Pape rendering hardly look spectacular.

Worse than average. Museum station deserves the architectural crime award of the year. It's the subway station version of a facadectomy.

 

[junctionist]

You're being facetious, right? Just checking. If you aren't, Dupont station is one of the most distinctive subway stations on the system with its mosaic flower and orange tiles. I hope they never touch it.

I was being facetious, because Dupont is the most impressive station and it's not even on the list of station's they wouldn't want to touch. The attention to detail is unprecedented as it achieves so much character. It achieves this through the light fixtures unique to the station, the tile mosaics, those round benches, the tiled structural support pillars, the orange framed entrace, and the substation door:

 

[dowlingm]

One argument for a consistent look/material use for stations would be simplicity of maintenance. In the scenario the TTC is going for I could see different cleaning and care requirements being needed but workers needing "special training" to cope with each one and in the end destroying platform elements by using the methods to clean one station on a completely different one.

The important implication of Joe's post is this - the TTC have had it made clear to them, including by at least one city councillor (Vaughan) that the subway's heritage is taken seriously by many citizens and their answer is "really? Then our plan must be to ravage it even more than we previously announced".

This rather than seek an honest assessment from the public as to what should be done - but they can't do that because they will be told to forgo their vanity projects and spend their time covering the rusting beam at King Street SB platform and replace the roof panels at Bloor SB and repair the tunnel ceiling at Broadview EB with something out of Red Green - 2x4s screwed together.

It's just one more instance of our city's insistance on destroying anything which makes residents having an attachment to city infrastructure.

 

[EnviroTO]

I think that even the stations they want to keep in their original designs need to be gutted at some point. Slowly the roofs leak more and more, the TTC plasters another sign on the wall, and runs another conduit along the roof until the stations which were designed as modern with smooth lines and straight surfaces look industrial and do look like washrooms (with water stains, grime, and pipes and conduits). The "new" museum station already has out of place signs pasted to the new walls. Its only a matter of time before the next TTC service announcement is taped on top of King Tut's face.

 

[EnviroTO]

I should add that I would like to see certain stations kept in their original style as much as possible. I think it makes sense to identify those stations whose designs are unique and in the case where many stations follow a certain pattern to identify which of those show off that style the best and can be kept as close to their original state in the future. I think lower Bloor-Yonge and Pape should not be on the list because changes due to platform capacity and handling LRT or DRL will change the nature of those stations. Personally Royal York is one of my favorite stations. I would like to see Yorkdale station returned to its former glory as well.

 

[Northern Light]

What's the Emergency?

It is truly beyond me how anyone could want to preserve any station on the Bloor line, and more than 1 on the Yonge line.

To be clear I'm big advocate of preserving great historical examples of architecture and am saddened by the loss of many great buildings over the years.

However, there is no way anyone of sound mind can say anything about the original subway lines of Toronto is great.

This is another case of preserve it cause its old, who cares if its ugly.

The energy being put into preserving junk architecture is astounding; where were these people when the University Theatre was demolished?

Joe Clark suggested Eglinton West and Glencairn are ugly.



Those are two of the nicest stations on the system; they show some architectural ambition.

Best station on the system (pure aesthetics) has to be:

Dowsview.

The finishes show great quality, there's incredible airyness with no central columns. Subway design as it should be!

I met the architect on that one and he spoke very kindly towards the TTC as a client at that time.

He's also going to be doing some of the upcoming work and has said it won't be as easy this time as they're on tighter budgets (Downsview as a station has a budget of well over $100,000,000., in the early 90's)

After Downsview, the nicest stations are

Glencairn and Eglinton West

Many of the Sheppard stations would have looked good too if not for the budget cuts (no ceilings, no custom light fixtures, no track-side tile)

***

The one concession I will grant is that most station reno's have not been handled all that well.

Though, I think Osgoode turned out quite nicely, and St. Andrew not bad; Bloor also looks half decent; so does Rosedale.

Too bad about the rest. But energy is better spent demanding good design and projects that finish like their renderings than it is trying to preserver 50-year old regrettable design.

 

[adma]

The consistency of the subway stations between Lawrence and Finch is a little tasteful, however the rest of the system, particularly the entire Bloor Line, is shockingly ugly save for the odd station. It's almost as if the TTC's design intent was to produce stations as ugly as possible. Good riddance to them all.

Huh? Lawrence-to-Finch over the rest of the system? What are you--Ron Burgundy or something?

 

[Disparishun]

Might be OT, but is the TTC font available anywhere on a PD or commercial basis?

 

[adma]

Joe Clark suggested Eglinton West and Glencairn are ugly.

I'd say that what you interpret as such judgment derives from (a) whatever its actual raw design merits, the overdesigned-white-elephant quality of much of the Spadina line (hey, it was the same era which gave us Montreal's Big Owe), and (b) their present condition and state of repair, which somewhat dovetails into (a).

 

[299 bloor call control.]

Quadrat released Toronto Subway based upon etchings from letters from station walls. It's available here:
http://www.quadrat.com/tsr.html


As for the issue at hand, my stance is that if the TTC wants to modernize and create unique stations, do it on ground level and on mezzanine level. Leave the platforms alone.