REGINA | Downtown

[flar]

REGINA - SASKATCHEWAN
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[ganjavih]

Thanks for the great tour, Flar... my first real exposure to Regina. Some nice buildings and streetscapes, but as is the case with many medium-sized Canadian city, looks like a ghost town.

 

[Hipster Duck]

Geez, that apartment block in #57 is more imposing than anything on Avenue Road, even though Toronto probably had 12X the population at the time.

After seeing Old Montreal, parts of Winnipeg, Saint John NB and now this Regina thread, I'm starting to believe that pre-war Canadians were just as capable as building stately stuff as Americans...just not in Ontario.

 

[Towered]

Looks like London.

 

[junctionist]

Geez, that apartment block in #57 is more imposing than anything on Avenue Road, even though Toronto probably had 12X the population at the time.

After seeing Old Montreal, parts of Winnipeg, Saint John NB and now this Regina thread, I'm starting to believe that pre-war Canadians were just as capable as building stately stuff as Americans...just not in Ontario.

You think there's nothing "stately" about prewar Ontario architecture? That's just a bizarre statement to make considering our extensive Beaux-Arts and Gothic Revival heritage alone.

 

[Hipster Duck]

I guess I was in a pissy mood. There are, of course, very fine examples of early 20th Century architecture in Ontario and Toronto has a few such gems. Still, I think that the Prairie cities were a little more ambitious than Toronto or Ottawa were at the time, especially given their relative size. Winnipeg is somewhat deserving of the title of "Chicago of the North" and, yet, most of the Beaux Arts beauties that grace Main and Portage or the nearby Exchange district were built when the city still had about 1/3 the population of Toronto. I do think that that apartment block in Regina has more oomph than any pre-war apartment complex of the same size in Toronto and, yet, Regina was a small little prairie town back then.

 

[Jonny5]

Looks like London.

I was just going to say the downtown pics remind me of downtown Hamilton. Pictures 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 18 and 21 especially make me think of the area around King and James Sts. by Gore Park. The twin blue glass office towers with the HSBC logo on them are similar to Commerce Place which are also two blue glass clad buildings. They don't have the dramatic angel cut into them, but they are the same height and have a somewhat hexagonal shape. There is also the pedestrian bridge over King St in Hamilton which looks like the one in picture 5.

I saw a Smitty's restaurant in there. That reminded me there is an outpost of this chain around the Burlington GO station. It has been there a very long time. Some twenty years ago, my great aunt lived nearby on Brant Street and she brought me here to eat. I recall it as the kind of restaurant waspy seniors have as their standby choice to drive the Buick to for dinner; the servers know the regular customers by name, they offer early bird dinner specials from 4pm and most food is either deep fried or smothered in bland, salty gravy. The popular menu items are always open-faced hot turkey sandwiches, poached chicken and mashed potatos and fish and chips.I never knew it was chain until now. Some web research shows they have 115 locations, 9 of which are in Ontario. It looks like they have updated heir menu somewhat, they now serve Slider's and Samosa's! It looks like they are based in western Canada. How are they perceived out there?

 

[MisterF]

This building is just wrong on so many levels...

 

[Tewder]

I guess I was in a pissy mood. There are, of course, very fine examples of early 20th Century architecture in Ontario and Toronto has a few such gems. Still, I think that the Prairie cities were a little more ambitious than Toronto or Ottawa were at the time, especially given their relative size. Winnipeg is somewhat deserving of the title of "Chicago of the North" and, yet, most of the Beaux Arts beauties that grace Main and Portage or the nearby Exchange district were built when the city still had about 1/3 the population of Toronto. I do think that that apartment block in Regina has more oomph than any pre-war apartment complex of the same size in Toronto and, yet, Regina was a small little prairie town back then.

So much of old Toronto has fallen to the wrecking ball that I it's difficult to get a sense of a grand olde Toronto. Fortunately attitudes about these things have changed and the city does seem to do better at preserving some of the gems that remain.

 

[JasonParis]

Never been to Regina, but judging form these pictures, it has bigger city bones than I'd imagined.

I find the Regina Inn strangely fascinating.

 

[junctionist]

I guess I was in a pissy mood. There are, of course, very fine examples of early 20th Century architecture in Ontario and Toronto has a few such gems. Still, I think that the Prairie cities were a little more ambitious than Toronto or Ottawa were at the time, especially given their relative size. Winnipeg is somewhat deserving of the title of "Chicago of the North" and, yet, most of the Beaux Arts beauties that grace Main and Portage or the nearby Exchange district were built when the city still had about 1/3 the population of Toronto. I do think that that apartment block in Regina has more oomph than any pre-war apartment complex of the same size in Toronto and, yet, Regina was a small little prairie town back then.

Looking at the Princes' Gates and the plans for the Exhibition grounds or University Avenue in Unbuilt Toronto, it almost looks like Toronto aspired to look like a European imperial capital. Most of those projects were never built, unfortunately, but we did build a lot of impressive buildings nonetheless. One very early prewar example which should be noted is University College, which wouldn't look out of place in a major European city despite being built when Toronto was a town of about 40,000 people. In terms of residential, Casa Loma is unparallelled. But I agree, that Regina looks to have been quite ambitious at the time. The heritage architecture in these photos is better than I expected.

 

[Long Island Mike]

Flar: I had no idea that Saskatchewan's Capital was that nice being isolated out in the Prairies that it is! I will make comments about pics posted here at a later date...LI MIKE

 

[flar]

I was surprised at Regina too. It has some great early 20th C architecture and the downtown area is relatively large for a city of only 200K. Street life is weak, but it is still a small city and it is really, really cold (-28C my first night there) this time of year. Walking around, Regina feels quite a bit different from Ontario cities. For one, there are no rows of Victorian buildings. Most buildings here stand alone, with a few rows of 1910s-30s buildings downtown. Regina had less than 3000 people in 1900, so it is a very young city, and this is apparent in the planning: it is actually a planned city with numbered avenues punctuated by grand boulevards. On the whole, I enjoyed the city. I also took more pics in other areas of the city, which I will post here sometime.

 

[Long Island Mike]

Regina,Saskatchewan - a very interesting city...

Flar: As mentioned I want to make comments about what looks to be an interesting city - Regina. Good tour!
2-Northern Bank-nice!
4-Downtown street - quiet - is that a police car in the foreground?
5-Central city mall complex...
6-Nice 1929 building with an interesting food combination...
7-Government building of some type? I like the design and construction...
8,15,21,22,38,39 and 53 - Surprising skyscrapers of Regina...
11-Casino Regina - a former Rail station as it appears?
12-Main highway thru central city - is that a rail overpass behind you noting downgrade?
13-Another nice old building...
14-Mall using older buildings...
17-Interesting mural...what is it?
18-Transit bus - What is the name of their system?
19-Power Company HQ Building...
20-Government Building or a hotel?
23-Nice preserved government building...
25-Nice architecture/design...
26-50s style hotel?
27-Nice older style building facade...
28-Is liquor/beer sold privately in Saskatchewan?
29-Hotel?
31-Nice brick building...
32-"Leader Building" - nice!
33-Canadian Forces building - an armory?
34-C.W.Place - nice again!
35-Solid brick construction here!
40-Nice old bank with Transit Information Centre-where?
41-Municipal HAIL building - interesting!
42-Cornwall Centre-mall?
45-60s era designed hotel?
46-Nice old row building...
48-A Canadian Federal Government building?
51-Nice reflection of apartment on adjacent building glass-good eye there!
52-Gay club with Conservative Party of Canada office next door...strange neighbors perhaps...
57,59,65,66-Nice older brick apartment buildings...
61,68-Older school buildings?
63-Nice block of older brick apartment buildings - like Hamilton or Toronto perhaps...hard to believe it's Regina!
Thanks again! Long Island Mike

 

[flar]

Thanks for your comments LI Mike

4-Downtown street - quiet - is that a police car in the foreground? --I think so
7-Government building of some type? I like the design and construction... --Old post office, I think it's called the Prince Edward building now
8,15,21,22,38,39 and 53 - Surprising skyscrapers of Regina... plenty of offices here
11-Casino Regina - a former Rail station as it appears? -- yes, the railroad was the lifeblood of this city in its formative years
12-Main highway thru central city - is that a rail overpass behind you noting downgrade? Broad St goes underneath a wide swath of tracks
17-Interesting mural...what is it? No idea
18-Transit bus - What is the name of their system? Regina Transit (plain and simple)
19-Power Company HQ Building... Amazing building, the pic doesn't do it justice
20-Government Building or a hotel? Hotel, I forget the brand
26-50s style hotel? Set to be demolished very soon...
32-"Leader Building" - nice! Very nice
33-Canadian Forces building - an armory? The Royal Canadian Legion. Every town in Canada has one of these, where veterans (and a few others) go for a beer
40-Nice old bank with Transit Information Centre-where? 11th Ave in the heart of downtown
41-Municipal HAIL building - interesting! not sure what HAIL means
42-Cornwall Centre-mall? this is the downtown mall, seem quite busy
45-60s era designed hotel? Lots of this style in Regina
48-A Canadian Federal Government building? yes. This building should be an art moderne masterpiece, but it doesn't work for me for some reason
51-Nice reflection of apartment on adjacent building glass-good eye there! thanks
52-Gay club with Conservative Party of Canada office next door...strange neighbors perhaps... strange bedfellows indeed
61,68-Older school buildings? 68 is the University of Regina
63-Nice block of older brick apartment buildings - like Hamilton or Toronto perhaps...hard to believe it's Regina! This town has a pretty nice urban fabric