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ganjavih
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`Uninspiring' condo won't improve with age
Condo cluttered, cheap looking
CHRISTOPHER HUME
The architectural stakes at Yonge and St. Clair are so low now, and the urban design so degraded, it shouldn't be surprising that new condo development in the once-elegant neighbourhood is so thoroughly mediocre.
The latest example of the slow decline of the mid-town area is the St. Clair.
Located just west of Yonge on the north side of De Lisle Ave., this deeply uninspiring complex has little to recommend it.
Cheap-looking, cluttered and unresolved, it has the thrown-together appearance typical of many Toronto residential projects.
With its cream-coloured concrete exteriors and pre-fabricated feel, this is a building that looks bad now and will age badly.
On the good side, the St. Clair sits on top of a public parking garage, a brilliant use of space in a city that needs to intensify.
The north side of the complex, which faces on to Heath St., is made up of three-storey townhouses.
The most distinctive features are the "snap-together" columns that support the porches.
Surrounded by buildings that have survived intact from the 1920s, when architecture still mattered, the St. Clair seems especially impoverished.
But, in fact, the tone of the area was set several decades ago when buildings like the shiny and awful St. Clair Centre (northeast corner Yonge and St. Clair) started to go up.
Now, the neighbourhood is a mess, and a powerful example of how planning and architecture in Toronto have failed the community.
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Grade: C
TANNIS TOOHEY/TORONTO STAR
The St. Clair has a thrown-together appearance, writes Christopher Hume.
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It's hard to judge from that little pic, but it does look pretty cheap.
Condo cluttered, cheap looking
CHRISTOPHER HUME
The architectural stakes at Yonge and St. Clair are so low now, and the urban design so degraded, it shouldn't be surprising that new condo development in the once-elegant neighbourhood is so thoroughly mediocre.
The latest example of the slow decline of the mid-town area is the St. Clair.
Located just west of Yonge on the north side of De Lisle Ave., this deeply uninspiring complex has little to recommend it.
Cheap-looking, cluttered and unresolved, it has the thrown-together appearance typical of many Toronto residential projects.
With its cream-coloured concrete exteriors and pre-fabricated feel, this is a building that looks bad now and will age badly.
On the good side, the St. Clair sits on top of a public parking garage, a brilliant use of space in a city that needs to intensify.
The north side of the complex, which faces on to Heath St., is made up of three-storey townhouses.
The most distinctive features are the "snap-together" columns that support the porches.
Surrounded by buildings that have survived intact from the 1920s, when architecture still mattered, the St. Clair seems especially impoverished.
But, in fact, the tone of the area was set several decades ago when buildings like the shiny and awful St. Clair Centre (northeast corner Yonge and St. Clair) started to go up.
Now, the neighbourhood is a mess, and a powerful example of how planning and architecture in Toronto have failed the community.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grade: C
TANNIS TOOHEY/TORONTO STAR
The St. Clair has a thrown-together appearance, writes Christopher Hume.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's hard to judge from that little pic, but it does look pretty cheap.