Tewder
Senior Member
It probably wouldn't be right to build those buildings now, but a more modern version with the same feel would be incredible.
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Star: Blvd of Broken Dreams (1929 Vimy Circle-Cambrai Ave Plan)
- Thread starter wyliepoon
- Start date
adma
Superstar
Then again, we could have wound up with a Potsdamer Platz...
wyliepoon
Senior Member
A modern version might evoke a sense of awe, but I wonder if it's the same awesomeness as what was depicted in those Vimy Circle renderings.
Does Yonge Street in NYCC produce the same sense of awe as the Bay Street canyon? Or to put this in a more global perspective, do Sheik Zayed Road in Dubai or Century Avenue in Pudong, Shanghai produce the same feeling as any street in Midtown Manhattan or the Chicago Loop?
Woodbridge_Heights
Senior Member
For those interested. Theres a large coffee table book called 'Historical Atlas of Toronto' by Hayes, that covers this plan (along with and the relation to the Federal ave plan) in some pretty good detail.
Tewder
Senior Member
I agree, but maybe this is the challenge of architecture/design/urban planning, to recreate the successes of the past (because they are tried and true) but in a modern idiom?
Hipster Duck
Senior Member
Which Potsdamer Platz? The old one with Erich Mendelsohn or the new one with dwarf skyscrapers in the middle of nowhere?
adma
Superstar
The new one with dwarf skyscrapers in the middle of nowhere.
Though against a tableau of Dubai and other Asian asparagus patches, PotzPlatz is actually coming to look rather ingenuous...
Though against a tableau of Dubai and other Asian asparagus patches, PotzPlatz is actually coming to look rather ingenuous...
Dylan Leblanc
New Member
Haven't seen this posted here yet.
CanadianNational
Senior Member
Another thread with a lovely modern rendering:
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread.php/15999-cambrai-avenue-and-vimy-circle
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread.php/15999-cambrai-avenue-and-vimy-circle
Tewder
Senior Member
.... ah wouldn't it be luverly!
CanadianNational
Senior Member
Vimy Circle and Cambrai are central, but I was looking over Passchendale boulevard that would have gone from Spadina to Vimy Circle, and I started thinking "that thing is huge!". It would have been quite impressive in it's own right - not unlike a sort of Fort York boulevard downtown. It had a lovely double curve to it, which would have presented all sorts of unique opportunities for oddly-shaped buildings and interesting tiny plazas.
Unfortunately, it would have destroyed Clarence Square - and other buildings, like the Toronto International Film Festival building would not be where they are today - or there at all. On the bright side, the former Holiday Inn would have been right in the middle of it, and so ... bye!
Here are some blockish renders of where it would go and how it might look downtown. The path is pretty accurate - though my Richmond Street entrance into Vimy Circle is double that shown in the drawn maps of the time.
"Flat" generative renders
...and more 3-d in Google Earth.
It's too bad downtown Toronto didn't get more curved, radial and diagonal streets when it was drawn up. It's never been a "just for the heck of it" kind of town.
I wonder what this one would have turned out like? Would it have been built up in Deco glory? Unlikely, since the Great Depression was on top of it. It could have been put through as late as the 1960's, because the mood was generally pro-car traffic, and the area was still pretty dumpy and low-rise. Then, if it was built up, would it have been a 60's and '70's playground? It's fun to think what it might have looked like if it had been lined with Morris Lapidus-type space-age baubles. Or sleek '70's futurismo. Then again, it might have turned out to be "Brutalist Boulevard". Or a street of depots and garages. Or Po-Mo ave, if it had hadn't been filled out until the 80's.
In my ideal view of it, it would have been lined with medium-height deco buildings punctuated by the occasional elegant skyscrapers. Sidewalks would have been nice and wide, trees would be big and mature, and the stone and glass storefronts would have plenty of refined retail and restaurants along it's gently curving distance.
The entertainment district would never have happened, and maybe a street like this would have taken some of the energy out of the revitalization of Queen West and King Street. Or boosted them. This may have drawn the energy of downtown Westward, sooner.
I guess we'll never know.
Unfortunately, it would have destroyed Clarence Square - and other buildings, like the Toronto International Film Festival building would not be where they are today - or there at all. On the bright side, the former Holiday Inn would have been right in the middle of it, and so ... bye!
Here are some blockish renders of where it would go and how it might look downtown. The path is pretty accurate - though my Richmond Street entrance into Vimy Circle is double that shown in the drawn maps of the time.
"Flat" generative renders
...and more 3-d in Google Earth.
It's too bad downtown Toronto didn't get more curved, radial and diagonal streets when it was drawn up. It's never been a "just for the heck of it" kind of town.
I wonder what this one would have turned out like? Would it have been built up in Deco glory? Unlikely, since the Great Depression was on top of it. It could have been put through as late as the 1960's, because the mood was generally pro-car traffic, and the area was still pretty dumpy and low-rise. Then, if it was built up, would it have been a 60's and '70's playground? It's fun to think what it might have looked like if it had been lined with Morris Lapidus-type space-age baubles. Or sleek '70's futurismo. Then again, it might have turned out to be "Brutalist Boulevard". Or a street of depots and garages. Or Po-Mo ave, if it had hadn't been filled out until the 80's.
In my ideal view of it, it would have been lined with medium-height deco buildings punctuated by the occasional elegant skyscrapers. Sidewalks would have been nice and wide, trees would be big and mature, and the stone and glass storefronts would have plenty of refined retail and restaurants along it's gently curving distance.
The entertainment district would never have happened, and maybe a street like this would have taken some of the energy out of the revitalization of Queen West and King Street. Or boosted them. This may have drawn the energy of downtown Westward, sooner.
I guess we'll never know.
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Tewder
Senior Member
Great work, thanks for sharing! I wonder if there would or could ever be any motivation to revive the circle part of this plan, not in deco necessarily.