Toronto The New Residences of Yorkville Plaza | 92.05m | 31s | Camrost-Felcorp | WZMH COMPLETE

[adma]

I must beg to differ.

While I certainly can't say the amended design is a work of art, even particularly appealing, it really is an improvement, however modest, on the current ediface, which is both brutal and brutally ugly.

This would appear to 'humanize' and open up the building to its surroundings more. However, imperfectly, that is nicer than the complete indifference the current building shows to passersby at street level.

Well, ground floor perhaps. Though I'm ambivalent about the apparent glassed-in corners--and on the whole, if it's so "brutal and brutally ugly", such kid-glove gestures seem weak-kneed either way...

 

[CN Tower]

Looks like the base will be remodelled, and glass will be replaced.
(Ad rendering found by Taller,Better on SSC)

This latest idea has disaster written all over it.

Menkes was smart to cash in their chips when they did.

 

[gabe]

Gross! Just leave the building as is! It may not be prettiest building around but it still looks better than this mess! I'm surprised they filled in the hotel balconies on the corner units.

 

[pman]

Fixing the horrendous ground floor is ok as far as it goes, but the whole effort seems like putting lipstick on a pig. A scary, brutal pig.

 

[Northern Magus]

It seems to me to be either too timid or too half-assed. I can see the justification for filling in some of the ground floor since there won't be nearly the same amount of taxi or vehicular traffic.

But really, if they're basically leaving the exterior intact, they ought to be more reverential. You don't perform cosmetic surgery if it makes the patient uglier.

 

[Northern Magus]

Fixing the horrendous ground floor is ok as far as it goes, but the whole effort seems like putting lipstick on a pig. A scary, brutal pig.

Victorian brick heaps were somewhat reviled in the 50s-70s. Much like Brutalist structures are now. And today they're adored and revered.

Brutalism's time will come.

 

[Xray_Crystal_Junkie]

I don't see how some can't agree that this (appears to be) is a great improvement on what we have currently. Perhaps I'll wait until a full render released to pass final judgement but seriously, you know what it looks like now right?

And I will be willing to bet hundreds (no, thousands) that brutalism will never gain the wide spectrum appeal and adornment that Victorian brick or Gothic architecture has gained in more recent times. I'd even pass that bet down onto my future children and their children.

This thing is ugly. Let them try to spruce it up a bit.

 

[Northern Magus]

Lol i know precisely what it looks like now, as well as how beloved it has been as a Yorkville institution. Brutalism, retro furniture, the wheel will always come full circle.

But suit yourself, have your lawyers call my lawyers, etc etc.....

 

[Torontovibe]

Victorian brick heaps were somewhat reviled in the 50s-70s.

In Toronto, by who? Got any evidence of that? I think that's one of those bull-shit statements that people make without any basis in reality. As far as I've been around, and that's a long time, most people I know, have loved those Victorians.

 

[Xray_Crystal_Junkie]

Lol i know precisely what it looks like now, as well as how beloved it has been as a Yorkville institution. Brutalism, retro furniture, the wheel will always come full circle.

But suit yourself, have your lawyers call my lawyers, etc etc.....

You pick any one off the street and ask them what they think about the EXTERIOR of that building and guarantee they will all tell you it is pretty hideous. At least in need of modernization. Yes the interior with its retro furniture and other features is no doubt stunning and likely why the it's a "beloved" institution, but that's not what I'm arguing. I'm simply saying the exterior could use significant improvement.
I also would point out that the Four Seasons themselves agree with me. If it was such a beloved institution (inside and out) why would they go to the trouble of building a new modern glass tower and sell the current property to a developer. No doubt the new tower will have excellent finishes but will also have an eye-pleasing facade.

 

[fouronesix]

In Toronto, by who? Got any evidence of that? I think that's one of those bull-shit statements that people make without any basis in reality. As far as I've been around, and that's a long time, most people I know, have loved those Victorians.

I'm not an expert, but as far as I know Modernist architecture generally rejected what was deemed the ostentatious ornamentation of earlier styles - including Victorian architecture - in favour of simple, functional, and unornamented design. The height of modernist architecture in Toronto was arguably exactly within the time frame that Northern Magus stated. Thus, while people you know may have consistently liked Victorian architecture, the number of new, modernist infill developments between the 50s and 70s would suggest that those who designed and built Toronto in this period did not share a similar outlook.

 

[egotrippin]

In Toronto, by who? Got any evidence of that? I think that's one of those bull-shit statements that people make without any basis in reality. As far as I've been around, and that's a long time, most people I know, have loved those Victorians.

Are you daft? Much of the public and nearly all of the development world considered our Victorian buildings to be grim reminders of a gritty past. They were torn down by the hundreds without any reaction because they were deemed to be antiquated, overwrought, and ugly; not worth rehabilitation or preservation.

Don't you recall the little story of City Hall which was almost lost to the original Eaton Centre plans? Or the razing of neighbourhoods like Cabbagetown for urban renewal? The loss of the Star Building, and much of the original CBD?

I guess not, it's just a bunch of bullshit not based in reality.

 

[adma]

You pick any one off the street and ask them what they think about the EXTERIOR of that building and guarantee they will all tell you it is pretty hideous. At least in need of modernization. Yes the interior with its retro furniture and other features is no doubt stunning and likely why the it's a "beloved" institution, but that's not what I'm arguing. I'm simply saying the exterior could use significant improvement.
I also would point out that the Four Seasons themselves agree with me. If it was such a beloved institution (inside and out) why would they go to the trouble of building a new modern glass tower and sell the current property to a developer. No doubt the new tower will have excellent finishes but will also have an eye-pleasing facade.

I think the argument here is along the lines that, at least above street level (where greater liberties can be had), what's being offered in the name of "significant improvement" and "an eye-pleasing facade" (the glassy corners, above all) is so half-baked, it's a wonder they bothered. Either go all the way one direction (total reclad) or the other (total retention, at least above the podium level). And if you're to reclad, don't make it a PoMo hack job like what happened to Dickinson's Park Plaza addition across the street...

 

[Northern Magus]

In Toronto, by who? Got any evidence of that? I think that's one of those bull-shit statements that people make without any basis in reality. As far as I've been around, and that's a long time, most people I know, have loved those Victorians.

Well then, you clearly haven't been around very long -- and if you have, I know what you were smoking.

Ever see all those parking lots that used to litter downtown from Spadina to the Don River in the 80s and 90s? As egotrippin correctly states, those were virtually all former Victorian heaps that became victims of the clear-cutting.

Go take a walk along Front street. Remember those empty parking lots that are now home to Fly and 300 Front?

Do you really think they were parking lots in 1890?

 

[thecharioteer]

In Toronto, by who? Got any evidence of that? I think that's one of those bull-shit statements that people make without any basis in reality. As far as I've been around, and that's a long time, most people I know, have loved those Victorians.

Huh?

Front, east of Scott 1919 (site of Berczy Park; parking lot before that):