Toronto 906 Yonge Street | 139.17m | 40s | Gupta | Arcadis

Urban Shocker said:
If they must save that silly faux Ye Olde English building, why not just stick it on the roof with a little garden and a water feature for the residents and set it back from the street so nobody else will see it?
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As a retention, it isn't as silly as the Lyle Studio or RCMI. Or maybe it's less silly for its being, er, "sillier" (i.e. hyperactively Gatsby-era Olde English, i.e. makes a better facadist folly for the fact)
 
Sorry, but that silly faux Ye Olde English building stays and some of those other builds need to go.

This build needs to play a bigger roll than what been plan to the point it becomes a tavern or something useful.
 
As a member of the original Ridpath family - I am deeply saddened by the closing and subsequent construction of another megalith on the 906 Yonge Street site. The business was founded by my great uncle (John Isbister Ridpath) in 1907 and several years later moved to the present location. My father (his nephew) worked there for over 30 years. JI died in 1957 and his wife sold the business out of the family in 1957. That was the first sad day for me and my family. This is an even sadder day. The design of that building is unique in Toronto and probably in North America! I guess time moves on but pure greed and short sightedness has driven this city to become a listless concrete jungle that has no uniqueness except for another concrete megalith - the CN Tower. Too bad for us all is the demise of the Ridpath store!
 
"......but pure greed and short sightedness has driven this city to become a listless concrete jungle that has no uniqueness except for another concrete megalith - the CN Tower."

That is one person's opinion. I have been in this city for almost city years and it has never been more dynamic.
 
Yes, that is my opinion. The thread is about Ridpath's store. I am not sure how many years is 'city' years but I was born, raised and lived in TO for over 50 years!
 
I understood that only a partial facade 'may' be kept. It's not just the building as wonderful as it is, but the whole desire on the part of the owners and buyers to get rid of this city icon for another boring, concrete megalith. I am personally saddened because i have history with the company and the building.
 
That would be nice! The Ridpath hotel in Spokane, Washington is now closed and set for demolition. It would be nice to have another rise up from the 'ashes' and be where the old store was.
 
I, too, would restrain myself from excessive concrete-megalith bashing. Though to some degree, the megalithic "trivialization" stage had already been set by Ridpaths' Yonge St neighbours in the 70s and 80s--even if the physical store itself, never mind the mere facade, remained intact (but wasn't Christine's Fitness originally an expanding-out of the Ridpaths space?).

And upon reflection, I wouldn't sniff so much at the Old Englishness--after all, the style was "validated" in those years by Liberty in London, which the Ridpath family must surely have been eyeing carefully...
 
Colour me sentimental but I'd be sorry to see it gone just because it'd be gone. Its familiar tudor campyness has cheered up that corner for some time now, and really where's the harm?
 
Tewder said:
Its familiar tudor campyness has cheered up that corner for some time now
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Yes, but it is important to recognize that its Tudor-ness is just camp, a intentionally anachronistic re-creation that has no inherent architectural value. I can understand sentimental attachment to the building in its place, but it's kind of like being sentimental about the "windmill" at a miniature golf course -- both are equally authentic. (Not that there is anything wrong with either miniature golf or liking windmills...)
 
Hmmm ... not quite the same comparison to Ridpath's store and a windmill at a mini-golf course - in my opinion. Camp or not it is what the store stood for in its heyday - originally designed and manufactured top quality furniture made on the premises by craftsmen and decorators (including my dad) that has not been followed (because of economics???) and thus the demise of the store in itself is not the tragedy but what it stood for. An yes, the Victorian facade is a landmark - campy or not - it will be missed. I personally will miss the whole genre of what the store stood for - selfish I know!. I. Ridpath
 
Tulse said:
Yes, but it is important to recognize that its Tudor-ness is just camp, a intentionally anachronistic re-creation that has no inherent architectural value. I can understand sentimental attachment to the building in its place, but it's kind of like being sentimental about the "windmill" at a miniature golf course -- both are equally authentic. (Not that there is anything wrong with either miniature golf or liking windmills...)
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Perhaps, but the intentional anachronism - in and of itself - carries its own significance, no? Culturally speaking?

Besides, be careful of condemning buildings based on architectural worthyness alone. There are plenty of Victorian buildings out there sporting towers and turrets that never once saw a medieval knight.
 
Tewder said:
Perhaps, but the intentional anachronism - in and of itself - carries its own significance, no? Culturally speaking?

Besides, be careful of condemning buildings based on architectural worthyness alone. There are plenty of Victorian buildings out there sporting towers and turrets that never once saw a medieval knight.
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Of course, and I didn't mean to suggest that the only significance a building could have is architectural. But I thought it important to note that simply being faux-Tudor is not in itself a reason to save this structure. There may very well be sentimental/historical reasons to preserve the building, but the architecture alone is not one of them.
 
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