Toronto Ontario Place | ?m | ?s | Infrastructure ON

Interesting, I had no idea that was there. Never had an occasion to go inside either building.
 
@P23, the Royal Winter Fair is coming up, you should check that out if you never have.

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As with anything the outcome here will be entirely political. The Ontario Government is politically desperate at the moment and while they had made some longer-term commitments in areas like transit etc. earlier in the mandate, I think right now their mood is going to shift into the "do anything to get re-elected" short-term-ism. The question is will Ontario Place be a casualty?
 
Ryan_T said:
Wouldn't Tommy Thompson be a better facsimile for Stanley Park?
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Not really...man made and off limits most of the time. The Don Valley fits the bill much better if you want 1000+ acres of natural respite bordering very high density urbanity. Ontario Place was built for the purpose of showcasing Ontario culture, learning and entertainment. And at 50 acres, could hardly fill in for a giant natural forest experience.

Ontario Place happened because of a certain level of integrity that existed at the time, which is no longer present. It's not like the original idea behind Ontario Place is obsolete. We just don't give a sh*t...that's why the current plan is to landscape it with some rocks and zero maintenance decorative grasses, and call it a day.
 
Though I would be hesitant to call it "integrity" - it's more like the little brother complex against Montreal/Expo 67 that drove it. Having said that - it was certainly daring - I can't imagine taxes being used for anything that is purely for joy now (with no expectation of tangible return of some kind)

TrickyRicky said:
As with anything the outcome here will be entirely political. The Ontario Government is politically desperate at the moment and while they had made some longer-term commitments in areas like transit etc. earlier in the mandate, I think right now their mood is going to shift into the "do anything to get re-elected" short-term-ism. The question is will Ontario Place be a casualty?
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Agree with the assessment, but not sure if OP figures into that equation other than as a source of cash - because gawd forbid, spending public money on it right now is a non-starter. But selling it would create a can of worms on its' own. In any case, OP is dead in the form that it was - and the already dead can't be a causalty.

AoD
 
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Good point, AoD. But although Ontario Place as exhibition/entertainment complex may be dead, there are two "Ontario Places" which remain: the Zeidler-designed Ontario Place architecture, and Ontario Place as a publicly-owned site intended for public use. Those two Ontario Places are still at risk, in whole or in part. The latter is already in ICU (given the facility has been closed for 5 or so years).

My fear is what happens after the next election. The Liberals have not shown a lot of leadership on this file. The Tories, if they win, will be looking to cut costs and downsize wherever they can - their caucus is unlikely to be much interested in Ontario Place, except as a source of revenue. Even the NDP will have other priorities. I'm not hopeful.
 
Skeezix said:
Good point, AoD. But although Ontario Place as exhibition/entertainment complex may be dead, there are two "Ontario Places" which remain: the Zeidler-designed Ontario Place architecture, and Ontario Place as a publicly-owned site intended for public use. Those two Ontario Places are still at risk, in whole or in part. The latter is already in ICU (given the facility has been closed for 5 or so years).

My fear is what happens after the next election. The Liberals have not shown a lot of leadership on this file. The Tories, if they win, will be looking to cut costs and downsize wherever they can - their caucus is unlikely to be much interested in Ontario Place, except as a source of revenue. Even the NDP will have other priorities. I'm not hopeful.
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I think that would be too much pushback against tearing down the Pods/Cinesphere - but beyond that? I think we would be prudent to expect some kind of private sector development on the site (though the question really is just how viable would it be). It's an awkward site with poor general accessibility - just what kind of uses would the private sector be interested in for the site at this point?

AoD
 
It's a great condo site. Right on the water. What makes the site awkward for pedestrians makes it great for drivers. But you're right - it's not great for retail, etc.

I agree - my guess is that there would be a lot of pushback against tearing down all the pods/Cinesphere. I just wonder how much a PC government at Queens Park would care, particularly if there was some lame-ass plan to save parts of the architecture. If there was a plan to save the Cinesphere, and to tear down everything else, I'm not sure the general population cares all that much about the pods.
 
There would be major resistance to tearing down Cinesphere -- if nothing else, it was the first dedicated IMAX theatre in the world, surely the advocates of preserving Toronto's architectural history would fight to keep it (with a lot more justification than is sometimes the case).

The pods, though, could end up being demolished, even though they are also part of the original Ontario Place, and are even more architecturally unique than Cinesphere.
 
I'm not worried about having the advocates of preserving Toronto's architectural history onside. I assume that would be the case. It's the government at Queens Park and the general public (particularly the public living outside Toronto's core) that I worry about.
 
Admiral Beez said:
I know, never going to happen.

As for integrating OP with the CNE grounds; what for? The CNE grounds for the most part outside of the trade show and event space is empty, especially in the winter. Most of the space is a combination of parking lots and fields of scrub, grass and asphalt.

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Not sure it is true (any more) that most of the place is empty year round.....look at teh numbered buildings 1/2/5/11 are in year round operation.....14 is obviously summer only but when it is in operation it brings large volumes of people and when it stops for season 16 is kicking into gear. Un-numbered buildings DEC and Allstream are year round operations......even without weighting by size, i think there are more year round operations than those that close now.....and not shown there are the Biosteel centre and the hotel.....people may not like the architecture but there is little doubt they add to the area's "year round usage".

I have always thought that if lakeshore could be "bridged over" with a unintereupted surface from Newfoundland Rd. to Ontario Dr. it would create a very large surface area which could accomodate the annual fair and be "open space" otherwise...that would allow the elimination of the streetcar loop and, instead, the westbound streetcars could continue on past the food building around the Queen Elizabeth complex using PEI Crescent to get to Ontario Dr. and then go west across Prince's Blvd and out through the gates t meet up with Fleet street somehow......Bringing the streetcars much closer to OP.

Obviously my "thoughts" are lacking in any technical analysis but it is how my mind's eye envisions the place.
 
I worked at Ontario Place for two summers, 1992 and 1993, while at University. First year I was in Admissions, sitting in those booths at the front doors and taking tickets. Second year I was a parking lot attendant. That second summer was, IIRC, one of the rainiest on record. I remember sitting in the parking lot booth and reading, I believe three Tom Clancy novels. My neighbour brought a portable television.

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Skeezix said:
It's a great condo site. Right on the water. What makes the site awkward for pedestrians makes it great for drivers. But you're right - it's not great for retail, etc.

I agree - my guess is that there would be a lot of pushback against tearing down all the pods/Cinesphere. I just wonder how much a PC government at Queens Park would care, particularly if there was some lame-ass plan to save parts of the architecture. If there was a plan to save the Cinesphere, and to tear down everything else, I'm not sure the general population cares all that much about the pods.
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If you have been in the pods recently you wouldn't have an objection to them being torn down. A few years back I worked at a restaurant at Ontario Place and we helped set up an event in one of the pods they are pretty much stuck in the 70 in the interior of them. The cenosphere is about they only part of the section other than Atlantis that has been maintained. The cinesphere was actually last used by Imax to test out Laser projetores that they installed in digital imax theatres just before the new star wars movie hit them.
 
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