Toronto Ryerson's Mattamy Athletics Centre + Loblaws at the Gardens | ?m | ?s | Ryerson University | Turner Fleischer

MapleLeafs said:
It wasn't.

The original "score clock" was this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Maple_Leaf_Gardens_Postcard_1931.jpg

There was also a fairly large clock on the Wood Street side (IIRC) for a long time and a score clock similar to the one shown above from the Chicago Stadium. Both were gone by the mid-1960s I think.




Personally, I still believe the building could have been saved in two forms: 1) Restored to it's original 1931 format -- 13,000 seats, mid-size venue for the city. 2) Employ some creative engineering to keep the Leafs playing in the building.

Of course, this is complete hindsight and given the circumstances in 2010, I think it is the best we could hope for, unfortunately.
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Thanks for the original clock pic......I think the digital version of the old "dominion clock" that was there at the end was only in use for 5 or so years so still not sure what all the preservationist hub bub is about on that regard.

As for retaining the building......I think the Melnyk proposal to house the Majors was the only serious proposal to retain it as an arena alone....and he was not willing to agree not to host other events in competition with the vendor so that became a non-starter really.

Pretty sure nothing could have been done to retain it as an NHL rink....the business model of the NHL just moved passed this arena (and all of the other arenas of its vintage in the league for that matter).
 
nevernamed said:
It had significance to me. And most leaf fans that remember going there! So its BS. I'm not sure the old scoreclock wasent modified into the new one.. who knows. Either way. I hate Loblaws and Ryerson for butchering this place to death. Its character is dead.
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i agree totaly its character is dead they could of kept alot more history in the building
 
When the Gardens sat empty for a decade, mostly unused, many were concerned that we would eventually lose the building. When the Loblaws & Ryerson deal finally came together along with government funding we breathed a collective sigh of relief knowing that the most significant part of the building, the exterior, would be saved. Now people are complaining about an old score clock which, if it had any significance should have been moved to the HHOF, lobbies which were essentially painted brick walls and a big ugly arena in the middle that had very limited use because MLSE saw to that. I loved the Gardens as much as the next person, some of my best memories growing up happened inside that building seeing Leaf games, The Ice Capades, Circus Shows and then concerts galore in my teens and twenty's but let's get a grip folks, the art deco exterior will stand for our children to see but the interior could not survive. Would I like to have seen MLG saved "as is"? Of course. But no business plan could support it.
Obviously I'm clearly on the side of Loblaws & Ryerson who are reusing the spaces well to serve the generations ahead of us in as practical, and respectful way as possible.

Here is what the clock actually looked like in the end. I harvested the first two pictures several years ago from the Nuit Blanche thread here (from Oct. 2008) so I don't know who to credit for taking them, the third one was taken by me.

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MLG_2008.jpg
 
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^Great post. Not only was this building saved, but it is being adapted for new uses which will ensure its safeguarding for years to come, not to mention its relevance to the community. Hopefully there will be enough memorabilia on hand for nostalgia buffs, but how better to preserve the memory of this building than through the architecture and its very physical presence at Carlton and Church, which is being preserved (and not just facade or facade with condo tower etc).
 
Tulse said:
Would there have been any way to retain the character you want and still turn it into a grocery store with a university icepad on top?
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Absolutely not. I'm grateful they got an icepad there, but that being said. Its a shame that everything inside is gone. EVERYTHING..

The best thing would have been if the leafs had sold it to Melnyk.. They took the lowest bid to ensure the place wouldn't remain. And I'm pissed at MLSE more than anything for that.
 
Tewder said:
^Great post. Not only was this building saved, but it is being adapted for new uses which will ensure its safeguarding for years to come
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Well said....the best way to save something is to find a use for it....keep it contributing! That is why I suggested above that if we want the clock preserved we should find a rink (and Hershey and Powerade came to mind) that do not have video on the scoreboards.....put that clock up (if it fits) and people will forever say "where'd that come from"..answer "that is the clock from the old Maple Leaf Gardens.....you know that goal you keep seeing replays of, the double overtime where number 93 danced back and forth behind the net 'till Cujo left enough room for him to wrap around and score? It was shown on that board!"
 
TOareaFan said:
Well said....the best way to save something is to find a use for it....keep it contributing! That is why I suggested above that if we want the clock preserved we should find a rink (and Hershey and Powerade came to mind) that do not have video on the scoreboards.....put that clock up (if it fits) and people will forever say "where'd that come from"..answer "that is the clock from the old Maple Leaf Gardens.....you know that goal you keep seeing replays of, the double overtime where number 93 danced back and forth behind the net 'till Cujo left enough room for him to wrap around and score? It was shown on that board!"
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Well said....this is exactly what I was thinking.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
When the Gardens sat empty for a decade, mostly unused, many were concerned that we would eventually lose the building. When the Loblaws & Ryerson deal finally came together along with government funding we breathed a collective sigh of relief knowing that the most significant part of the building, the exterior, would be saved. Now people are complaining about an old score clock which, if it had any significance should have been moved to the HHOF, lobbies which were essentially painted brick walls and a big ugly arena in the middle that had very limited use because MLSE saw to that. I loved the Gardens as much as the next person, some of my best memories growing up happened inside that building seeing Leaf games, The Ice Capades, Circus Shows and then concerts galore in my teens and twenty's but let's get a grip folks, the art deco exterior will stand for our children to see but the interior could not survive. Would I like to have seen MLG saved "as is"? Of course. But no business plan could support it.
Obviously I'm clearly on the side of Loblaws & Ryerson who are reusing the spaces well to serve the generations ahead of us in as practical, and respectful way as possible.
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The exterior is the most significant part of the building? Since when? The most significant part is where the history happened: On the ice pad.
 
MapleLeafs said:
The exterior is the most significant part of the building? Since when? The most significant part is where the history happened: On the ice pad.
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Perhaps from a sporting perspective.....but on this board which is more concerned with urban issues, development and the like....I think the exterior means more in this case.
 
And there was simply no way that the ice pad was going to be preserved -- there was no economic case for it.
 
What were the other options? I presume that MLSE didn't let them happen because there was no economic case for it for MLSE.
 
Great post, dt toronto geek.

It's a miracle that any private developer would want to rehabilitate such a large, expensive space and another miracle that they would do it with so much sensitivity to the original design.

A lot of people are really looking a gift horse in the mouth here.
 
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at first there were going to be 5000 seats in the new rink at the gardens and they said they might use some of the old seats but now i hear there will be only 3000 seats at the rink why did the cut the seating by 2000
 
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