AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
People still wear Uggs? God. 2003 called, it wants its boots back.
adma
Superstar
Other than being a smokestack at all, how is it visual blight? It's actually the most smartly designed stack in town, almost a cousin of the CN Tower's "John Andrews" mode...
H
Hydrogen
Guest
They were made for people who wanted furry pets, and to wear them at the same time.
Bay needs something. Anything. It's difficult to have friends from outside Toronto see it and say with a perplexed voice: "so this is Bay Street?" They appear to expect so much more.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
I think that for the average person, the problem with the stack is less its architectural merits and more the fact that they're living across from a smokestack. Their fears of what is spewing from it may be somewhat irrational, but they're very real nonetheless.
jaborandi
Active Member
I've always quite liked the stack. I wish it was given some decent lighting. It doesn't seem to have done the residents of Lucliffe Place any harm - mind you, it's possible they were already on the mentaly defective list, else why move into such a hideous building.
adma
Superstar
I never *that* much minded the no-frills 70s megastructureness of LuCliff. And of course, the rooftop signage saves it...
jaborandi
Active Member
... and Mary Johns. It was a sad day when it closed.
You guys know I tend toward clean-lined modern, and I agree that for a smokestack, it fits the bill, it's a good looking one...
...it's just that I do have a "being a smokestack at all" problem with it. It just looks too industrial to me in an area that isn't industrial. I say build something around it - cantilever a building over the base (fire code problems?) - and hide the stack mostly inside a 25 floor building.
I know that's a rather prissy view of what shouldn't be in the area, but well, I wouldn't want to stare at it out my window every day...
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...it's just that I do have a "being a smokestack at all" problem with it. It just looks too industrial to me in an area that isn't industrial. I say build something around it - cantilever a building over the base (fire code problems?) - and hide the stack mostly inside a 25 floor building.
I know that's a rather prissy view of what shouldn't be in the area, but well, I wouldn't want to stare at it out my window every day...
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Mongo
Senior Member
I dunno... that smokestack was a very useful landmark, my first few years living downtown. With that and the CN Tower, I always knew where I was by triangulation.
Bill
Bill
adma
Superstar
Ah, but with all the hospitals, the area is "institutional", which just as well overlaps with "industrial". And the scrubs-vendor retail at LuCliff demonstrates as much. Indeed, it's a wonder how it hasn't dawned on anybody in this thread of discussion that maybe the *hospital* presence "sterilizes" the area? More so than the stack? (Or consider how it could be a draw as well--if I were employed at Sick Kids, wouldn't an apartment at LuCliff would be ideal?)
So? Then don't choose to live there. To each their own. Remember: there's plenty of perfectly discerning people who've no fatal problem living within ear and eyeshot of hospitals, or industry, or railway ROWs, etc...
wyliepoon
Senior Member
When I was small I used to think that the stack was the CN Tower!
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Pardon the delayed reaction, but those first six words are the best thing I've seen all day. If I remember correctly, getting nailed to the tee is the traditional punishment for golfers who malaprop on the green.
Exactly - I won't live there. Not because of the hospitals though, but because of the ugly smokestack. I've been pretty clear about what I don't like about the view there, no need to read things that aren't intended into what I wrote.
And sure, if you worked at one of the hospitals, of course it would be very handy to live nearby. I can tell you, however, that living within a close proximity to work would have zero effect on whether those residents like the look of the smokestack or not. A LuCliff apartment may be an ideal location for some, but that doesn't necessarily translate into its residents being a fan of the stack or its big boxy concrete base.
To me the thing is a necessary evil that would be better if it were surrounded by a more attractive building were that feasible. And what a good spot to add more density...
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nicetommy
Active Member
If they covered the entire length of the smokestack [and many of the other fugly concrete bunker things in the area] with plenty of Ivy, I'm sure it would all look quite nice.
I know people go on about how destructive ivy is, but I have to agree - 300 feet of ivy here (or however tall that stack is) - would be ubercool. I wonder what the world's tallest ivy is? I can't imagine too many plants' circulatory system could handle that height. Maybe add another planter at every crossbrace, and start new vines from there...
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