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Toronto's Ugliest Building

first: any of the commie style slab apartment buildings that have been left to disintegrate with their rusty old balcony fronts with garbage all over them.

second: sw corner of Bloor and Dundas West
 
I know you said 'building' but can I vote for all of Yonge Street south of Bloor, both sides all the way to the lake?

Also, all of Duffefin from the Exhibition to the 401.

And Dupont is pretty gross from Avenue Road to Dundas Street West.

And the new Trump tower as soon as it's built. He has a remarkable ability to build the gaudiest structures in every major city.

Oh and of course Robarts.

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jje1000 said:
The ugliest building is clearly the Toronto City Center Hilton Garden Inn. I bet some mid-century building was turned into this beige monster.
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Yes, and said mid-century building (federal government: Mulock, I believe?) was *its* era's ugliest bit of clumsy hackwork. So, it all came out a draw...perhaps.
 
hawc said:
I know you said 'building' but can I vote for all of Yonge Street south of Bloor, both sides all the way to the lake?

Also, all of Danforth from the Exhibition to the 401. Just burn it down and start over.
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Your on some seriously bad drugs, and the wrong forum. Go play elsewhere.

PS - Danforth Ave runs east-west, it doesn't come near the Ex or the 401. Go spend some time in your school library while in summer school and learn about local geography.
 
Anyone who advocates burning down all of yonge street south of bloor is probably living in the wrong city, let alone posting on the wrong forum. Maybe you should move to Brantford where they're still tearing down their old heritage main streets.
 
4land said:
OCAD is by far the ugliest P.O.S. in the city, probably in the country, and likely in the world.
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OCAD is one of my favorite buildings in all of North America. It achieves everything it is supposed to and looks like it was dropped effortlessly into the surrounding area.
 
hawc said:
Oh relax and stop taking yourself so seriously.

This thread is specifically asking us to be critical.

BTW, I ment to say Dufferin, not Danforth. Calm down.
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Critical, as in intelligent criticism and discussion.
I'll bet your the type who salivates at the site of a big box shopping centre aren't you?
 
If I may, I would like to nominate the building at the southeast corner of Broadview and Danforth for this dubious honour. It was once a bank branch, now it is a real estate office. Somewhere along the line, a top floor was added to the structure, using only crude cinder blocks, and there are steel beams sticking up one storey above the addition. You have to see it to believe it. I don't want to waste efforts at this time with a picture of it. Maybe some other time.

I am sure many of you have seen the mess. I wish this sort of savagery could be prevented.
 
TonyV said:
If I may, I would like to nominate the building at the southeast corner of Broadview and Danforth for this dubious honour. It was once a bank branch, now it is a real estate office. Somewhere along the line, a top floor was added to the structure, using only crude cinder blocks, and there are steel beams sticking up one storey above the addition. You have to see it to believe it. I don't want to waste efforts at this time with a picture of it. Maybe some other time.

I am sure many of you have seen the mess. I wish this sort of savagery could be prevented.
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If I'm not mistaken there was a pretty big fire in that corner building in or around the late 80's. It didn't have to be demolished but when it was cleaned up, windows replaced and such they added that dreaded addition on top.
 
hawc said:
Oh relax and stop taking yourself so seriously.

This thread is specifically asking us to be critical.

BTW, I ment to say Dufferin, not Danforth. Calm down.
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You also mentioned pretty much all of Dupont, which is quite unfair because it has plenty of attractive buildings. With its mix of commercial, industrial, and residential uses and few public realm investments, it's not a beautiful street overall, but it has many great buildings. For instance, I like the Dupont and Christie intersection with that restored red midrise building on the northwest corner, the two Beaux-Arts bank buildings, and the red-brick Loblaws. In particular, this Bank of Montreal neighbourhood branch at Christie has a wonderful smooth stone-block facade with warm hues and a memorable contrast of lightly and heavily recessed architectural elements in a flattened classical style. The arched entrance and stone cornice topped with copper are particularly eye-catching.

Dufferin, on the other hand, is lined with many dull Craftsman houses, and it can be uninspiring for a main street. But it's decent south of Queen towards Liberty Village with heritage houses and some attractive conversions of industrial buildings.

People have the right to criticize you after such outrageous suggestions such as Yonge Street, which is rich with great landmarks but needs some attention in terms of the public realm, heritage restoration, and new architecture in a few places. Building a great city requires carefully finding what already works and what's attractive in any area and building upon it, rather than simply destroying everything. The end result is likely to make a favourable impression on more people and feature a greater concentration of sophisticated buildings from different eras that one single era of construction most often can't match.
 
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To hawc, you're talking gobbletygook

Silence&Motion said:
Anyone who advocates burning down all of yonge street south of bloor is probably living in the wrong city, let alone posting on the wrong forum. Maybe you should move to Brantford where they're still tearing down their old heritage main streets.
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Terrific point--hawc, look at this thread.
 
Metropolis / nee: Dundas Square / whatever it is now. Tied with The Torch for sheer full-frontal, uncaring ugliness.

Tied for second place (all of 'em!):

-The Hudson's Bay Centre at Yonge and Bloor.
Most of the towers perched upon or beside it aren't too bad...um, at a distance...but everywhere this thing meets street levels is almost uniformly ugly. The faceless bulk of the main store is an affront to the city and a blight that keeps on giving.

-The Harbour Castle Hilton "Convention Centre".

-The green glass septuplets of The World Trade Centre, Pinnacle Centre and 18 Yonge. All together they weigh in to create an imaginatively stifled urban null zone.

A great many of the condo towers and their bases on the north side of Queen's Quay between Spadina and York. Almost each of them is a repetitive, crashing bore. I think the one with the little wings on top is a smidge better than the others. I'd be hard pressed to know why, though.

-A great deal of Liberty Village.

-CAMH's front along College, at Spadina. Somehow what works institutionally for the building does not work here. It'll be interesting to see what the reno brings.

-The Strathcona hotel.

-The housing(?) building at Lower Sherbourne and Front.
 
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