Where Dundas St. used to go

[flar]

Dundas St. in Toronto is so named because it once led to Dundas. The road no longer leads to Dundas and Dundas itself is now part of Hamilton, but the town retains its own character and has many beautiful homes and historic buildings.

The Dundas Valley

Hamilton's skyline in the distance

Dundas Town Hall

Webster's Falls, one of many waterfalls around Dundas

New condos

 

[interchange42]

Dundas is a quite a pretty town in a beautiful setting, with its share of bungled 60s and 70s interventions downtown, which you've done a good job of avoiding Flar. Great pics!

42

 

[unimaginative2]

My aunt lives in Dundas and I just love that little town. It's definitely where I would live if I were in the Hamilton area. It's definitely a very Canadian community since it has a good number of high-rise buildings. My aunt's moving out of her house and into one of the new condos they're building on some brownfield lands. It's got one of the most thriving downtowns I've seen anywhere.

 

[ShonTron]

Even the 1950s/1960s mid and high-rise buildings are interesting (the slab-in-the-park with a street presence and retail, or the ones with the murals on the blank side). And there's still a very, very retro Canadian Tire in town. Dundas has an amazing history for a town its size, and is, dare I say, it, my favourite legacy town of the 905.

 

[flar]

I didn't photograph many modern buildings in this set, but I've always thought Dundas was well planned. There are probably about 20 5-8 storey buildings downtown that are blended in very well. Some of them have street level retail, and some are hidden behind trees or other buildings, but the net result is that they provide the population density to support successful downtown retail while maintaining the smalltown feel.

 

[urbandreamer]

Very nice but...

...With all those gorgeous old Victorians as inspiration, why are the new condos going up so cheap and ugly? Unbelievable that in 2007, developers and urban planners are screwing up such basic fundamentals: good design+appropriate scale+continuous urban form=a nice neighbourhood to live in long term. How sad and frustrating that smaller urban centres in Canada have to settle for crap if they want to grow.

Nonetheless, a very nice historic town although I prefer the grit and absolute potential of Hamilton itself.

 

[Bogtrotter]

Dundas and the surrounding escarpent is a real gem. I used to go for walks up through Spencer gorge and then for lunch at Taylor's tearoom. Thanks for the tour.

 

[Observer Walt]

I know Dundas very well, having grown up not far away. It was one of Ontario's first settlements, being a thriving town before anything at all was established in Hamilton. It has a few 1960s horror stories, but even at that many of the newer buildings blend in reasonably well, especially those on the main street with street level retail. As unimaginative points out, they have done a good job with their brownfields lands. There's not much here not to like.

Thanks for the good pictures, Flar.

 

[Urban Shocker]

The town hall is quite elegant, and the stone is lovely. I wonder if anything else that Francis Hawkins designed survives?

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

Wow!!

 

[Hydrogen]

Nice! Thanks.

After seeing these I think I'll be wandering there this summer. I haven't been there in -- a long time.

 

[flar]

...With all those gorgeous old Victorians as inspiration, why are the new condos going up so cheap and ugly? Unbelievable that in 2007, developers and urban planners are screwing up such basic fundamentals: good design+appropriate scale+continuous urban form=a nice neighbourhood to live in long term. How sad and frustrating that smaller urban centres in Canada have to settle for crap if they want to grow.

I agree the 3 identical condos under construction are generic looking (a fourth is set to be built on the site as well). Another building going up at the corner of the same lot looks it will be really good though. It won't have street level retail as far as I know, but it will make a nice streetwall and hide the generic condos behind it. It's aimed at retired people and will be $2700 to $4650 per month. This is the rendering:

One good thing about these condos is that they are within one block of all amenities (groceries, pharmacy, post office, banks, etc) and public transit.

 

[Tewder]

Thanks for the great pics. Did you go to Victoria Street? It is probably one of the most spectacular streets in all of Ontario, as far as huge red-brick Victorian mansions go.

Also, for anybody intersted in visiting the area, a drive along the Old Ancaster Rd. from Dundas is very pretty and will take you by the Old Ancaster Mill. From there, the area around Ancaster - Mineral Springs Rd., Sulphar Springs Rd, etc. - is also very pretty, and very reminiscent of New England.

On a side note, Dundas seems to be following a template for development that is similar to that of Oakville's by building modern condos that add density to the core along parallel streets a block or so away from the main drag. Seems to be a plan that works well for small Ontario towns.

 

[Ronald]

Nice pictures. Dundas indeed has that historical, small-town look.
You say that Dundas now is part of Hamilton, yet in one of your pictures one can see the skyline of Hamilton, and it looks quite far away... has Hamilton really got a built-up area THAT big? I allways thought of it as a suburb of Toronto, but I've been told (by my uncle from St Catherine's) that that's an insult to the locals, so I won't call it a suburb of Toronto.. just like how I won't call St Catherines a suburb of Buffalo.

It's definitely a very Canadian community since it has a good number of high-rise buildings. My aunt's moving out of her house and into one of the new condos they're building on some brownfield lands. It's got one of the most thriving downtowns I've seen anywhere.

You know Canadian city planning is on the right track when they start to build highrises on brownfield land. Also, having 20 5 to 8 story midrises in downtown alone is impressive for a community of 20,000. I rarely see such a thing in Europe.
The one thing that I suspect could be improved in the area is public transit, but I don't know Dundas/Hamilton good enough to say anything about that.

 

[flar]

Downtown Hamilton is only 7 km from where the picture was taken. Hamilton has several distinct suburbs of its own, and is not a suburb of Toronto by any definition.