Your Favorite Building In Toronto

[Build Up]

What is your favorite building in toronto. it can be anything you like high rise, low rise, or even a house or arena. mine is one king west.

Edit: hight doesn't matter. the only rules are that its a building and its in Toronto. sorry that i didn't make that clearer before

 

[urbandreamer]

I really like 1001 Queen St West.

However, because I once lived in 809 Queen St West, I can confirm it is one of the worst buildings in Toronto!

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I'm not sure what the height guidelines are for high-rise, mid-rise & low-rise. Can we get height definitions so we're all on the same page here?
Thanks!

 

[adma]

I really like 1001 Queen St West.

Yeah, you saw that one coming. Rimshot and all. Wockawockawocka.

Though...hmm. Mundane 50s brick modern-Georgian with a 70s pillbox up front, and a series of actually-quite-good-but-doomed-anyway 70s pavilions in the rear. (Someday, someone in the Concrete Toronto spirit is going to speak up for the 70s pavilions--surely, the most underrated extant Brutalism in Toronto, even if one has to overcome the stigma of their function or their destroyed predecessor to properly appreciate them. Now, advocating their *preservation*, at least in toto; that would be a stretch.**)

**and the funny thing is, they actually *don't* seem that "dysfunctional" or even "brutal", despite their aesthetic and function. If they'd served as college dorms rather than as a psychiatric institution, they probably *would* get their due as 70s heritage cult objects--especially considering how un-disfigured they've been over 30+ years.

It isn't exactly for "Boston City Hall" reasons that advocating their preservation would be a stretch--more that, all things considered, let's not jump the gun here...

 

[grey]

Definitely the TD Centre, inside and out:

(wvs @ flickr)

(Scott Norsworthy @ flickr)

(Hyfen @ flickr)

 

[khris]

I'm going to have to go with TD Centre too.
A close second is Royal Bank Plaza.
Third would be Commerce Court North.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

OK, I'm listing highrises first because I don't know what defines a mid-rise or low-rise.
I've been thinking about this but I just can't nail down my absolute favorate. Sorry!

Royal York
TD Tower/Centre
Commerce Court North
Commerce Court West
New City Hall
Old City Hall
Murano(s)
CN Tower
Whitney Block
Spire
Scotiabank Tower
Palace Pier & Palace Place
Telus
One St. Thomas
Canada Life
Concourse Building


I really want to add Casa too but the verdict isn't in yet

 

[Build Up]

OK, I'm listing highrises first because I don't know what defines a mid-rise or low-rise.
I've been thinking about this but I just can't nail down my absolute favorate. Sorry!

Royal York
TD Tower
Commerce Court North
Commerce Court West
New City Hall
Old City Hall
Murano(s)
CN Tower
Whitney Block
Spire
Scotiabank Tower
Palace Pier & Palace Place
Telus
One St. Thomas
Canada Life
Concourse Building


I really want to add Casa too but the verdict isn't in yet

mid rise is like 15 stories to around 5 stories and low rise is 4 stories and under. but it doesn't matter because there are pretty much no rules other than its in Toronto. So hight doesn't matter anyway. Sorry i didn't make that clearer DT_toronto_geek

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

mid rise is like 15 stories to around 5 stories and low rise is 4 stories and under. but it doesn't matter because there are pretty much no rules other than its in Toronto. So hight doesn't matter anyway. Sorry i didn't make that clearer DT_toronto_geek

Thank you! That's a good guideline.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

My favorate low-rises (2): OCAD/AGO & The Gardiner Museum

Mid-rise is hard, there are so many great projects to choose from. Particularly in the last real estate cycle.

 

[confusion]

My favorate low-rises (2): OCAD/AGO & The Gardiner Museum

Add my vote to the Gardiner Museum! I love architecture like that!

 

[Build Up]

Ok i did a poll to see what hight of buildings people most like the most so high rise is 16+ stories. mid rise is 15-5 stories, and low rise is 4 and under. post your favorite here still but then do the poll for the hight.

 

[Urban Shocker]

The TD Centre. Mies was a great designer ... to the very end.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Mies_van_der_Rohe_headstone.JPG

 

[Eug]

I'm not sure what the height guidelines are for high-rise, mid-rise & low-rise. Can we get height definitions so we're all on the same page here?
Thanks!

One avenue study I read defined low-rise as up to 4 floors. Mid-rise was 5-12 floors. (It could have been location dependent, I dunno.)

However, when they actually talked about it, "low-rise" sometimes seemed to go a bit higher, as if there was upward creep of the definition. (Maybe because of the inevitable pressure to go higher than 4 floors by developers?)

 

[TonyV]

In amongst all of our new and old, good and bad buildings there is the lovely relic, Massey Hall, my favourite building in Toronto.

A quality concert hall, opened in 1894, possessing worldbeating acoustics and an interior that really has a spirit to it.

It is a keepsake from a Toronto totally different from the Toronto we have now. Its garish mixture of styles somehow works. Maybe some day it will get the buff-up it deserves.