[WhipperSnapper]

Toronto is very much still a work in progress with a completed block without empty lots or disposable buildings few and far between. Even the one that comes to my mind as possibly the greatest in Toronto has a crane on it.

[1ajs]

albert st
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/808/albertst.jpg

or perhaps mcdermot?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3220/2493538950_70196b579d_o.jpg

[matt602]

King St. East.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k201/sugarton/Downtown%20Hamilton/downtown-kingeast-sept09.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k201/sugarton/Downtown%20Hamilton/king-james-2009.jpg

[someone123]

This block of Granville Street in Halifax is a pretty obvious choice. These facades are from the 1850s:

http://www.halifax.ca/Film/GranvilleMall5.jpg
Source (http://www.halifax.ca/Film/locations.html)

Another cool block (the following are all my photos) - soon a modern addition will go above the three storey buildings:

http://www.pbase.com/halifaxphoto/image/18405502/original.jpg

Here's an old residential block: stone townhouses from the 1820s or so, an apartment building with a rare porte-cochère leading to an inner courtyard, and a large house from the 1790s:

http://www.pbase.com/halifaxphoto/image/18839550/original.jpg

These are on the other side of that block:

http://www.pbase.com/halifaxphoto/image/18839553/original.jpg

[Darkoshvilli]

Any block along St Jacques or St Paul in old Montreal. Lots of cool old buildings.

[MolsonExport]

^perhaps, but I prefer the buzz of sections of rue ste. Catherines, especially in the summer when it is brimming with hawt babes

[Bigtime]

I'm guessing most Calgarians would either say Stephen Avenue or 17th Avenue SW. Personally I lean towards Stephen avenue, just because it doesn't have any big holes in the block needing to be filled.

[caltrane74]

St. Lawerence Market or Distillary Districk...

Runner ups.... Yorkville, Queen West, Yonge North of College/Wellesley to Bloor - Summerhill Rosedale area..

Kensington Market.. maybe?

[vid]

If I understand what you're saying correctly, it is this one (http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=48.43408,-89.219128&spn=0.001837,0.005472&t=k&z=18). But in my opinion, this one (http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=48.434764,-89.221076&spn=0.001837,0.005472&t=k&z=18) is better. It has four night clubs, and an art gallery. We just have to get something built on those parking lots. (A pedestrian street runs through it, but you don't really notice that it does because it's just running through a parking lot!) And if you're talking about a stretch of road, it is the one between the two.

[Coldrsx]

Edmonton has a couple:

104st from jasper to 102ave

Whyte avenue from 103-104st

[Cambridgite]

Just curious, by what standard does "greatest block" go by? I could give different examples depending on whether or not it's a commercial street, residential street, whether it's for architectural value or amenity-based. Either way, it ends up being pretty subjective.

[Distill3d]

Edmonton has a couple:

104st from jasper to 102ave

Whyte avenue from 103-104st

I used to live in the Armstrong Block on 104, just off Jasper. I have to agree with your choice, thats not a bad block indeed.

That said, 100A Street between 102 Avenue and 101A Avenue downtown has always been my personal favorite in Edmonton.

[Wooster]

I'm guessing most Calgarians would either say Stephen Avenue or 17th Avenue SW. Personally I lean towards Stephen avenue, just because it doesn't have any big holes in the block needing to be filled.

The best single block is probably the 100 west block of Stephen avenue.

[Bigtime]

The best single block is probably the 100 west block of Stephen avenue.

Absolutely, solid street wall of buildings on both sides, patios, restaraunts and pubs, some shops. Definitely has a great appeal.

[PhilippeMtl]

Saint Jacques area is my favourite

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3190/2704691626_2b057e31b9_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3286/2704686648_43ffaaa177_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2703861329_3827c8028e_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3164/2703861683_a6fcb95079_b.jpg

all pics by me

http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&source=hp&q=google+maps&ie=UTF8&hq=google&hnear=Saint-Leonard,+QC&radius=15000&t=h&layer=c&cbll=45.501225,-73.558366&panoid=qdwLHRioR_tMeYXIXLWALQ&cbp=12,295.12,,0,-9.74&ll=45.501581,-73.56016&spn=0,359.973264&z=15

[vid]

Wow, you see more people than that out and about in downtown Thunder Bay on a Sunday.

[PhilippeMtl]

Wow, you see more people than that out and about in downtown Thunder Bay on a Sunday.

If you are looking for vibrancy, Mcgill college and Sainte-Catherine is your best bet.

[vid]

I would simply settle for more than one pedestrians. :yes: Are those offices or something?

[francely57]

I would simply settle for more than one pedestrians. :yes: Are those offices or something?

Yes, offices, and extremely gentrified residences

These parts of Old Montreal don't have many pedestrians when the weather is not nice...
As you probably know, there are obviously waay more pedestrians along the waterfront, in the shopping district, in the CBD, and on major arteries (St-Laurent, St-Denis, Mont-Royal, etc.)


Peel/St-Catherine, September 25, 2008
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/francely57/cities/IMG_0289.jpg

[Xelebes]

Edmonton has a couple:

104st from jasper to 102ave

There is a parking lot that is needing to be filled on 104th street. IT has that gate on it.

[kool maudit]

Wow, you see more people than that out and about in downtown Thunder Bay on a Sunday.

one of those photos is of my street... these are spacious apartments, professional offices and a boutique hotel. it's not gonna bustle.

[Coldrsx]

104st downtown Edmonton - Saturday Farmer's market

http://www.edmontondowntown.com/upload/104%20Street%20Shopping.jpg

(source:http://www.edmontondowntown.com/upload/104%20Street%20Shopping.jpg)

Whyte ave between 103/104 st

http://edmontonscenes.com/17300_Whyte_Ave_watermark.jpg

(source:http://edmontonscenes.com/17300_Whyte_Ave_watermark.jpg)

[le calmar]

The only vibrant streets in Old Montreal are Saint-Paul, de la Commune, Place Jacques-Cartier (and the waterfront) and to a lesser extent Notre-Dame and Saint-Jacques. Other than that it's pretty much dead. The McDonald's on Saint-Jacques closes at midnight I think, it's the only McDonald's I can think of that is not open 24h a day.


^ That last pic looks terrible, I've had enough of those crappy HDR pics! And the guy put his name right in the middle of it like he was proud of it.

[MolsonExport]

Wow, you see more people than that out and about in downtown Thunder Bay on a Sunday.

:haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: what a card

[WhipperSnapper]

Just curious, by what standard does "greatest block" go by? I could give different examples depending on whether or not it's a commercial street, residential street, whether it's for architectural value or amenity-based. Either way, it ends up being pretty subjective.

It's all up to you.


Yep, I think I will go with block containing the Scotia Tower in Toronto. A good mix of size, styles, and colours.

[habfanman]

Wow, you see more people than that out and about in downtown Thunder Bay on a Sunday.

Lol! Vid, Old Montréal is not just a few streets, it's about 100 square blocks.

It usually suffers from too many people on sidewalks that are too narrow but that's not to say that every street is jam-packed 24/7. If you want to photograph the area, you'd best pick an off-season weekday when the weather is not ideal. If you go when it's busy, you'll be run over by waddling tourists and have to wait forever to get a clear, people-free shot.

Map of Old Montréal lighting plan:
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii68/Habfanman/Cartes/schem2a.jpg

[Jeff]

my favourite block in winnipeg on purely architecture and scale is this block of main st. north of portage and main:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/134/356147376_c00a8bd95c_b.jpg
( image by wintorbos http://www.flickr.com/photos/26266017@N00/356147376/ )

[WpG_GuY]

my favourite block in winnipeg on purely architecture and scale is this block of main st. north of portage and main:


i was going to post the same thing, my fav:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/3824135498_f414ca9702_b.jpg

[sammo]

Saint Jacques area is my favourite

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2703861329_3827c8028e_b.jpg

all pics by me

http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&source=hp&q=google+maps&ie=UTF8&hq=google&hnear=Saint-Leonard,+QC&radius=15000&t=h&layer=c&cbll=45.501225,-73.558366&panoid=qdwLHRioR_tMeYXIXLWALQ&cbp=12,295.12,,0,-9.74&ll=45.501581,-73.56016&spn=0,359.973264&z=15

i think montreal has some of the best blocks this country can offer, bar none. absolute gems.

[PhilippeMtl]

i think montreal has some of the best blocks this country can offer, bar none. absolute gems.

We were lucky enough to be the financial capital of this country during a great architecture period.

But we were unlucky enough to be a prospere city during 60's with all these cheap looking concrete highrise.

[ambiguoustraveller]

It's really hard to pick one for Vancouver, since the major parts of downtown (the Business District, the West End, Gastown and Yaletown) are actually all quite different looking. However, my personal favourite blocks are those where the older, statelier architecture intersects with the newer highrises that the city is so known for.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d128/ambiguoustraveller/vancouver/SummerinVancouver089.jpg

This is also a favourite, though it's just old buildings:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d128/ambiguoustraveller/vancouver/lastbitsofLondonandbackhome043.jpg?t=1260323918

I tried to think of a block that showcased the iconic mountain/water images of Vancouver, but the fact is that those pictures are usually taken from the seawall or the beaches. I don't think those count as blocks!

[MTLskyline]

The crème de la crème of Longueuil, one of Montreal's most dense suburbs:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Rue-st-charles-longueuil.jpg/800px-Rue-st-charles-longueuil.jpg

My favourite blocks in Montreal are:
1. St. Jacques between McGill Street and Place d'Armes (already posted)
2. Sherbrooke Street West near the Ritz-Carleton/Holt Renfrew/Museum of Fine Arts (and pretty soon the new home of the 32-floor Waldorf-Astoria Hotel which was just approved by the city!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2934130933_acf6eb9829.jpg

Future Waldorf-Astoria (seen from Cote-des-Neiges Road):
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj138/Gilbert_mtl/untitled.jpg

[Darkoshvilli]

Future Waldorf-Astoria (seen from Cote-des-Neiges Road):
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj138/Gilbert_mtl/untitled.jpg

Wahh? Something over 15 floors approved in Montreal?? :haha:

But seriously, that looks pretty cool.

BTW, what the hell is that horse and carriage doing on CDN road?:koko:

[dsim249]

BTW, what the hell is that horse and carriage doing on CDN road?:koko:

A Hansom cab? We have on or two on Spadina Cres. here in S'toon in the summer.

[Darkoshvilli]

A Hansom cab? We have on or two on Spadina Ave. here in S'toon in the summer.

We got a bunch of them in old montreal, but I've never seen one outside of it. Especially going up cdn road which is a pretty steep climb for a horse and carriage.

[MolsonExport]

The crème de la crème of Longueuil, one of Montreal's most dense suburbs:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Rue-st-charles-longueuil.jpg/800px-Rue-st-charles-longueuil.jpg

My favourite blocks in Montreal are:
1. St. Jacques between McGill Street and Place d'Armes (already posted)
2. Sherbrooke Street West near the Ritz-Carleton/Holt Renfrew/Museum of Fine Arts (and pretty soon the new home of the 32-floor Waldorf-Astoria Hotel which was just approved by the city!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2934130933_acf6eb9829.jpg

Future Waldorf-Astoria (seen from Cote-des-Neiges Road):
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj138/Gilbert_mtl/untitled.jpg

Oh my god, this project is back from the dead? It goes back to the days when I got all my skycraper fix from the forunner of Emporis! That rendering is at least 10 years old.

[ue]

104st downtown Edmonton - Saturday Farmer's market

http://www.edmontondowntown.com/upload/104%20Street%20Shopping.jpg

(source:http://www.edmontondowntown.com/upload/104%20Street%20Shopping.jpg)

Whyte ave between 103/104 st

http://edmontonscenes.com/17300_Whyte_Ave_watermark.jpg

(source:http://edmontonscenes.com/17300_Whyte_Ave_watermark.jpg)

104 St RARELY looks like that. It's only like that for about the 20 days a year the market is on. It can be quite dead at times. It's still a fantastic strip thouhgh...

[-Harlington-]

Spring garden rd. and surrounding areas in Halifax is the busiest shopping distric east of montreal.

[isaidso]

Perhaps, a strange choice on the surface, but I love walking down this stretch of Victoria Street in downtown Toronto. It's a great mix of many different elements and a vibrant little stretch of street. There's recreation (pond turns to skating rink), narrow streets, wide and well designed sidwalks, great old architecture mixed with quality new architecture, beautiful elements of nature (boulders and mature trees), great energy (tons of students with Dundas Square and Yonge a block away), and I even like the scale of the back end of that AMC Cinema. The architecture could have been better, but it works due to so many other successful elements here.

http://www.photopia.tyo.ca/photos/ryerson-university-ice-skating-rink.jpg
http://www.photopia.tyo.ca/photos/ryerson-university-ice-skating-rink.jpg

[boden]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3206613913_dc1662cb02_b.jpg

[MTLskyline]

Wahh? Something over 15 floors approved in Montreal?? :haha:

But seriously, that looks pretty cool.

BTW, what the hell is that horse and carriage doing on CDN road?:koko:

Oh my god, this project is back from the dead? It goes back to the days when I got all my skycraper fix from the forunner of Emporis! That rendering is at least 10 years old.
Yeah, approved about a week ago.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/editorials/Ville+Marie+council+okays+200M+hotel/2315894/story.html

[manny_santos]

One of the better ones in London (http://maps.google.ca/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.984834,-81.245587&spn=0,359.961591&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=42.984902,-81.245337&panoid=hY_azQybzMiHH_bkbQGC5g&cbp=12,10.28,,0,-5.76)

The stone building on the right is the old City Hall. At left in the distance is London Life.

Another good area here (http://maps.google.ca/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.983428,-81.254454&spn=0,359.961591&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=42.983889,-81.254676&panoid=KclapJOuXRlHYrMkMImt9A&cbp=12,215.3,,0,-6.55).