Unbuilt Projects of Canada

[SteelTown]

Originally Posted by MeIsThomas

Hamilton | The unbuilt 1995 Hamilton West Harbour Front Plan

Read the whole story of the plan here: The Saga of White Star - A bureaucratic train wreck derails development and leaves a property in limbo for 22 years



"On June 27, 1995, The Department of Public Works presented The West Harbourfront Development Study to City Council. The vision statement is as follows; to establish the West Harbourfront as a place for public use and enjoyment; a place for protection of the natural environment; a place to live, work and play; a place to expand our tourism industry; and a place of which all Hamiltonians can be proud."

"The Public was informed about the draft plan through a large article in The Spectator. The preliminary cost estimates came in at just under $1 billion. Included in this estimate was approximately $100 million for the relocation of the CN Rail yards."

You can see the Perimeter highway the City was planning to build along the waterfront. Thankfully that plan got cancelled.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

You can see the Perimeter highway the City was planning to build along the waterfront. Thankfully that plan got cancelled.

Is that the Perimeter Highway, or the remainder of the rail corridor moved to curve along the south edge of the former rail yard land? (unless you're referring to how they re-routed Bay and made it a boulevard - perhaps that was to connect to the eastern section of the Perimeter, though I thought the idea was to take the road alignment straight through the rail corridor to the 403)

It looks like there would have been extensive changes to the entire area north of Cannon between Queen and Bay. And that huge retaining wall is horrible... it looks like its top meets ground level along the western end, but moving eastward it becomes a 3-storey barrier.

[thomax]

Hamilton | Unbuilt HSR Subway System

In a 1959 report (Full title: Report to the Corporation of the City of Hamilton concerning the HSR company and its wholly owned subsidiary The Canada Coach lines, limited, by Norman Wilson), the prediction was that the population of the old city of Hamilton would reach 600,000 by 1981, and that 3 subway lines would be needed; McMaster-Eastgate along King/Main/Queenston, Burlington-Mohawk along James, and Burlington-Mohawk along Ottawa.

In the years after WWII Hamilton grew so fast that some people started getting worried about the future traffic levels. The one-way street system was set up to solve this, but it was felt that in the long run it would not be enough.

In the 1959 report to the City Council on the purchase of the HSR, one of the reasons given that the city should buy the HSR was that it would make the eventual construction of a Hamilton subway line from McMaster to Eastgate easier if the city owned the connecting bus routes. The subway construction was forecast to begin when the population of Hamilton hit 750,000 (That's Hamilton only, not Hamilton+Dundas+Ancaster+Stoney Creek+....), which at the growth rates of the 1950s would happen sometime after 1980. - Source: Vintage Hamilton



Source

[Boris2k7]

I went through every post in this thread and feel my fellow Calgarians have dropped the ball. For nobody has reposted our tallest, grandest, and most audacious proposal.

And with that, I give you the 2,000 foot, $170 million proposal from 1971, Singer City.



Which, if you can read the print, would have included 1 million sqft of commercial space, 2,500 hotel suites, an international trade centre, and the highest observation floor in the world (in the tallest tower in the world).

My favourite quote in the article, which really symbolizes the spirit of the oil boom:

"Nothing is impossible."

[Boris2k7]

Also, if anyone is interested, several of the cancelled Calgary proposals (but not all *wink* *wink*) are in the diagrams. Bay Park Plaza, below, is one of the ones I've done.

http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=63695377

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

Bay Park Plaza

[franktko]

Some from Montréal...

Place de la Concorde (from 15 to 52 floors):
(over avenue du Parc, south of Des Pins)




Bonaventura (80 floors):




Hotel Sheraton (28 floors):




31,000 seat stadium for the Montreal Royals:

Hotel Windsor (1928):




Tour Montreal-Paris (325 m):




Sheraton Cartier:




Tour de la Bourse (original plans):




Place Dupuis (+1000 ft):




Hydro-Québec expension:




Hilton Montréal:




1300 René-Lévesque (50 floors):




And FINALLY...

Destination commerciale et de loisirs Balmoral:

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by MeIsThomas

Hamilton | Unbuilt HSR Subway System

Technically since it was scheduled to be built when the old city hit 750k and that hasn't happened yet it isn't cancelled.

[J.OT13]

Tour Montreal-Paris was later built as part of the Olympic Stadium I guess...

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by franktko

Bonaventura (80 floors):

I love this one. Prime modernism.

[craner]

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

Also, if anyone is interested, several of the cancelled Calgary proposals (but not all *wink* *wink*) are in the diagrams. Bay Park Plaza, below, is one of the ones I've done.

http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=63695377

Thanks for the link to the diagram Boris, it's great to see how these projects would have compared height wise. 7th Ave. would have been quite the stretch with McIntyre Plaza (66 storeys), FCC2 (64), & Bay Park Plaza (2x63) on consecutive blocks.

It's interesting how floor to floor heights have increased over the years. These 60+ storey towers from the 80's aren't much taller than the 56 storey Brookfield Place going up in Calgary today.

Nice job on the Bay PP diagram BTW, one of my favourites (as witnessed by my avatar). And I agree with you, would be nice to see more of the cancelled projects on this diagram - I can think of several (unfortunately) that aren't there.

[thomax]

Yale Properties' original 1967 plan for Hamilton's Civic square:
- A twin tower for the Stelco Tower
- Two shorter twin towers
- Several more office/commercial buildings
- Streets connecting King Street, York Boulevard, and Bay Street
- Large park spaces at street level

Source



What was built:
- No twin for the Stelco Tower
- FirstOntario Centre (Copps Coliseum) replaced the shorter twin offices and other office buildings in the original plan
- No new streets were built at all
- The park space was built above street-level on top of Jackson Square Mall

Source: Bing 3D Maps App


Side-by-side comparison:

Source: Vintage Hamilton & Bing 3D Maps App

[thomax]

Hamilton | 21 Main West Office Building

- The building was supposed to be built at 21 Main Street West. Design #1 was released back in 2012, and there was no more news about the project until 3 days ago when the architect confirmed it has been cancelled. They released renderings of the second and third design when they announced the projects cancelation.

Design #1:

source

Design#2:

source

Design #3:

source

[11a2b3]

In Ottawa:

http://urbsite.blogspot.ca/2015/05/f...n-bronson.html

These apartment blocks were built instead:

http://urbsite.blogspot.ca/2015/05/f...n-bronson.html

[Franco401]

Saint John Waterfront

Plan from 1974


Source

What's there now


Illustration by me

[haljackey]

One London Place - London


Only the taller tower was built


Foundation work for the second tower was completed however, so a second tower still remains possible.

[itom 987]

It's a good thing the taller one was built first, I hate it when the short one is built first.

[esquire]

Not sure if it was mentioned before, but Winnipeg's most prominent unfinished project is Winnipeg Square. Only the major tower to the right was built along with the low-slung building right on Portage & Main.

The highrise to the left was not built, and neither was the low-slung hotel in between, although there is an underground mall and parkade. The footings are still in place for the second tower, although you have to wonder how feasible it would be to do it more than 30 years later.



Image source: http://westenddumplings.blogspot.ca/...-charades.html

The former TD Centre across the street has the same deal going on, the 33 storey tower was built but not the 24 storey twin. That didn't stop them from demolishing the beautiful 1950s-vintage TD Bank to make way for the unbuilt twin, though.

[11a2b3]

Ottawa:




Union Station Hotel:






Submitted proposals for a downtown site, none were built:




http://urbsite.blogspot.ca/2016/01/a...y-unbuilt.html