Commie-block (slabsville) capital of Canada

[manny_santos]

The KFC in MolsonExport's original photo (evidently from Streetview) is now abandoned.

[Wharn]

Behold, the horror of the commieblock has even touched Labrador City:


Part of Labrador City by Maynard27, on Flickr

If you can't see, it's to the left, the concrete w/ blue accents building that looks like it was picked fresh off Wharncliffe.

[MolsonExport]

^looks like Western-Road/Wharncliffe student housing crap.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Wharn

In the City of London, in the dive that was the Downtown core, the Dark Lord Auburn forged in secret a master Design, to get rid of all others. And into this Design he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all skylines. One Commie Block to rule them all.

I was reviewing this long-lost thread and LOL'd at this!

[feepa]

Every city has these, even Toronto. I would even say Toronto has the most, but they don't stand out as much because theres so much of everything else.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by Architype

Thanks, nice to see some of these. I was in Stephenville about 3 years ago, but it was dark and I couldn't take any pics.

What are the two 6 (or 7?) storey buildings, I know they were part of the base, but do they have names, and what are they used for now?

Hope you don't mind me posting this one here -


(Photo by trevor3)

Here's another one from Panoramio which I didn't find until now.


Panoramio

I put my home town as being high on the list.

We have two primary buildings with a bunch of military style duplexes surrounding it. For only 6k people, we punch well above our weight.


I love them. I think commie blocks are the ideal form of living if your not such rich hipster.


That being said, location and maintenance are key.

But that can be said about condo's as well. A condo outside of the urban core is just as pointless. In toronto this whole thing is skewed because commie blocks are often welfare housing, while others are top dollar condo's.

Asides from showing a picture of the outside, is like showcasing suburbs by showing people the 401, it's not fair to what makes it work. If in a transit corridor, the lifestyle is much more about access to high speed transit.

[ssiguy]

London is kinda weird.

Nearly every high/midrise residential tower built in the last 20 years in Canada have been for condos but in London they have been rentals. I don't know why this is but condos have never taken off in London although I imagine that a lot of that has to with cheap cost of housing. There are of course a lot of condos in London but nearly all were built originally as rentals and then converted over. When buildings are built as rentals they usually are of lower design quality.

As far as commie blocks I don't like them but I don't find a lot of the mundane blue-glass towers that litter our cities much better. They probably have superior amenities and fixtures but I find then to be the commie blocks of the 21st century. Some are quite innovative but many are nothing more than glass boxes with no more character than the traditional concrete commie blocks.

CityPlace in Toronto is a great example as is much of the new builds in Vancouver. Suburban commie blocks are all over the damn place in Metrotown and North York.

[north 42]

Most of Windsor's apartment buildings built between the 60s and 80s are clad in brick, so they don't look as drab as slab concrete!

[Surrealplaces]

Bromley Square in Calgary..

credit: bchow on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/free-stuff/

[Drybrain]

Surprised this hasn't appeared. The Cyrillic-inspired font may have more to do with the weather than with the buildings, but it matches the Siberian skyline as well.



The winner is and can only be Edmonton--it may not have the quantity of commie blocks athatToronto or Montreal or even some mid-sized southern Ontario cities have, but they dominate the city centre in a way unmatched elsewhere.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by feepa

Every city has these, even Toronto. I would even say Toronto has the most, but they don't stand out as much because theres so much of everything else.

We have thousands of them. Over 40% of the city's housing stock is in high-rise buildings, most of that in buildings like these. The post-war tower block is a quintessential feature across the city and undoubtedly the most common form of housing in Toronto.





CASA by Jimmy Wu Photography, on Flickr


Cosburn by Danielle Scott, on Flickr


https://www.flickr.com/photos/castelmar/75071484


https://www.flickr.com/photos/skylinemarc/

[ehlow]

In Toronto there are many of these scattered in little clusters in the suburbs. Lots in Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke etc.

Sometimes they are very low income and in very suburban areas inaccessible to transit, like Dixon Rd in Etobicoke, or closer to the city, Thorncliffe & Flemington Park.

Sometimes they are pretty low income but downtown in a walkable & convenient location, like St James & Regent Park. But as mentioned, Regent Park was completely rebuilt and some of these areas are probably rapidly gentrifying due to their location.

Other times, they are clustered around subway stations in very high income & walkable areas, providing rental inventory surrounded by single family homes, like at Yonge & Eglinton, High Park or East York.

There are also many right downtown as shown above.

So there are both walkable and unwalkable, transit friendly and car dependant, high income and low income versions of these buildings, depending on the context.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by feepa

I would even say Toronto has the most, but they don't stand out as much because theres so much of everything else.

Originally Posted by Drybrain

The winner is and can only be Edmonton--it may not have the quantity of commie blocks athatToronto or Montreal or even some mid-sized southern Ontario cities have, but they dominate the city centre in a way unmatched elsewhere.

Sure, Toronto likely has the most, but I believe the spirit of this thread is way more about which city has the most per capita than which city has the absolute most; who punches above their weight in commie blocks and who punches below their weight in commie blocks.

In Winnipeg and Hamilton they usually strike me as quite dominant in the pictures, so I would tend to nominate those cities. Maybe Edmonton too.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by ehlow

So there are both walkable and unwalkable, transit friendly and car dependant, high income and low income versions of these buildings, depending on the context.

A point a lot of people seem to ignore. When done well, in mixed income, walkable, transit friendly areas, I think they're nothing but a positive. They add density while impacting a minimum amount of heritage buildings. They let people have views. They're solid and give a big city feel. They're not perfect, but they're not evil either. Of course that's probably my serious preference for highrises over midrises speaking.

[dleung]

I find that perusing these pics with some background music helps complete the experience:

• Video Link

[J.OT13]

There are many solid contenders for the title, but my vote is Hamilton (sorry), though I accidentally voted for Ottawa, which would likely be in the top 3 or 4.

Why Hamilton?

The skyline is nearly exclusively commie-blocks.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...llor-1.1868977

We have our fair share in Ottawa to. The biggest offender being the Escarpment District (West Downtown):


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...wa_Skyline.jpg

[Mrs Sauga]

Toronto has the most but London or Hamilton takes the title because their skylines are made up almost entirely of commie blocks.

[matt602]

Yeah, Hamilton's are prevalent because our inner city skyline pretty much stagnated after the 1970's. In 15-20 years it will be a lot more diverse and probably more like present day Montreal. There's a lot of condo projects under construction downtown and dozens more in planning.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by lio45

Sure, Toronto likely has the most, but I believe the spirit of this thread is way more about which city has the most per capita than which city has the absolute most; who punches above their weight in commie blocks and who punches below their weight in commie blocks.

In Winnipeg and Hamilton they usually strike me as quite dominant in the pictures, so I would tend to nominate those cities. Maybe Edmonton too.

In true Canadian fashion - punching above your weight Toronto obviously has the most, but the huge number of taller and more varied highrises downtown detracts from the effect.

In this respect I think I'd vote for London or Hamilton, with Ottawa a third. Edmonton could take runner up simply because the western portion of downtown is dominated by them (however beginning to be overshadowed by newer developments). London will likely end up on top as it's seeing less new highrise development than any of the other 3 cities. Ottawa is really only in the running due to the height limit. By and large this is an Ontario thing where they were built en masse in the 60s/70s. They remain the tallest buildings in many Ontario cities.

[softee]

I think a drive through Toronto on the 401 would make a strong case for Toronto being the commie block capital not only in actual numbers but also on a per capita basis. Toronto is easily the commie block capital of Canamerica.