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  #1  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2018, 5:38 PM
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Most iconic building in your city

Decided on this new thread because of an interesting discussion in the skyline thread. I am not going define what makes a building iconic because it can vary so much for so many but I do not necessarily think it has to be the tallest or largest - IMO it needs to stand out, be memorable, be postcard worthy on it's own.

That said, I would dare say that Calgary's most iconic building would be the Saddledome. Sure we have the Bow and soon TELUS Sky but most postcards will include a view of downtown with the Saddledome in the forefront. Personally I quite like the Bankers Hall twins but most tourists that have been to Calgary and have toured around the city a bit would probably recall the Saddledome before anything else.
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  #2  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2018, 6:12 PM
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Québec's is a no-brainer : le Château Frontenac.

Montréal is more difficult... Lots of iconic buildings, no real star. I'd say (and it is going to be controversial) that none of the most iconic buildings of the city are skyscrapers. The Olympic stadium (especially the leaning tower) is popular amongst tourists. Next level, Notre-Dame basilica or the St-Joseph Oratory are popular and recognized too. Then *maybe* the Biosphère (Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome) and Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 come and complete the top 5. Place Ville-Marie and the likes probably come after these 5, IMO. It was probably different in the 1960s, but I wasn't born.

1. Olympic Stadium

Montréal vue du ciel 001 by Olivier Kerbidi, sur Flickr
2. Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre Dame by Richard Baghdadlian, sur Flickr
3. Oratoire Saint-Joseph

Vers Francfort et Amsterdam by Guy F. Raymond, sur Flickr
4. Biosphère

Beautiful Montreal by Vincent Joly, sur Flickr
5. Habitat 67

Habitat 67. by Vicky Thériault, sur Flickr

Always thought Toronto's was CN Tower. City Hall in 2nd.

Last edited by Laceoflight; Aug 12, 2018 at 6:27 PM.
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  #3  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2018, 6:17 PM
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The no brainer for Toronto.


[IMG]Rising Above the Clouds by Empty Quarter, on Flickr[/IMG]
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  #4  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2018, 7:38 PM
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Notre-Dame basilica in Montreal is the landmark more often photograph on Instagram, for all it means.

If we're talking locally iconic landmark, for Montreal I would go for (no special order):

- Giant Five Roses neon sign
- Jacques-Cartier bridge
- Notre-Dame Basilica
- Mary-Queen-of-the-Wolrd Cathedral
- Sun Life building
- Place Ville-Marie and its rotating beam of light projecting in the sky
- Westmount Square
- City Hall
- Bonsecour Market and its silver dome
- Old Port Clock Tower
- St-James United church
- St-Patrick Basicilica
- Christ church Cathedral
- 1000 De La Gauchetière
- Art Deco original building of Université dee Montréal
- Silo No 5
- Tour de la bourse
- Aldred building
- Old Royal Bank building
- Mile End church with the dome and the minaret
- Mount-Royal (its cross, its chalet, its outlook, its lake, its design by F. Olmsted)
- Big O
- Montreal victorian greystones
- Montreal triplexes with outdoor spiraling stairs
- Old Eaton with its art deco restaurant
- Bonsecours chapel
- Château Ramezay
- Château Dufresne
- McGill campus
- Old Victoria Hospital
- Hôtel-Dieu
- Gare Viger
- Windsor Station
- Tour de la bourse
- Place des Arts complex
- Casino (Old France Pavillon from Expo 67)
- Buckminster Fuller's US Pavillon from Expo 67 (Biosphere)
- Biodome (old Velodrome from 76)
- Habitat 67
- Bank of Montreal original branch on Place d'Armes
- New York Life Insurance building on Place d'Armes
- St-Sulpice (oldest building in Old Montreal - 1683)
- Maison Saint-Gabriel (1698)
- Colored facade of the Convention Center on Place Jean-Paul Riopelle
- Ritz Carlton

Newest additions:

- Old Port Ferris Wheel (incredibly popular among tourists and Instagramers)
- Revamped Place Vauquelin
- Revamped Square Dorchester / Place du Canada
- Revamped Place d'Armes
- New Azur metro train (also popular on Instagram)
- Place des Festivals
- McTavish pedestrian street

What else ?


Future ?
- New Champlain bridge
- Grand quai de Montréal (with the future observation tower)
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  #5  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2018, 7:46 PM
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Others for Toronto:
Union Station
Constructed between 1914 and 1920, and opened in 1927, Union Station is the busiest station in Canada and in North America outside of Mexico City & New York City. It's also home to one of the first stations of Toronto's and Canada's first subway (Line 1), and is the best example of Beaux-Arts Architecture in the city (opinion).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/441244...N01/3154249588 (Duncan Rawlinson)

Casa Loma
Construction on the largest residence in Canada started in 1911 and completed in 1914, designed by E.J. Lennox a prominent Toronto Architect who also designed buildings such as Old City Hall, Beard Building (Dem. 1930's), The King Edward Hotel, and the Toronto Generating Station in Niagara Falls. It's a Gothic Revival style building and was home to Henry Pallat (Who commissioned Lennox to design the "house"). Pallat left the residence in 1923 and ownership went to the city almost immediately and was left vacant. The property is owned by the City of Toronto and protected under the Ontario Heritage Act, and is currently leased by Liberty Entertainment Group which hosts several kinds of venues at the castle.

casaloma.ca

Skydome (Rogers Centre)
I refuse to call it by its official name even though I can't remember the time it wasn;t called teh Rogers Centre but it was built in 1988-1989 on former CN/CP Rail lands and was the first solid retractable roofed stadium on Earth. It's iconic because of this factor and its size and its proximity to Toronto Iconic Building #1 (and arguably Canada's most iconic as well but that's debatable) the CN Tower. It's in nearly every postcard of the city since 1988 because of the CN Tower's status and became an icon of its own in the process.


Editing further later
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  #6  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2018, 7:58 PM
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  #7  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2018, 8:07 PM
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For St. John's, it's probably Cabot Tower on Signal Hill:

St. John&#x27;s, Newfoundland cityscape panorama by Wichan Yingyongsomsawas, on Flickr

Signal Hill by Karen Chappell, on Flickr

Although The Rooms is infamous here, I think second place would probably go the Basilica of St. John the Baptist. It was more famous in the past - it's actually the reason St. Patrick's was built in NYC, they were shamed "a few thousand fishermen" had better.

IMG_3515two_b2 by David Greening, on Flickr

St. John&#x27;s Basilica by William Follett, on Flickr
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  #8  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2018, 9:03 PM
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Ottawa would be the Peace Tower, Kingston would be City Hall.

Montreal is kinda interesting in that it doesn't really have one, as others have said.
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  #9  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2018, 11:55 PM
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Kinda embarassing, but probably the most recognizable landmark.


Last edited by Nashe; Jan 6, 2021 at 3:34 AM.
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  #10  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 12:04 AM
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Once upon a time I would have said the Calgary tower or Banker’s Hall. Now those are quite far down the list behind The Bow, Peace bridge, Telus Sky, NMC and hopefully the new central library. I even noticed on reality shows that have been shot here (Total Divas) that they focused on Eighth Avenue Place in the skyline. They are reminiscent of the Rockies I guess.
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  #11  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 12:11 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vorkuta View Post
Kinda embarassing, but probably the most recognizable landmark.

Sadly that is the only building I can remember from my trip there 13 years ago. There was also a cool art deco looking hospital or something on a hill.
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  #12  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 12:12 AM
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BC Place for Vancouver


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  #13  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 12:48 AM
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  #14  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 12:57 AM
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In the short time it has existed, I would argue that the Halifax Central Library has already taken this title.

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  #15  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 1:02 AM
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I would also put forth Fredericton's City Hall,



and Market Square in Saint John



and I don't expect too much backlash on these.
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  #16  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 1:03 AM
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I don't know if Saint John has a single stand-out iconic building per se - our architectural strength is really in the overall collection of smaller-scale historic buildings adding up to something greater than the sum of their parts. If I was pressed to pick something though, it would probably be one of our historic churches, one of the following:

Trinity Anglican Church

Source

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Roman Catholic)

Source
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  #17  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 1:19 AM
Mrs Sauga Mrs Sauga is offline
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Victoria: Empress Hotel
Vancouver: Canada Place
Edmonton: ??
Calgary: Saddledome
Regina: Sask Parliament Building
Saskatoon: Delta Bessborough
Winnipeg: Human Rights Museum
Hamilton: Steel plants
Toronto: CN Tower
Ottawa: Parliament
Montreal: Olympic Stadium
Quebec: Chateau
Halifax: Purdys Wharf?
St John: colorful house
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  #18  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 1:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs Sauga View Post
Victoria: Empress Hotel
Vancouver: Canada Place
Edmonton: ?? Commonwealth Stadium
Calgary: Saddledome
Regina: Sask Parliament Building
Saskatoon: Delta Bessborough
Winnipeg: Human Rights Museum
Hamilton: Steel plants
Toronto: CN Tower
Ottawa: Parliament
Montreal: Olympic Stadium
Quebec: Chateau
Halifax: Purdys Wharf?
St John St John's: colorful house
/
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  #19  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 1:35 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by O-tacular View Post
Sadly that is the only building I can remember from my trip there 13 years ago. There was also a cool art deco looking hospital or something on a hill.
I guess my choice for Moncton was a good one then.
That hospital was blown up (video) back in 1995.
In Saint John, NB.
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  #20  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2018, 1:49 AM
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Toronto is easily the CN Tower so I'll do Halifax. For Halifax it's the town clock.

Halifax Town Clock

Courtesy of Global News
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