Canadian skylines of the past

[LeftCoaster]

Wow.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by Devon

This reminds me of Saskatoon, both the arches of the bridge as well as the view from the top of the Broadway bridge with the Robin Hood flour mill in a similar location as Saskatoon's very own Robin Hood mill is from this view.

I initially thought this was Saskatoon too.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

It wasn't that long ago that Victoria Park was an actual community which had character and which people actually lived in. That said, it had been decaying steadily for decades, and a lot of the housing (by the time this picture was taken) was boarded up.

The expansion of the Stampede Grounds to the north was first approved in 1968, and, because of the Stampede Board's total incompetence when it comes to land development, here we are 46 years later and all we have to show for it is a bunch of parking lots and a casino.

I look forward to it being that way again With the new park, Guardian, Club sport, Orchard, and all of the existing stuff, it certainly has a lot of potential, and will be extremely dense.

[Trans Canada]

Originally Posted by lake of the nations

Provincial government buildings seen from Highland (Highlevel) Bridge, Edmonton, 1914.


Topley Studio/ Library and Archives Canada / PA-011278

I see the Leg and Hotel Macdonald but not much else.... what's the building to the left of the Leg? A church?

[Chadillaccc]

Calgary's 1st railway station - now serving as the home of the Alberta Ballet School


http://yourrailwaypictures.com/Train...exCentral.html

http://theroadtriphound.com/2013/03/...tions-of-1913/


Calgary's 2nd railway station - demolished


http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/postcards/PC009639.html


The original plan for the Palliser Hotel

http://www.hanafoto.com/blog/sarah-a...photographers/

What we ended up with is just as lovely...






and a bonus one with the railway station and Palliser in its original form at 8 storeys, later expanded to 14.


http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2014/...-special-beer/

[OTSkyline]

Wow, that hotel in Calgary is really nice! Looks pretty much exactly like The Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan in NYC.

[esquire]

Great pictures of the Palliser! While we're on the subject of grand old railway hotels, here are a couple that once stood in Manitoba.

Brandon's old CNoR/CNR Prince Edward Hotel:



The Prince Edward had a railway station in the back:



The Royal Alexandra was once the grand old CPR hotel in Winnipeg:



It was right next to the old CPR station (which still stands today). Unfortunately the Royal Alex succumbed to the fact that it was badly located, on a stretch of Main Street that was kind of seedy to begin with and only grew worse as the years went on:



Fortunately, Winnipeg still has the Fort Garry, a beautiful old GTP/CNR hotel:

[Daveography]

Originally Posted by Trans Canada

I see the Leg and Hotel Macdonald but not much else.... what's the building to the left of the Leg? A church?

Yes, that would be the First Presbyterian Church.

[SignalHillHiker]

Remember I mentioned that Empire Avenue was the ring road of St. John's when we joined Canada in 1949 and that the city had absolutely no North American-style suburbs, but the rowhouse and 1920-30s British-style suburbs simply ended like a brick wall?

Well, this is (mostly) Empire Avenue. Everything to the right is European, everything to the left is North American:



And I actually stumbled upon a picture on a heritage sign along the Rennie's River Trail that shows the edge of the city in the 1940s, right along that blue line:



A similar angle today. Downtown is between the horizon of the hill and the harbour.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Calgary's 1st railway station - now serving as the home of the Alberta Ballet School



Calgary's 2nd railway station - demolished

No way the old CNR was the first. The CPR has had a station in Calgary since 1883. The picture of the CPR stations was CP's 4th station in the city.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Everything to the right is European, everything to the left is North American

This makes me cringe every time.


But it's cool, that's a good pic. So idyllic. Pastoral country lanes leading into the hectic, smoky (and compact) city. Kind of reminds me of some of these (perhaps fanciful?) depictions of the Montreal of old:



Click for full size





(wish I could find larger versions of these ones)

Plus one of Toronto from 1884:




And while I'm posting illustrations, here's a cool one of Quebec City from 1759:

[MonkeyRonin]

Photo this time, of Montreal in 1870:

[SignalHillHiker]

It's freaking me out a little how much Montreal there looks like here. From this distance you can't even really tell the scale of their buildings is larger and grander. Even with one Basilica and a bunch of church spires.

BTW, do you cringe because it happened or am I expressing the idea incorrectly/stupidly?

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

BTW, do you cringe because it happened or am I expressing the idea incorrectly/stupidly?

At the "European" thing. Both sides of town are North American. Nevermind the fact that it's...in North America, but the built form itself more closely resembles that of other Eastern North American cities than it does anything in Europe.

The general association of "European" with "superior" is an insecure, colonial tendency of many North Americans.

[SignalHillHiker]

Fair enough - what's an easy but more correct word for it?

When people say pre- and post-war, is that what it means?

[MonkeyRonin]

More than anything, it's also its own thing. St. John's tradition is I suppose, of Newfoundland (i.e. North American). So there's the distinction between your Newfoundlander vernacular and that of the generically globalized era of city building (pre & post-war being general proxies for these), but "urban" vs. "suburban" is probably the easiest distinction to make.

[SignalHillHiker]

Right on, thanks! I'll use those from now on.

It KILLS me that St. John's becomes suburban so quickly... but, whatever? It's the truth. And exactly the point I was making.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

It KILLS me that St. John's becomes suburban so quickly...

Yep, sounds North American alright!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

At the "European" thing. Both sides of town are North American. Nevermind the fact that it's...in North America, but the built form itself more closely resembles that of other Eastern North American cities than it does anything in Europe.

The general association of "European" with "superior" is an insecure, colonial tendency of many North Americans.

Just being the devil's advocate and having a bit of fun with you MonkeyRonin, but it could be said that the allergic reaction of some people on here to any references to Europe may be what is cringe-worthy...

I note that these reactions always come from people who live in cities that have little in common with Europe architecturally or otherwise - so maybe it says more about *their* insecurities and it is actually they who feel like European stuff is ''better''? Hmmm... could be.

(BTW full disclosure - I live in a city that has almost nothing architecturally or urban form-wise that could be described as remotely European.)

But when it comes to the usual suspects of Canadian European-ness, well Europe is so diverse and big and has so many city styles that sure some parts of them very well could be construed as European-style given that the definition is so vast.

I don't see why the denizens of other cities see it as insulting when this is pointed out.

[esquire]

I'm with Acajack. I don't think there's anything cringe-worthy about using European as a shorthand term to describe a dense and compact urban environment. Of course we can get technical about it and point out the freeways and suburbia of most European cities that feels much like what we have on this continent, but realistically, most people around here associate European cities with what SHH was talking about. I don't think it's a term derived from an inferiority complex so much as it is a simple way to describe a concept that most people are familiar with.