Your city hall

[1overcosc]

Kingston:


Built in the 1840s with the expectation it would the city hall of the capital of the country. It's a common myth that it was the site of Canada's parliament during the time when Kingston was capital, but it was always intended to be, and used as, City Hall.

Stylized depictions of City Hall and the clock tower are standard symbols of the city, pretty ubiquitous. Like in the municipal logo:


And even the symbol used to indicate municipal parking:

[J.OT13]

Great building. Defiantly one of the most recognized City Halls in the country. I screams Kingston.

[LeTravailleur]

Laval City Hall is absolutely ridiculous and I had to go on Street View to find a "decent" shot :


https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.55190...9OGQ!2e0?hl=fr

The reason why it is so small is that it was Chomedey City Hall before the 1965 mergers that created Laval as one big city.

The little tower (city offices I think) in the back is often considered as an extension of the city hall (the ugly brown building (city council)).



Oh, here's another one :

http://cameraluminosa.com/hotels-de-ville/

[lio45]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Kingston:


Built in the 1840s with the expectation it would the city hall of the capital of the country. It's a common myth that it was the site of Canada's parliament during the time when Kingston was capital, but it was always intended to be, and used as, City Hall.

Grand building for such a small town (but really nice!)
It really looks like a typical small State Capitol from that era.

Here's Vermont's for example:

[davidivivid]

This used to be the City Hall of Ste-Foy. It was built in 1996 only to lose its city hall status when the city, along with 12 other municipalities, fusionned with Quebec city back in 2002.



Ancien Hôtel de Ville de Ste-Foy par davidivivid, sur Flickr



Ancien Hôtel de Ville de Ste-Foy par davidivivid, sur Flickr



Ancien Hôtel de Ville de Ste-Foy par davidivivid, sur Flickr



Ancien Hôtel de Ville de Ste-Foy par davidivivid, sur Flickr

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by speedog

Actually, the old Calgary city hall is still there and still in use.

Not only that, it's in the very picture he was responding to.



Here's another view. Not many current pictures of it out there though...


http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationP...y_Alberta.html

[advance62]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

I quite like the town hall in Clinton, ON (my home town).



Kitchener City Hall is quite nice for a more modern building:



Waterloo City Hall is rather appalling terrible in my opinion, though slightly less so from the parking lot:




Cambridge's City Hall is also quite nice:



Finally, the headquarters for the Region of Waterloo; not quite as bad as the city, but not great either:

Completely agree with you on Waterloo's leased City Hall, although the lobby is quite pleasant actually.

I tend to like the Regional HQ actually, but it's not a standout IMO

Here are bunch of my photos of Kitchener's 1993 Built City Hall (One of my favourite buildings obviously):

Old City Hall's Clocktower aligned with New City Hall
Dramatic by Matt M S, on Flickr

Kitchener City Hall in Monochrome by Matt M S, on Flickr

Kitchener City Hall - Blue Cube by Matt M S, on Flickr

Colourful Kitchener City Hall by Matt M S, on Flickr

Canada Day Downtown Kitchener - City Hall Fireworks by Matt M S, on Flickr

Angles by Matt M S, on Flickr

City Hall Sky by Matt M S, on Flickr

Monochromatic by Matt M S, on Flickr

Rotunda by Matt M S, on Flickr

Reflecting Pool by Matt M S, on Flickr

Skating by Matt M S, on Flickr

Mirrors Edge by Matt M S, on Flickr

Canada Day Downtown Kitchener - The Crowd by Matt M S, on Flickr

Oasis in The City by Matt M S, on Flickr

Yellow Silhouette by Matt M S, on Flickr

Canada Day Downtown Kitchener - Canada Cube by Matt M S, on Flickr

Observing by Matt M S, on Flickr

Summer Night Skyline by Matt M S, on Flickr

Berlin Tower Black and White by Matt M S, on Flickr

Endangered View by Matt M S, on Flickr

Kitchener City Hall Reflections by Matt M S, on Flickr

Kitchener City Hall by Matt M S, on Flickr

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Not only that, it's in the very picture he was responding to.



Here's another view. Not many current pictures of it out there though...


http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationP...y_Alberta.html

What I meant by "got rid of" was that it isn't Calgary's official city hall anymore, not that it was demolished.

[advance62]

Here are some of Toronto's old and new City Halls':

Reflecting Pool by Matt M S, on Flickr

Toronto City Hall by Matt M S, on Flickr

Concrete Jungle by Matt M S, on Flickr

The Eye's View by Matt M S, on Flickr

Curvy by Matt M S, on Flickr

Different Standards by Matt M S, on Flickr

Forever Bicycles, sǝlɔʎɔᴉq ɹǝʌǝɹoℲ 2 by Matt M S, on Flickr

Canyon Bed by Matt M S, on Flickr

Old City Hall by Matt M S, on Flickr

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by someone123

It's interesting how you can see the continuum between more traditionally Canadian/Quebec-style architecture in Eastern Ontario and Midwestern architecture by the time you get to Windsor. When they go to Montreal, some people think that the limestone buildings (e.g. Bonsecours Market) are more or less direct French colonial era transplants but really they are an indigenous style that was popular all along the St. Lawrence and connected waterways.
There's a similar transition in Atlantic Canada when you go from the Atlantic coast to the Bay of Fundy area and PEI and then central and northern NB. Some of the differences are due to geology; you find more brick in the areas with appropriate clay soil. Wood is popular in areas with granite and harder rock that is very expensive to quarry. Nicer buildings in NS use Wallace sandstone or granite. Earlier buildings also used pyritic slate (ironstone) because it was locally available.

Sherbrooke looks like it's partway along the Quebec-New England continuum too.

I've always thought of Bonsecours Market, and much of Old Montreal, as being a very British colonial confection, channeling a bit of the French heritage and taking advantage of Scots stonemasons. That would certainly be the case (minus the French heritage) in most of Eastern Ontario's stone constructions.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Any guesses? No peeking.

source

[kool maudit]

madrid? havana?

edit: peeked. wasn't even close.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^Probably would have made a similar guess.

[SignalHillHiker]

Now that I know, I can see it in the building. But it never would have been my guess.

[MolsonExport]

our city hall is both utilitarian and fugly, so I will spare your eyeballs.

Kingston's is gorgeous.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Now that I know, I can see it in the building. But it never would have been my guess.

Yeah, like the one in Montreal, it was meant to resemble Paris City Hall - you can see the likeness.

[SignalHillHiker]

Yeah. Those two towers on either side of the main spire scream the correct region to me now that I've read it lol

[esquire]

I appreciate the variety in Canada's city halls. There are some really nice ones... oddly enough, the only crappy ones are the pomo junk and suburban office buildings from the 1980s and 90s.

Kitchener's looks like something straight out of Japan. Toronto has the most recognizable city hall. But my favourite is a tie between Hamilton's midcentury modern classic which should be a national icon, dammit, and Montreal's Second Empire spectacular.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

Yeah, like the one in Montreal, it was meant to resemble Paris City Hall - you can see the likeness.

Montreal's is actually very close to being a dead ringer for the city hall in Tours, France.

[Tony]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I love Hamilton's City Hall. It's a beauty!

She is a beaut. Excellent example of mid-century modern / international style architecture. I thought there was talks about tearing it down to build a new one maybe 10 years ago? The school board building across the street was also an interesting piece of architecture.. but it's toast now. Too bad.

London's on the other hand, is an ugly, I guess po-mo block. But not as bad as the hodge-podge mixture that is Mississauga's post-modern City Hall.

Richmond Hill's CH is actually only a "temporary" arrangement and a new City Hall is suppose to be constructed in the Downtown in the future.