If you had a few days in spend in one of England's "other" cities, which one would it be? When travelling, I am motivated by urban design, transit, architecture and the arts, while shopping, food and sports are lesser attractions.

Don't see a thread for this. I am very pleased to see this building repurposed, I hope some of the handsome industrial features of the building are preserved. Etobicoke plant to become film studio GUY DIXON - Globe and Mail Published on Friday, Dec. 18, 2009 12:00AM EST Last...

From the Canadian Architect On December 7, 2009, all of the architects that were members of the Downtown Ottawa Urban Design Review Panel resigned. The City was informed by way of a letter to Councillor Peter Hume, Chair of the Planning and Environment Committee. The Downtown Ottawa Urban...

Below is a photo of a rather creepy or intimidating sign that I came across today in one of our city's less charming neighbourhoods. I am very curious as to its intent - it seems official, but I can't really imagine what it is trying to say. Does anybody know what this means?

Does anyone like to collect subway cards? I have a few from various cities: Beijing, Sao Paulo, and some I'm not sure of. 11 pieces in all, with one overlap, and one of them is tiny cute little map of the Paris system. I'll mail them free to the first person who wants them, just send me a message.

In a discussion recently with someone quite knowledgeable about Toronto buildings, it came out that although he was aware of one of Toronto's early social housing projects, in Riverdale, he was unaware that there was a similar one in Rosedale. So I've decided to do a small photo montage of three...

The whole discussion around whether the porticos are too large or whatever is irrelevant. Heritage designation is not based solely or even primarily on the aesthetic merits of a building, but the policy overall is intended to preserve a record of where we have been as a city and to avoid...

Continued from another thread ... Late Modernism You couldn't really do a series on low-rise buildings without having an example from St. Lawrence. Crombie Park, by Irving Grossman, combines a school in the lower reaches, has some commercial space, and is residential on the upper floors...

Given that the detached house thread started a while ago had a few legs, I thought I would make a thread for some low-rise residential projects around the city that for one reason or other I thought notable. Additions are, of course, welcome. Mods: As I've put in considerable discussion of the...

Interesting article about a Mies Gas Station in Montreal. The Ritz of gas stations looks for a new life LES PERREAUX From the Globe and Mail January 27, 2009 at 4:00 AM EST MONTREAL — As architectural landmarks go, the gas station on Île-des-Soeurs was barely visible, with its...

Hello, I've finally updated the data and the pages at TOBuilt, to introduce a new resource for tall buildings only. The page has a bunch of clickable lists that rank highrises, graphs that show patterns of high-rise construction over time, and maps that show the spread of high-rises in the...

After a few years of on-again, off-again research, I've finally finished dating with some accuracy the building in Toronto that have 12 storeys or more (not perfect accuracy, obviously, but carefully researched). I'm working on some fun stuff as a result, but here's a little quiz to whet your...

I came across this subway map, and it must be some French city, but it seems so eerily familiar that I feel almost as if I've been on the subway before. (Click for larger image).

In another thread, someone suggested maybe we could have a thread on the city's ugliest heritage buildings (this is relation to the Continental Can building, shame on you!). Who better to rise to the occassion than your Archivist? Also, this atones in some way for my perhaps excessive crankiness...

Does anybody out there know anything of the history of this building? For my own reasons, I'm trying to find out when the building was built, but it is pretty much impossible. It makes it all the harder because it's completely covered in some kind of aluminum siding which makes it really hard to...

NY Times: Nordic Countries Add $2.5 Billion to Iceland’s Bailout By DAVID JOLLY Published: November 20, 2008 Iceland finally received international backing for its bailout plan on Thursday, while Turkey appeared to be heading for its own rescue package. Nordic countries followed up a...

I will be spending some time in HK and Beijing soon, and intend on dragging my travelling companion around incessantly to see neato buildings. Anybody have suggestions? I'm looking especially for less obvious things that might get overlooked. Any other suggestions warmly accepted.

The Globe's Real Estate section today has an ad on the front page for Scenic on Eglinton. Though this condo has been advertising with a plaid-ish logo for some time, they've been leery about actually showing the buildings. Today they showed the buildings, the first I've seen them at any rate...

I am gradually resuscitating TOBuilt on a platform that is more stable. The platform's been there for a while, so I know it's stable, now I'm just working out the kinks and updating the data (shortly ...) I wonder if it is appropriate/possible for me to embed links to particular threads (the...

I'm pleased to see this little contemporary house at 328 Euclid has received some attention (Levitt and Goodman). It is the (indirect) subject of todays column by John Bentley Mays in the Globe: U.S. venture suggests the future of new housing may be small JOHN BENTLEY MAYS August...