General rating of the project

  • Great

    Votes: 25 25.8%

  • Very Good

    Votes: 53 54.6%

  • Good

    Votes: 14 14.4%

  • So So

    Votes: 4 4.1%

  • Not Very Good

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Terrible

    Votes: 1 1.0%
  • Total voters
    97
Someone needs to track down the owner of that webcam and tell them to point at and zoom in on 500 block stat!
 
Surrealplaces said:
Funny thing happened to me when video recording some of the demolition. A couple of passerby's stopped to chat and were lamenting the loss of 'such a beautiful building'. At first I thought they were being sarcastic....but nope they were serious. They complained about Calgary tearing down all it's heritage buildings! lol. Made for an interesting afternoon.
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I understand that the concept of architectural heritage is always evolving, even now including some examples of Brutalism... but in the case of this building, what on Earth could possibly be of historic or architectural value? Its presence was legitimately oppressive. :p
 
The couple have the right attitude and Calgary could use more it. You just can't save everything.
 
Wow yeah, I definitely would not call that a 60-70s era treasure. I've stumped for recognizing more of our post-war era architecture as historic, but I'm not sure this old federal government block really counts. The old CBE building and Olympic legacies like the Oval are more what I had in mind. One building that I've really come to appreciate thanks to my train rides into downtown from the North West is the John. J. Bowlen Building on 7th Ave behind the Court of Queen's Bench. The Bowlen Building is from 1969. I'm not sure when the building being torn down for the 500 Block is from, but I'm gonna ball park it at +/- 5 years. The style is similar, but I find it considerably more elegant by comparison. That's the kind of quality we should be protecting. I don't even think the city has this little block in it's Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources. A share courtesy @RyLucky.
 
Yeah there's no reason to keep that eyesore around. Similarly, no reason to keep the bunch of condemned buildings near Telus Sky.
I'd rather they keep memorable buildings that have defined our city for years ... like the Saddledome, Oval like you said, Fairmont Palliser, etc. We have no reason to keep, or whine about the demolition of, this ugly thing. Lol.
I'd still like to know why our old city hall is in a box, with a picture of itself on it. Gave me quite the laugh.

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The modern era is easily the most under appreciated era right now. The pre war era produced many duds as well but, even those tend to be revered today.

This building being torn down is not a looker. It's an undistinguished Brutalist design. I still find proclaiming as it being just "ugly" and "bring on the wrecking balls" as callous. It represents a time and place and one that is endangered of being completely wiped out by glass because it is so under appreciated. Preserving only the greatest of our institutional landmarks from the wrecking balls is not enough for a diverse and interesting urban landscape. The architectural record should include as many architectural styles, usages and, histories as possible.
 
I didn't mind that building. It wasn't beautiful, but it was different. Too bad they could have waved a magic wand and moved it to an empty lot somewhere.
 
This building was always top of my wish list for buildings in prominent Beltline locations that I hoped they'd tear down for a new development. I am all for preserving heritage buildings, however there isn't anything remotely worth saving on this one IMO. Two other smaller scale ones in particular for me include:
- The white tool box at SE corner of 12th Ave and 7th. Likely will never happen as its a dwelling.
- The Tourism Calgary building NW corner of 11th Ave and MacLeod.
 
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