[cdl42]

Had Saturday free with beautiful fall weather and realised it's been a long time since I've gone for a walk around downtown to check out Toronto's boom.

Start the day with a coffee at Balzac's in the Distillery District.

Pure Spirit Lofts - Above street level

SAS

Jazz & CP

RBC Dexia

Chatted with a friendly construction worker who said that there will be four cranes on site. Apparently they were in a rush to get the first crane in (which will swing within 4 feet of the office building on the southwest corner of Simcoe and Wellington). Also stated that the Ritz contract has been awarded to a different company... "there will be have to be lots of coordination between us".

AGO at the top of John St.

Marriott and that other Wellington Street building.

Element

Hudson from Front

Cityplace

Break in Kensington for lunch.

Varsity Stadium - Almost done. RCM in the background.

The stadium is really close to Bloor and RCM. Mostly fences along Bloor, the stadium is very visible to the street.

Empty storefronts for One Bedford

ROM - Stand on the north side of Bloor and you can hear people's gasps of surprise and amazement and see conversations immediately turn to discuss it. It's got people talking...

One St. Thomas

Sassafizzled

Hole at 100 Yorkville

Four Seasons site. No more car dealership.

A side of the Yorkville Firehall we've never seen before. 18 Yorkville Villas in the background.

Hole at Lotus. Tight site.

And I'll finish of a long walk with the other side of The Villas at 18 Yorkville. A great lowrise building to accompany a great highrise.

 

[Ed007Toronto]

Thanks for the pics.

 

[yyzer]

Terrific shots! There is truly an amazing amount of good stuff going on...8o

Wonder if there are any plans to restore the west face of the firehall? It is really a gingerbread gem.

 

[urbanboyto]

thank you! Great shots and nice commentary.

 

[Archivistower]

Thanks so much for this. I think Marriott would look kind of cool if the boarded up windows stayed that colour. I sort of like the pattern.

 

[taal2910]

More importantly,

Is that the final cladding on the ROM - check out the bottom corner, the big box, or is that a window?

 

[tudararms]

Thanks for the update...and thanks to Libeskind for giving this city an exciting building.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Thanks cdl!

From certain angles, Spire does resemble the much criticized rendering. I particularly liked how the glass panels at the finial turned out.

AoD

 

[building babel]

Standing on the Bloor Street sidewalk and looking up - through the huge window that will be suspended above you in the overhanging section of the ROM - will be a novel and perhaps rather disorienting experience.