Uncle Teddy said:
That before shot is not city housing. That's private apartments.
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Yes, the first shot is of St. Jamestown which is only around 20% government housing. The rest are just lower priced private rental buildings and that last pic of Regent Park is also not government housing. It's the new condos by Daniels.
 
Yep, only the taller white towers in the middle of the photo are publicly owned. The rest in the photo are all privately owned. The oldest in St Jamestown are the blue and grey re-skinned towers and they look even worse inside.
 
Ironically, I think it was developments like St. James Town when they were new and gleaming that must have given visitors the impression that Toronto was remarkably clean. Everything is clean when it's new. The massive cluster of towers were new, their lawns were green and landscaping maintained, with wealthy young people living there.
 
^I'm not so sure St Jamestown was ever gleaming or luxurious although that is based on a couple newspaper articles found while renovating.
 
maestro said:
^I'm not so sure St Jamestown was ever gleaming or luxurious although that is based on a couple newspaper articles found while renovating.
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Why would it not have been gleaming when new? The mob didn't build it. I remember reading about it in a book available through Google Books. I forget the title, but it mentioned that it was populated by young professions and had some more amenities which were eventually torn down. The wealthy young people moved on to Cabbagetown and started restoring dilapidated Victorians. It wasn't exactly the depressing high-rise slum failure from day one that many think it is.

In terms of built form and initial demographics it seems quite similar to CityPlace. Key differences are the lack of heavy concentrations of poverty around CityPlace and the ownership model which theoretically means more individuals with an interest in keeping the community safe and well maintained. It's also not in an area historically associated with poverty, so any declines may be noticed faster.
 
St. Jamestown was built as a place for all the downtown office wokers and professionals to live close to where they worked. It had amenities and other attractive features that were much more rare back in those days.

It started out as nothing at all like it is today.
 
SP!RE said:
St. Jamestown was built as a place for all the downtown office wokers and professionals to live close to where they worked. It had amenities and other attractive features that were much more rare back in those days.

It started out as nothing at all like it is today.
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This website seems to disagree:

http://www.torontoneighbourhoodguide.com/regions/toronto_downtown/28.html

"The St. James Town apartments were originally planned and designed as a neighbourhood for upwardly mobile singles and professionals. However, almost from the start St. James Town has been populated by low to moderate income families."

Wikipedia says:

"St. James Town was originally designed to house young "swinging single" middle class residents, but the apartments lacked appeal and the area quickly became much poorer."
 
Parkdalian said:
This website seems to disagree:

http://www.torontoneighbourhoodguide.com/regions/toronto_downtown/28.html

"The St. James Town apartments were originally planned and designed as a neighbourhood for upwardly mobile singles and professionals. However, almost from the start St. James Town has been populated by low to moderate income families."

Wikipedia says:

"St. James Town was originally designed to house young "swinging single" middle class residents, but the apartments lacked appeal and the area quickly became much poorer."
Click to expand...

Neither of those are credible sources. The first one lacks any sources, while the second one could have been written by the same person as the first one. But even if we accept what they have to say, it is in agreement with SP!RE's comments. It says almost from the start. The point still stands that they were built for much different demographic than the one dominating the buildings today.
 
Parkdalian said:
This website seems to disagree:

"The St. James Town apartments were originally planned and designed as a neighbourhood for upwardly mobile singles and professionals.
Click to expand...

Correct as I recall. When I was in High School my best friend's parents moved from a house at Bloor and Prince Edward to St. James Town. They had two adjoining apartments one for living and one for business. He wrote a Newspaper following mining stocks.
 
Shots taken today:

4260353116_18daeb1dae_b.jpg


4260348986_4ca7348ef3_b.jpg
 
Thanks greenleaf. The contrast between the monochrome skin and the bright warm colours can't be more magnificent. Truly a project worthy of architectural guidebooks for the city.

AoD
 
The neutral grey skin and white pared-away core work together, too. As with the Sharp Centre's windowsills and Madame X's raiment, a little dab'll do ya for maximum yet subtle effect with highlight colour.
 
beautiful building.....we need more Teeple in this town....
 
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