Urban Shocker said:
No, a flamboyant, fire-engine-red fountain is the perfect sort of transitional gesture ( not just because of the colour, but because it's a water feature ... ) between his towers and the Victorian fire hall. The grisaille paved area, in a design that includes several subtle tones of red, and the blooming-rose-shaped shrubbery to the east of it, make the transition great fun. Taken as a whole, with Janet Rosenberg's parterre garden providing a similarly imaginative link between 18 Yorkville and the Library, the greater Clewes Block is set off at an appropriately high level of artistry. I think that it's one of the best sequences of buildings and parks that we've seen built recently in our city - on a par with the Pier 27/Redpath refinery/Sugar Beach/Corus/George Brown/Sherbourne Commons sequence, for instance.
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1. The fountain, though lovely, is not fire engine red.

2. Peter did not design everything on the block (eg. the 'Villas on Scollard'), so to call it 'Clewesian' is somewhat misleading.
 
No, Peter is a very active force in the office. Shocker on the other hand is just an armchair quarterback, calling what he 'sees' from his sideline at the foot of Yonge, but never quite understanding how a design office operates or how buildings themselves come to life.
 
Ha cool. I know a guy that worked at Teeple....interesting dynamics going on for sure. As for myself, well I've always been into "building science" even though I may just be a renderporn critic...for now.;)

UShocker is an amusing character though, and essential to what makes UT worthwhile.
 
They were completing the installation of the fountain today. The worker standing in the fountain with the blue hard hat (or no hard hat) is a plumber. At the end when the job was completed he posed as the worker with the white hard hat at the bottom right of the courtyard took his picture. Tomorrow they will be turning on the water. They want to have the fountain working for TIFF. The fountain will have lighting.

Sept 6












 
Gphorce said:
I thought in the plans it showed a large pool at the base of the fountain, is that still happening? or is the biggest red basin the bottom of the fountain? It would be quite a shame if they didn't allow for pedestrian experiences with the cascading water at ground level.
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Yes, the original rendering did have a large base to catch the water. Too bad it was taken out because that would have been a great place to sit and pose for a picture in front of this amazing fountain. I'm sure some of the hotel guest would have done that. It also looked better. Without the proper fountain base, it just seems less substantial and will probably splash cars or anyone who tries to get close for a pic. (and yes, I know it's a car drop off and not a public seating area but still....)
 
Thanks for the update current :D

anyone else find that third photo hilarious?
 
US is right though:

Urban Shocker said:
Taken as a whole, with Janet Rosenberg's parterre garden providing a similarly imaginative link between 18 Yorkville and the Library, the greater Clewes Block is set off at an appropriately high level of artistry. I think that it's one of the best sequences of buildings and parks that we've seen built recently in our city...
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Yorkville Avenue between Yonge and Bay is shaping up to be one of the more visually interesting and impressive streets downtown, I'd say. All the action is on the north side though, the south side remains atrocious. Hopefully in time that will change too.
 
See any resemblance?

This is the original fountain that was in Allen's Gardens.

picturesr55691.jpg

By torontovibe at 2012-09-07

There is a plan to rebuild this fountain in Allen's Gardens Park, so who knows, we might end up with 2 of these beautiful fountains. (one with a fountain base and one without)
 
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Torontovibe said:
See any resemblance?

This is the original fountain that was in Allen's Gardens.

By torontovibe at 2012-09-07

There is a plan to rebuild this fountain in Allen's Gardens Park, so who knows, we might end up with 2 of these beautiful fountains. (one with a fountain base and one without)
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Are you sure there's a plan to rebuild that fountain? Where did you read that? Why on earth was it removed in the first place?
 
The Great Man doesn't have to sweat every design detail for this to be celebrated aAs aA Clewes Block, any more than Vanbrugh had to sweat every detail of Blenheim for it to be his design - everyone knows that Hawksmoor assisted, and in fact did some of the finer details.

Fire engines, Victorian and otherwise, have been painted in a range of reds - by definition, fire engine red - that are also applied elsewhere. Not that Project End, who employs a limited palette to daub the occasional rose-tinted advertorial filler for us, would recognize subtle differences.
 
Tewder said:
US is right though:Yorkville Avenue between Yonge and Bay is shaping up to be one of the more visually interesting and impressive streets downtown, I'd say. All the action is on the north side though, the south side remains atrocious. Hopefully in time that will change too.
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Yes, maybe one day. Meanwhile, when we're not seeing imaginative new / old, and tall / short design combinations, and creative appropriations of earlier forms such as formal parterre gardens and Victorian cast iron fountains, such as these developments along Yorkville, we're seeing new districts including Freedville at Bathurst and King, and the regenerated Regent Park, and the new series of CAMH buildings on Queen West, springing up here and there - equally notable in their own ways for expressing a restricted design language and a unity of look.
 
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