Parkdalian said:
Haha, people are so funny on this site. There's nothing more parochial than worrying about comparisons to Paris, London and Rome. But Torontonians are nothing if not parochial - wanting fountains that are basically copies of things in other cities. No, wanting "traditional" architecture (whose traditions?) shows how drearily obsessed we are with getting those Big Boys to notice us and give us a pat on the head. Little do we seem to notice that when you have fountains by Renaissance and Romantic artists, ersatz versions of those fountains in Toronto are below interesting.

And did I say anything about apathy? No. Quite the opposite! I wish more people on this site had a bit more imagination about where Toronto should head, in terms of city-building. If we really want to be a city that other cities envy, we should be doing things that no other city does - not putting things in that our Victorian fore parents neglected to include.
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I'm not sure how aspiring to have one's city be in some way comparable to other great cities makes its residents, individually or collectively, "parochial"? Are they being small-minded? Does wishing to see a few more fountains make them appear provincial or conservative in any way? Does the same line of thought apply to people who would like to see something like more parks in the city? God forbid, what about people who want to see a fountain in an old park, or a new park? Does that make them parochial? A fountain need not be a throwback to anything. A fountain could be a contemporary or playful piece. I don't think anyone was demanding a Trevi fountain replica, just an inviting water feature.

Apathy can be engendered when individuals are accused of something they are not. Calling people "parochial" when they are in fact suggesting or imagining possible improvements that interest them does not make them small-minded.
 
... and it's really not about 'copying' London, Paris or NYC, heck there are far smaller places that do it better than Toronto that we could look to.

I do agree 100% with Parkdalian that we shouldn't be recreating the Trevi fountain but we don't always have to reinvent the wheel either. What truly is parochial (not to mention truly drearily boring) is the immature believe that everything has to be arcane or different. I liken this to Canadian cinema where all movies tend to come off like film school projects. There is nothing wrong with things being populist or accessible, as long as they are well done... but really, there's room for all of it, the low and the high brow. The point is we are aiming way too low (in most cases).
 
Personally I don't want the mix of beautiful old architecture and interesting new architecture that London has because I want them to pat me on the head, but because it's fantastic and beautiful and I want Toronto to be those things, as opposed to boring.

I'd kill for a building in Toronto like the Gherkin, one that's immediately recognizable. Unfortunately Toronto is so conservative that there would be a "minimalist" uprising calling it tacky if that were to occur.

The last universally recognizable thing built in Toronto was the CN Tower. And maybe the ROM crystal. L Tower is a good start but it's still holding back to the Toronto cheapening I feel.

And before I get attacked for this comment by a certain brigade... no, I don't think every single building in the city should be like this, but at least one or two would be nice. London's building the Shard, Shanghai's building the Shanghai Tower, Guangzhou is building the Guangzhou West Tower, and Toronto is building glass and spandrel condo #27.

EDIT: Out of curiosity, I want to do a poll here. The Lloyd's Building in London, yay or nay?
 
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someMidTowner said:
Today:

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Some of the white bands don't line up correctly. I can see 4 instances in the photo above. Too bad but still a great tower.
 
Yes, Theatre Park will top off in the next couple of weeks. Too bad. This is a building that I'd like to see climb to 222 storeys.

Wrong thread for a poll on Lloyd's, but yea!

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Interesting vantage point in the city there - thanks for the photo!

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