November 28, 2007
Urbanist: So Long, Roy's Square
Urbanist is a photo series that will look at developments, architecture, trends and activities happening in various cities––including our own––to inspire the urbane urbanist at home to make Toronto a better place.
December will bring about the demolition of the building at the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor to make way for the gargantuan condo development known as One Bloor East. Urbanist is generally supportive of the condo boom since it means more people living downtown and not in the sprawling suburbs. However, this development is an example of how redevelopment can hurt the urban fabric. If 80 storeys of condos isn't enough, Roy's Square, a laneway that frames the site, will disappear along with the building it surrounds. While this may not be catastrophic, it represents the loss of a refuge from a bustling part of downtown where office workers can go and grab some a reasonably priced lunch while they sit on the patio that adorns the laneway and watch people. Without these little side streets where smaller businesses can thrive in a downtown core, a shopping district can lose its diversity, as only the biggest retailers can survive. A big city needs to foster small places to remain diverse and vibrant.
Photo by Erinn Cunningham
|
It will be missed, even if I only ever went in there once or twice before. It's a neat little thing to have at that location.
It was one of the best hidden gems of the City, ever since the 70's forward have I have purchased many very cool things from the shops in Roy Square. It is also or was the best way to get in and out of the subway at the Yonge/Bloor Lines. Kind of sad really, a landmark in many ways.
....more condos...yay...
Roy Square is kinda interesting and quirky, but the building that is being demolished is a total dump and a blight on the landscape, so as far as the condo goes, I say bring it.
Roy Square is also more appealing in concept. In reality, it's an alley with no vehicles where some cheap plastic tables and chairs are placed during the summer where people can eat fast food at. Had it been a nicely-paved nook with beautiful lights and better landscaping, I'm sure its demise would be more lamented.
Now if only we could get Cumberland closed to traffic in Yorkville...
Aren't the first two or three floors of the megacondoplex going to be for retail and restaurants?
I agree with Marc.
Roy Square is better as a concept than a reality. I live around the corner from it. And it's depressing. All those cheap plastic chairs and tables. It looks like someone dropped a bomb on the place.
But the 80 story Condo will be awesome. Perhaps it will help raise the sleazy tone Yonge Street. The sooner they start re-thinking and redesigning Street, the better.
Oh no!
Roy's Square is one of my favourite little Toronto nooks. :(
1 bloor east is probably the ugliest building i have ever seen. i mean really, really ugly.
as if condos aren't just as much of a blight on the landscape as roy square supposedly is...
i mean, c'mon. EIGHTY stories? this thing will be a glass and concrete monument to ugliness.
but perhaps i'm just a bitter young man.
Roy's Square may not be ideal as it stands now, but really, are some nice lights, nicer tables and cobblestone that expensive? The whole area probably could have gotten a facelift for a million bucks. The point is, the space is there, and met a beneficial need. 3 Storeys of retail to me means a mall on this site, not anything urban. Instead, the space where Roy's Square is will likely be where H&M or whoever moves in there unloads their trash. Not much of an improvement to me.
architectual tip of the day:
if you want a building to look nice make it diminish with distance vertically. these guys opted for the opposite. and demolished a nice place, as mentioned above, that could have been rehabbed for little money.
It's a crappy concrete alleyway with cheap plastic furniture.
How some people see it as an oasis bewilders me.
I didn't think it was that bad.
Hell, they called the Eiffel Tower an eyesore.
The irony is, if anyone announced that they were "building" a retail strip like Roy Square — can't help but think of that doomed, one-off Simpsons character when I read that. Roy, square? Naw, Roy cool — if they were to install something like that, people would either complain about how ugly it is, or just not care altogether, and rightfully so.
People complain every time a new condo goes up. Evidently they prefer sprawl. Or perhaps they live in million-dollar Victorians. Or maybe they rent a room in one of those Victorians, along with 17 other students their creepy landlord and think, heck, we can cram a few more in there. Or, finally, they are homeless and live on the street.
Either way, you can pretty much ignore them.
I'm pretty sure your comparison of Roy Square to the Eiffel Tower is just hyperbole. But anyway ... sometimes, a building (or complex of them) is just ugly. Saying this sentiment *might* be wrong in a century or so is lazy.
Frankly, I think something is either beautiful or not. Consensus changes so much that it's pretty much meaningless.
It's not that a consensus is either wrong or right. It's that people have knee-jerk reactions to that which is novel. New condo buildings seem to draw the most ire, but it happens with everything. People get used to it and realize it wasn't that horrid.
Took that Christopher Hume guy all of three weeks to change his mind about the ROM crystal. Now he thinks it's wonderful. As is Big Brother, and his steady supply of delicious vodka.
It's not that a consensus is either wrong or right. It's that people have knee-jerk reactions to that which is novel. New condo buildings seem to draw the most ire, but it happens with everything. People get used to it and realize it wasn't that horrid.
Took that Christopher Hume guy all of three weeks to change his mind about the ROM crystal. Now he thinks it's wonderful. As is Big Brother, and his steady supply of delicious vodka.