The top 10 unbuilt projects in Toronto

[Taller, Better]

It is kind of hard to tell what it would have looked like by the rendering. Might have been nice, but might have been a massive almost Soviet-like megalithic beast. That last rendering is the most detailed I have seen of it, and the best; I've always been iffy about those other tiny renderings, as it looks big and clunky.

[isaidso]

Union Station and the Royal York are my 2 favourite buildings in Toronto. I tend to like monolithic, clunky, and big, but I guess others don't.

[Taller, Better]

I do, as long as they are nicely detailed, but above all nicely proportioned. It is just so hard to tell from that rendering what the detailing was planned to be like. That last render was the best I've seen, and it looked promising.

[isaidso]

Do you own Unbuilt Toronto I or II? They're both quite good.

[drkandrew]

Eaton's / John Maryon Tower was a proposed supertall 140-storey office skyscraper, to be built in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 1971, Eaton's was going to team up with a developer named John Maryon to build a 1,650 ft. (503 m) tower in the College Park area of Downtown Toronto. With a 600 ft. (183 m) communication mast added to the roof, the total proposed height was 2,250 ft (686 m). Plans for the tower were cancelled, because building a structure of this height was considered impossible at the time of its planning. This skyscraper was planned two years before the Sears Tower was completed, and five years before the CN Tower was completed. Had the tower been built, it would have been the world's tallest building until Burj Khalifa.

[drkandrew]

Location
Yonge Street & Highway 401
North York

Technical Data
Height (architectural)
335.00 m
Floors (above ground)
75

[Taller, Better]

Welcome to the group, Andrew!

[rbt]

Originally Posted by drkandrew

Eaton's / John Maryon Tower was a proposed supertall 140-storey office skyscraper, to be built in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 1971, ...

In retrospec, I'm glad it wasn't built. Either it would remain a lone wolf in a poor location keeping it more empty than full, or others would have built up the Dundas area away from Union Station making it more difficult for GO.

Waterfront, now without cities biggest tourist attraction (CN Tower) and a possibly a wider Gardiner/Lake Shore combination since GO Transit isn't as useful to workers, is even less accessible and ACC and Skydome get to remain surrounded by parking lots for the forseeable future.

[Taller, Better]

I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand it would have been waaaaaay cool back in the '70's and '80's, but it would look like a big hulking concrete tower now.

[saurdemol]

My contribution to this forum, a website with images of proposals for the City Hall of Toronto

Some pictures

Halldor Gunnlogsson y Nielsen Jorn:


John H. Macy Andrews y Du Bois:


[IMG]William Hayward:[/IMG]


The winning design


Personally I like the winning project.

excuse my English, I'm learning.

Toronto is a beautiful city.

[Taller, Better]

Welcome to the group, and thanks for contributing! Your English is very good; keep up the good work!

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand it would have been waaaaaay cool back in the '70's and '80's, but it would look like a big hulking concrete tower now.

I just wish developers had this level of ambition and audacity today. It seems now days that developers are 100% focused on the practical.

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

I just wish developers had this level of ambition and audacity today. It seems now days that developers are 100% focused on the practical.

Too true. But those days are gone, I'm afraid. Toronto got caught up in the race for the tallest towers, like many American cities did. Head Offices wanted the bragging rights for the tallest towers. Nowadays it is all down to the bottom line.

[isaidso]

I've always like John Maryon and that building planned for Yonge/401. They were both ahead of their time and would have been quite something had they come to fruition. John Maryon would have dwarfed the city, but no more so than the CN Tower does.

I do find it interesting that at so many times in Toronto's history, we had a penchant for the grandiose and boundless ambition: College Park, John Maryon, the CN Tower, the 401. Some of them came to be. I don't really want to see a 1 km building go up in Toronto, but today our height goals are even lower than they were 40 years ago. 270 wows us these days.

Perhaps, the 1970s were our last opportunity to set the standard when it came to massive urban engineering marvels. The future usually lies with those willing to push the envelope, take some risks. We used to be that country, but now we've lost our swagger. There is such a thing as playing it too safe. The world can pass you by.

[willeo]

I'm a fan of Art Deco, so some of the unbuilt projects here upset me.