Avenue McGill College - 1972

[MartinMtl]

Actually, in 1972 much of downtown Montreal was quite beautiful. Obviously not McGill College Avenue, nor most of René-Levesque nor the area around Place des Arts. Those areas were a blight on an otherwise attractive downtown.

 

A couple of things have actually deteriorated since 1972. Back then the métro was new and pristine and the notion of a "service delay" was unheard of. Also, there was virtually no graffiti back then.

 

1972, precisely? What about the rest of the decade? I know Montreal since 1976 and back then downtown was ugly. Not only McGill College, but the whole boulevard DeMaisonneuve was and endless row of ugly surface parking lots. Same thing with Dorchester (now René-Lévesque). Everything that is now the Quartier International was horrendously ugly because of the new Ville-Marie expressway disaster. The destruction of Sherbrooke street was a done deal back then and the Quartier Latin, while very vibrant, was scare by hundreds of demolitions. Obviously, we didn't have the same perception of the city back then.

[TomOfBoston]

In the 1970's, there was plenty that was ugly and there was plenty that was beautiful. It depended on what you chose to focus on.

[uqam+]

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Modifié 13 novembre 2011 par uqam+

[MartinMtl]

Toronto a été encore plus ravagé. Quand on regarde des photos de cette ville dans les années 70 et même 80, c'est hallucinant.

 

Allez voir les photos sur ce fil: http://urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?9241-More-Lost-Toronto-in-colour

[MartinMtl]

In the 1970's, there was plenty that was ugly and there was plenty that was beautiful. It depended on what you chose to focus on.

 

Of course there was still some isolated nice spots. But it remains that as far as beauty is concerned, Montreal's downtown, right now, is nicer than it ever was during the last 30 years.

 

In the last 20 years or so, there has been few significant demolitions (except for some sad exceptions, like the Queens Hotel), nothing comparable to the "architecture holocaust" of the Drapeau era.

 

We got rid of a good amount of the surface parking lots created like crazy during the 60's and 70's. The western part of Old Montreal was reborn, then came the Quartier International, etc. The Quartier des spectacles is another step in the right direction.

[MTLskyline]

Wow, Toronto looks completely different back then. It looks very blue collar, very midwestern, and very different than Montreal at the time (which actually looked much richer in old photos). It is a shame that so much of Toronto's character and heritage were tossed out the window in the name of "progress". We are almost fortunate that our economy was fairly weak in the 1970s, otherwise we would have lost much more.

 

Looking back at these old photos, I tend to agree with MartinMtl that the city has improved quite a bit since the the late 70s and early 80s (when it seems to have hit its "low")

[TomOfBoston]

Of course there was still some isolated nice spots. But it remains that as far as beauty is concerned, Montreal's downtown, right now, is nicer than it ever was during the last 30 years.

 

In the last 20 years or so, there has been few significant demolitions (except for some sad exceptions, like the Queens Hotel), nothing comparable to the "architecture holocaust" of the Drapeau era.

 

We got rid of a good amount of the surface parking lots created like crazy during the 60's and 70's. The western part of Old Montreal was reborn, then came the Quartier International, etc. The Quartier des spectacles is another step in the right direction.

 

I agree completely that downtown Montreal is much more beautiful today than in the 1970's (except fpr parts of the métro and the graffiti). Interesting that McGill College Avenue was rebuilt during the down years of the 1980's. Today it seems to requires 50 different approvals and battles with NIMBY's to build anything: the Seville Theater site for example.

 

The graffiti is a personal bone to me. It can blemish an otherwise great cityscape.

[MartinMtl]

I agree completely that downtown Montreal is much more beautiful today than in the 1970's (except fpr parts of the métro and the graffiti). Interesting that McGill College Avenue was rebuilt during the down years of the 1980's. Today it seems to requires 50 different approvals and battles with NIMBY's to build anything: the Seville Theater site for example.

 

The graffiti is a personal bone to me. It can blemish an otherwise great cityscape.

 

The 80's were a golden age for office building in Montreal. At one point, between 1980 and 1984, there was cranes everywhere. Of course, it cultiminated in the early 90's with IBM Marathon, 1000 DeLaGauchetière and the 1500 McGill. Since then, almost nothing :-(

[MartinMtl]

Wow, Toronto looks completely different back then. It looks very blue collar, very midwestern, and very different than Montreal at the time (which actually looked much richer in old photos). It is a shame that so much of Toronto's character and heritage were tossed out the window in the name of "progress". We are almost fortunate that our economy was fairly weak in the 1970s, otherwise we would have lost much more.

 

Looking back at these old photos, I tend to agree with MartinMtl that the city has improved quite a bit since the the late 70s and early 80s (when it seems to have hit its "low")

 

When you look at pictures of Toronto in the 70's, it really looks like Detroit today (I exagerete a bit for theatricality). The difference between that Toronto and the Toronto of today is simply astounding. Of course, they will never get back all the history they lost. You are right that Montreal, despite heavy loses, is still much more preserve than Toronto. Old Montreal alone has more historic buildings that the whole region of Toronto. Well, that's one thing, at least, that we don't have to envy them for :-)

[GDS]

I agree that McGill College is one of the nicer streets downtown, it is also an example of the incompetence of the city. Firstly, the street doesn't line up with McGill campus or the Roddick Gates, nor does it line up with the public space of PVM and the QueenE behind doesn't cover the whole opening, so there is a gap of open space to the east. Ofcourse, in the city plan, it was supposed to line up, I am not sure as to the reason that it doesn't. The street was also supposed to be lined with skyscrapers of equal height on either side to create a canyon effect. However, with the financial difficulty at Eatons, it took Nesbitt Burns to come in as an anchor tenant for 1501 and the Montreal Trust (Maison Astral) tower was stuck in redesigns and public protests for 11 years, to the point where when it was finally finished, Montreal Trust no longer existed as a company. Then Industrial Alliance for no reason was granted permission of offset their tower from the street. Finally no tower was ever build on the north west side of the street and it was eventually filled by Ultramars canadian head office at 5 stories.