2012YIP - Urban Renewal

[plonq]

When I first moved here back in 1994, the down town core was in pretty sad shape. Main Street was a disaster bordering on a slum, and Portage was a long stretch of empty buildings and vacancy signs from Main to the east end of Portage Place.

I quipped that there was little that could not be fixed in this city with a bulldozer and a few thousand gallons of diesel.

It seems that I was not too far off the mark. A number of the buildings along Main have been knocked flat, and replaced by modern structures. Along Portage, there has been more upgrading than demolishing, but they have knocked down a few buildings (Eatons, to make way for the MTS centre, the entire block where the Manitoba Hydro building now stands, and in this picture, the old building that housed the Portage Village Inn, and Planet Hollywood behind it).

There were some tentative objections raised when they said they would be tearing down the building, but the city pointed out that any heritage element in it had been renovated out over the years - especially after A&B Sound gutted the building and painted it purple. I believe they are preserving at least the front of the old jewellery building next to it though (from which you can see a construction worker emerging in this shot). It was gutted by a fire long before I moved here and has been sitting empty ever since.


This pool has long since closed for the season - or arguably has not yet opened for the season.

I don't know how old this pool is, but the diving boards have a very 50s styling to them. I doubt the mesh over the pool would support my weight, but part of me thinks that it would be more fun diving into that than into a pool of chlorinated, urinated water.

Comments

[kfops.livejournal.com]

I'm often if favour of saving the facades (if they're unique) if the rest of the building's too far gone. I do love some of the older architecture here, but it if if is just left to moulder until it is beyond redemption then I find it a big waste.

I liked the facade idea once I saw them doing it in Vancouver's Gastown.