McKittyNuts
16152
227
5
I am even one of those Brutalism defenders. Its just soulless and badly maintained.
Apr 14, 2025 6:58 PM
McKittyNuts
16152
227
5
I am even one of those Brutalism defenders. Its just soulless and badly maintained.
VillainousFiend
I grew up in Fake London. I'm glad I got out of there.
Sironagold
I kinda like them both?
mrsdowneyjr
I don't but I like that you do š¤
jargonmon
I feel the same way (but probably moreso) every time I drive on the BQE and see that one tower. It's just wrong.
MorgulTheFriendlyDrelb
As a child I had a money box modelled exactly on the old building. When I filled it with pennies, threepences and sixpences I would give it to my sister who worked at a bank.
RailstoTrails42
Sadly Iām very familiar with downtown too. Same brutal decisions on every corner.
thedarkcanuck
In the 9 months I lived in London, I was mugged twice, heard nearby gunshots twice, and couldn't go home due to a police standoff with armed and barricaded suspects once. Oh and on that St Paddy's day, the Fanshawe kids rioted for absolutely no reason. It's a really fucking strange city
McKittyNuts
We call stabbing a London Hello
Filanwizard
Huh that building is a few blocks from the hotel I was staying in back in 2023. There is a yearly event called Tennocon at RBC Place and I went in 2023. But did not venture far from the Hilton by RBC.
McKittyNuts
I go to ComicCon there every couple years!
Monkeynutsjoe
New one reeks of East Germany
zenxan
I always think of brutalism as a kind of Stockholm syndrome. It's a kind of architecture that is trying to trick itself into being content with the death of the nature spirits, by making friends with death. It cuddles right up to death and uses a tombstone as a pillow. I would say at least it's slightly more honest than more modern architecture, which is doing exactly the same thing but pretending it's the future. Brutalism never saw a future for itself, and that much we can agree on.
Amomani
Another masterpiece Tartarian relic destroyed. The cover up continues.
mikeatike
If you told me the one on the right was built in 1950, I would believe you.
IAlwaysUpvoteGreyhounds
I regret the loss of a building built to human proportions. Yesterday I was stuck in rush hour traffic in downtown Toronto, so I had a chance to look around me at the buildings. Some of them were lovely, with Art Deco carvings, but the majority of them were soul destroying monuments to humanityās ego. The entire skyline of Toronto is now bristling with these huge fingers reaching skyward, leaving the ground dark and seemingly inhospitable. No wonder people feel so oppressed and anxious.
Hannah1986
I'm just gonna leave this here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc2STwqiZ3E
whisky432
Nice old one. Bring back art deco
Sironagold
Y'know what, no I'll say it. The obsession with greco-roman styles as being somehow superior to everything that came after reeks of imperial ambition and a loathing for the new. Brutalism can be tastefully done as it was here. While I understand that losing the building was sad because of its unusual second and third floors, and its roofing choices, the new building is *also* pretty, and you're not seeing it because "brutalism bad" is a remnant of the red scare and commie fever.
McKittyNuts
Im a huge fan of good brutalism. IE not soulless shit like that structure.
BenHobson
I was in London recently and saw this gem at 394 Clarence Street. Very unique building. I hope someone puts money into saving it.
McKittyNuts
I always dreamed of owning it, using it as studio space below and apartments above.
SeriousIy
It's been owned by a real estate agent for many years since the old Bud Gowan closed. See GIANT mural painted on the south side. It's currently up for sale. Totally gutted inside.
Lagrange31
Well, I'm driving around in UK this week and most of the nice old buildings I've seen are from what I've seen not maintained at all.
Take care of your nice old buildings if you want to keep them. Or at least avoid having them crumble all around you.
RadishIsAMeat
You're not allowed to demolish them so the best thing to do is let them rot so they're unsafe then you can demolish them for "safety reasons" then build what you like.
McKittyNuts
I 100% agree, the developers here buy them and let them rot. Its technically against the law it but its still a huge problem here.
FishHiggins
We donāt own them..
SirLurkAndSmirkAndSometimesSnark
Another one of those ideology pitfalls. Capitalism sees those buildings as both a maintenance drain and a hurdle to overcome in order to develop new buildings. Let them rot and you get to build new buildings that you can make money on both ends. Who cares about culture or history, or beauty for that matter.
nosnowyno
2023?? Seriously?!?!?
McKittyNuts
Hmm? The photo was taken in 23
nosnowyno
Yea Iām an idiot
Battle4ngel
To be fair, just putting the year there without further explanation/context *does* kind of suggest it'd be the inauguration date.
TheOldSchoolisBack
Building in 2023 picture qas built in 1965.
Hashbrown123
Modern architecture in general is just ass. We really have lost our way.
MaleProstateMilker88
It's all because it's cheaper to build and in many cases easier to maintain. Companies generally dislike having to have to clean the exterior of the buildings since it's expensive (and doing it either never or once in a decade is cheaper), and the more decorative it is, the more there is to fix and clean. And that's why we have all these ugly concrete cubes.
unluckyandbored
Most commercial modern architecture is designed to prioritize two things. Cost of construction and ease of resale. Build it cheap and make sure we can resell the place once the current tenant goes under.
sometimesarobot
They should at least paint it something nice
unluckyandbored
Paint costs money and requires maintenance (which also costs money). Costing money makes number go down, and number must go up.
McKittyNuts
This is a expensive as fuck private school for international chinese students. (Mainly)
macgerdo
What's wrong with "horizon grey"?
McKittyNuts
Especially since its a school. Their dorm building is nearby, it used to be a Salvation Armyā¦ idk what the International Academy is but I feel bad for all kids. And people pay to send kids there
macgerdo
People want kids. They never talked about also caring for them.
sometimesarobot
Paint it like a flag, instant cool
McKittyNuts
That be cool, like all the different countries the students come from
sometimesarobot
There's those rectangles between the windows, they can just paint a different one in each. Go pitch that idea
Sebastopol140
Well, old one was pretty, new one is ugly.
BurntRamen
Some would say London International Academy is pretty new.
Baalzak
The new one has the same architectural style as my city's main prison.
Sebastopol140
That's where the architect who designed it should live.
TheOldSchoolisBack
āNew oneā is also 60 years old. Built in 1965.
McKittyNuts
Yeah I meant in the relative sense. š
McKittyNuts
Idk why it was taken down. There could have been reasons like fire. They couldāve built a pretty brutalist structure, or whatever style that is in vogue.
Imademyselfsquirtle
Asbestos
McKittyNuts
Nah we donāt tear them down for that. Our downtown is full of similar age and size buildings. Most of them have been 100% mitigated. Usually we only do a full teardown for structural reasons. These days even when we tear down the facade is preserved and integrated into the new structure. By law you canāt tear them down unless if theres sever structural issues.
Sebastopol140
I like brutalism, concrete can be made to look good... but the new building... yeah it's just awful.
LordHosk
They took it down because It was structurally unsound and unfit for renovation.
They would have had to have gutted it and rebuilt it from the inside to maintain the facade. Unfortunately not everything that is old and pretty can be saved. Once a building outlasts its designed function its often more expensive to maintain than to replace.
The original bank building wasn't even wired for electricity, it had to be retrofitted, multiple times. Bathrooms, HVAC, insulation, internet...
BoblovesMac31415101
Not earthquake safe though.
McKittyNuts
My city has tons of buildings from this period. We almost never get earthquakes here and when we do you donāt even feel them. Weāre veeeery far from a fault line lol
BoblovesMac31415101
I worked on construction of what ended up the tallest building in New Zealand in 1985(?).
It was the first time an existing structures facade was preserved and incorporated into the new building ( here in New Zealand anyway)
You could see it on Google Street view.
BNZ Tower 125-129 Queen St Auckland New Zealand.
Certainly nice to have helped preserve a slice of history.
R100GSPD
Does Ontario get earthquakes?
IgnisInvictus
I'd like to know this answer as well...
McKittyNuts
Yes, just not dangerous ones. Like sometimes fracking can cause them and if thereās a big one elsewhere like in Quebec it will come here. Only one in my life was 3.5 magnitude. No real damage