Info please! Old Calgary Herald Building at 7th AVE and 1st Street being demolished

[Muffins]

+2 Internets to you good sir for the Gargoyles reference.

[morgin]

Originally Posted by Addick

So instead of refurbishing, re-adapting, or incorporating them into a new structure we should just get rid of them because it did not work out in a few areas and most likely due to neglect?

Are you implying developers haven't done so with good examples? What about:



or:



+ the york hotel which was preserved and will be incorporated into bow#2?

The reality though is that Calgary was not an architectural hotbed for daring or interesting design at the turn of the century. Should we really try and preserve what in many cases is derivative mediocrity? The Herald building is a prime example of what was maybe at one time a slightly interesting building but the recladdign and renovations made it a generic 1960s brutalist shell. (And my understanding is the original building was so deterioriated in the 60s they couldnt preserve much anyway).

Do you want to save our 1950s style soviet bloc parking garage with apartment on top style buildings too?





I want to call the TV show hoarders and get them to chat with some of the folks in historical preservation societies. Not every building needs to be saved. Sometimes people slapped up ####ty buildings and just because its a century old ####ty building, doesnt make it any less ####ty.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by morgin

......[bunch of examples]

Not to mention the King Edward facade being used in the new national music centre.

[topfiverecords]

Yep cause this

Originally Posted by morgin

Do you want to save our 1950s style soviet bloc parking garage with apartment on top style buildings too?

is this

[morgin]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Not to mention the King Edward facade being used in the new national music centre.

Which I'm still on the fence about. I appreciate it's an extremely historical building, but it also looks like this right now. Stunning:



Easier to justify reworking/trying to preserve when it's worked into the theme of the building replacing it, and there is enough vacant land in the east village that it doesn't disrupt natural growth of the city upwards (which is one of the big problems with heritage buildings in the core - you can keep the facade if its unique, but keeping a building on prime office tower land is an issue).

Still, I personally wouldn't be too upset if it had been taken out entirely. Ted Mosby would be so upset with me.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Yep cause this [pic] is this [pic]

He was referring to the apartment tower.

[morgin]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Yep cause this

is this

They spent 40 million to gut the building and totally remodel it. It was cheaper to keep the core of the building than to build a brand new one though. I'm not sure what your point is. They took the old medical centre and made it new. Not really an example of preservation - more of economics. If they had tore it out and put a new building up would that have been somehow worse?

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by morgin

They spent 40 million to gut the building and totally remodel it. It was cheaper to keep the core of the building than to build a brand new one though. I'm not sure what your point is. They took the old medical centre and made it new. Not really an example of preservation - more of economics. If they had tore it out and put a new building up would that have been somehow worse?

..

[Bigtime]

The renovation of the old health building into the UofC downtown campus is an awesome example of really making a genuinely ugly building pretty cool.

[KelVarnsen]

Petco Park is good example of how you can save an old building, in that case it was the Western Metal Supply Co. building that was persevered, renovated and included in the design of the ballpark.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Supply_Co..jpg

[morgin]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

..

I'm legitimately missing your point here, since earlier you were being sarcastic about wanting more 50 story brown glass boxes. I'm assuming you want to preserve historical buildings in Calgary.

I posted a sarcastic image regarding our ugly apartment block buildings to make a point about how not everything is worth saving, that had the old cruddy calgary medical building in it, which is now the U of C downtown campus. A building where the economics made sense to gut a building down to its core and totally rebuild it, keeping very few of the original design elements. What the UofC did is kind of the antithesis of preservation. They literally could have torn the building down and rebuilt what they did, and aside from some inner concrete and steel, it would have had about as much in common with what used to be there as it does now (not much).

Which is all kind of an aside to the point that no one thought that original Calgary Medical Centre building was worth keeping, and the U of C had a cash crunch and decided to reuse an ugly building for its foundations and some concrete to essentially put an entire new building around.

Edit: I mean, put it this way. If Brookfield could use any part of the herald building in the design of their new tower complex to reduce the development costs, I'm sure they would. However, since it's an old run down ugly piece of crap with no value to anyone, they won't. End of story.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by morgin

I'm legitimately missing your point here, since earlier you were being sarcastic about wanting more 50 story brown glass boxes. I'm assuming you want to preserve historical buildings in Calgary.

I posted a sarcastic image regarding our ugly apartment block buildings to make a point about how not everything is worth saving, that had the old cruddy calgary medical building in it, which is now the U of C downtown campus. A building where the economics made sense to gut a building down to its core and totally rebuild it, keeping very few of the original design elements. What the UofC did is kind of the antithesis of preservation. They literally could have torn the building down and rebuilt what they did, and aside from some inner concrete and steel, it would have had about as much in common with what used to be there as it does now (not much).

Which is all kind of an aside to the point that no one thought that original Calgary Medical Centre building was worth keeping, and the U of C had a cash crunch and decided to reuse an ugly building for its foundations and some concrete to essentially put an entire new building around.

Edit: I mean, put it this way. If Brookfield could use any part of the herald building in the design of their new tower complex to reduce the development costs, I'm sure they would. However, since it's an old run down ugly piece of crap with no value to anyone, they won't. End of story.

You're legitimately missing that there wasn't a point here. Ugh, all I did was post a picture of the current state of the building you posted and now I have to debate architectural preservation with you?

[morgin]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

You're legitimately missing that there wasn't a point here. Ugh, all I did was post a picture of the current state of the building you posted and now I have to debate architectural preservation with you?

Haha sorry. I just assumed since you kind of replied to my post that asked "should we keep this" with what I thought was an argument in favour!

[morgin]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

Xanatos had the right idea:

Reminds me of the building I despise the most in Calgary!

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

The renovation of the old health building into the UofC downtown campus is an awesome example of really making a genuinely ugly building pretty cool.

Why oh why can't the UofC do more of that on their campus??

It has got to be one of the most bland boring campuses in North America. It's sad when painting the archway red is a huge improvement over the summer.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Why oh why can't the UofC do more of that on their campus??

It has got to be one of the most bland boring campuses in North America. It's sad when painting the archway red is a huge improvement over the summer.

I know for a fact this will be happening. Soon, you're going to see a well-known old building, can't say which one right now, get a complete renewal - and I believe it includes the envelope. That's in addition to the the Psych building that's getting a complete makeover.

As for historic buildings, I've never been a huge fan of maintaining something just because it's old and feels nostalgic, but there's some exceptions. The old Science Centre downtown is now historic and still, at 45 years old, is architecturally superior to many buildings in Calgary. The McDougall Building is also pretty sweet.

I'm f'ing glad the Herald Building is coming down, and same with the parkade next to it. I love new buildings, and new development. As technologies evolve, so should our buildings. LEED Certification will soon be standard for every building from here on in, and it's extremely difficult to get older buildings LEED-accredited; easier to start from scratch.

[sevenarms]

Originally Posted by morgin

Which I'm still on the fence about. I appreciate it's an extremely historical building, but it also looks like this right now. Stunning:



Easier to justify reworking/trying to preserve when it's worked into the theme of the building replacing it, and there is enough vacant land in the east village that it doesn't disrupt natural growth of the city upwards (which is one of the big problems with heritage buildings in the core - you can keep the facade if its unique, but keeping a building on prime office tower land is an issue).

Still, I personally wouldn't be too upset if it had been taken out entirely. Ted Mosby would be so upset with me.

Slap the bad a** sword sign on the new center and ditch the rest. Do we really need to keep the facade of that hole?

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by sevenarms

Slap the bad a** sword sign on the new center and ditch the rest. Do we really need to keep the facade of that hole?

Do you know how good it's going to look restored?

Just because bricks have been painted and windows have been boarded up doesn't mean that the building can't be restored properly.

There's no chance that the King Eddy is in as bad a shape as the Lorraine Block was, and that building is beautiful today. Trust me, I

Lorraine Block

Lorraine Block video.

[timun]

Originally Posted by Muta

I know for a fact this will be happening. Soon, you're going to see a well-known old building, can't say which one right now, get a complete renewal - and I believe it includes the envelope. That's in addition to the the Psych building that's getting a complete makeover.

I don't suppose you're trying to hint at the engineering complex, are you? No need to be secretive, the plans are public.

I'm f'ing glad the Herald Building is coming down, and same with the parkade next to it. I love new buildings, and new development. As technologies evolve, so should our buildings. LEED Certification will soon be standard for every building from here on in, and it's extremely difficult to get older buildings LEED-accredited; easier to start from scratch.

LOL, don't get me started on LEED. The first 'E' is for 'energy', and believe me most LEED projects aren't any more energy efficient than their non-certified contemporaries...

[timun]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Yep cause this

is this

Ironic, given the thread's original subject matter. The same thing happened to the Herald Block. Looks cool now but give it 30 years. No one will care when this one is torn down.