380 replies to this topic

[Rob Randall]

You will be glad to know that the truck has disappeared.


(m0nkeyman photo)

[Rob Randall]

I was told that the original design for View Towers called for much of the exterior to be clad in brick and that this feature was scrapped after the developer's feud with the City.

[Nparker]

I was told that the original design for View Towers called for much of the exterior to be clad in brick and that this feature was scrapped after the developer's feud with the City.

I have also heard this. What a difference this might have made. I know many think the paint jop of 10 years or so ago made a big difference, but ugly paint on an ugly building had little impact to me.

[aastra]

A slightly older article than the one Holden West posted above:

View Towers draws criticism, criminals
Carla Wilson. Times - Colonist. Victoria, B.C.: Jan 7, 1995. pg. 1
(Copyright Times Colonist (Victoria) 1995)

It was meant to provide a home for people who couldn't afford much.
Instead, View Towers has attracted criminals and endless criticism since it was built more than 20 years ago with federal help.

The 19-storey concrete highrise has been in the news of late after drug dealer Samir Bithyoon Shamoon was killed this week in a shooting in a View Towers apartment. Thursday, an 89-year-old resident jumped to his death from the 19th floor.

Police visits to View Towers are routine; they say it's the busiest site in the city next to the "kick-ass nightclubs." But making headlines is nothing new for the building at the corner of Quadra and View streets, described Friday as the "most ugly building imaginable," by former Victoria mayor Peter Pollen.

[...]

[Nparker]

What I get most from this article is that behemoth, View Towers, will most likely be standing exactly as it is, a solitary assault to the eyes, as it celebrates its (soon to be) 40th anniverasary. More than likely its 50th, 60th and so on as well. At least it is a reminder of how NOT to build both a highrise and low-income housing. It pretty much fails on all counts.

[Mike K.]

We're lucky there's only one. Edmonton's west downtown area is littered with dozens carbon copy View Towers.

[Ms. B. Havin]

Well, maybe I'm out of touch here, but what I take away from that article is a breath-taking sense of arrogance on the part of Peter Pollen.

In November 1972, the city issued the first ultimatum to clean up what Pollen then described as an "intolerable" mess on the site.

In 1972, that property was not an "intolerable mess," unless perhaps you were used to OB/Uplands criteria. I knew people who lived in that building in 1973 through 1975 -- it wasn't bad.

I'd add that anybody who enters politics because of an aesthetic crusade has to have something not quite in perspective:

View Towers was a motivating factor in Pollen's decision to enter civic politics. "It was one of the most ghastly developments I had ever seen," Pollen said.

(An aside: Tell you what, Mr. Pollen: looking around today and seeing scores of homeless people without an apartment to call home -- even one as "ghastly" as View Towers -- is in my opinion aesthetically far more offensive.)

Pollen said View Towers may provide low-cost housing, "but at what sociological cost?"

'Nuff said...

"We bent over backwards to accommodate the guy," said Pollen, who was prepared to accept a project of about eight storeys.

Bent over backwards, except for letting Mulek derive any profit from his property? Eight storeys... how very generous... <irony alert>

Don't get me wrong -- from what I've heard, I'm pretty sure this Mulek guy acted like a mule and was far from an angel.

And I'm sure glad we don't have a bunch of these buildings all over town, a la Edmonton and other siberian cities (in Canada and Siberia).

But jeepers, I can't imagine it would have been much fun getting anything done with persnickety aesthetes who get their noses out of joint so easily (Pollen). I mean, look at his letters to the editor to this date: they're almost always about how something will "ruin" the look of Victoria, with nary a thought given to economic development, etc. I don't have time for that, frankly -- there has to be something more serious than appearances to running a city and guiding it to a sustainable future.

[Rob Randall]

In 1972, that property was not an "intolerable mess," unless perhaps you were used to OB/Uplands criteria.

He could have been referring to the Quadra/Fort corner. I don't know what is was in the 70s but in the 80s it was the remnants of a slab foundation covered in broken tiles. I believe it was the remains of a garage or car dealership.

[victorian fan]

Empress Pontiac Buick was on View/Quadra or Fort/Quadra.
Maybe both. Can't remember.

[Ms. B. Havin]

^ haha, a car dealership, eh? Perhaps it was one of Pollen's "intolerable" competitors, and that's what got his goat up. (He was a car salesman, IIRC.)

[Holden West]

Apparently there was a pretty big fire in a utility room on the third floor yesterday. 10 fire trucks I was told.

[Mike K.]

Yeah, I caught a glimpse of that on my way to work yesterday. And you could smell the aftermath quite a distance from the building.

[Holden West]

Keith Vass is on the case:

http://www.bclocalne...s/41919867.html

[victorian fan]

Fire soot/ damage?



http://www.flickr.co...ium/3388641147/

[Holden West]

This month's View Towers fire brought to you by:

First Alert smoke alarms. First Alert. For What Matters Most™

and

Febreze. It's A Breath Of Fresh Air™

[Vic Skyscraper Fan]

lol

[sebberry]

Fire at View Towers:

http://cfax1070.com/...news&Itemid=155

A suite on the ninth floor of the View Towers apartment block is uninhabitable after a fire Saturday morning.

Smoke was coming out of the balcony window when crews arrived around 10:20. They contained the fire to the suite and put it out. The two occupants of the unit had gotten out safely before fire fighters arrived and did not go to hospital. One of the occupants spoke to reporters outside the building and said she was OK.

[...]

[Mike K.]

What's up with this building? There have been more fires at View Towers than I can remember.

[Baro]

People with impaired brains cooking, using electricity, so on.

[Mike K.]

Yup, sounds about right.