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The Vogue (Government and Johnson streets) | Completed reno


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#1 G-Man

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Posted 21 September 2006 - 07:19 PM

Now I was one of the biggest champions of the Vogue Building but I have been watching the work being done across the street at the Monaco lofts and I have to say that building, unless they royally screw it up in the race to the finish, kicks the Vogue's sorry ass and quite frankly kind of makes it look cheap.

Has anyone else noticed this?

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#2 aastra

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Posted 21 September 2006 - 07:20 PM

The Vogue needs more colour and more detail. It's too long and boring. It doesn't look like a heritage building, it looks like a warehouse.

#3 Mike K.

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Posted 21 September 2006 - 07:27 PM

^Can't say I disagree. Vogue isn't a showpiece by any means. In fact it was restored because the heritage crowd wouldn't have it any other way but did we get a good deal out of it? I think we'd have benefited from a modern lowrise as seen all over Europe.


But hey, on another topic, next time you're in the area of Capital Iron in the evening check out the red lighting in the windows. It looks really neat and ads some vital colour to the area.

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#4 Oxford Sutherland

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Posted 21 September 2006 - 07:55 PM

Is it really fair to compare them?

The vogue wasn't really that interesting to begin with though, was it?

We need some before/after pictures in here.

#5 Galvanized

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Posted 25 September 2006 - 10:07 PM

I think they did an awesome job with the retail on the Vogue, it's the upper floors that are disapointing.
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#6 Scaper

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Posted 25 September 2006 - 10:18 PM

It could have been much better.....but....it's a hell of a lot better than what is was.

I'll take it any day over what it looked like when it was gov't offices.

#7 Rob Randall

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 05:42 PM

Some people have wondered why the Vogue/MEC building wasn't restored to the original brick and the answer was the brick was ruined by thousands of Hilti anchors that were installed in the 50s for the stucco exterior.

Here is a collaged panorama image made from screen captures from the 1966 NFB film "A Townscape Rediscovered". EDIT: it shows the Quonlee's corner store at Fisgard and Government:



Note the Chinese instructional poster illustrating the walk/don't walk signs.

#8 G-Man

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 06:44 PM

Are you sure that is not Quon Ley's Market at Fisgard and Government?

#9 Nparker

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 07:11 PM

I think you are right G-Man.

#10 Rob Randall

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 07:53 PM

You're right, I'm sorry about that, I should have figured that out. I'll correct the original post and put the picture in a more appropriate thread. Here's the left hand side of that pan shot:



The telephoto lens throws off the perspective. It looks like it's directly across the street from the Century Inn/Victoria Plaza when in fact it's a block away.

#11 Nparker

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 08:06 PM

That means that the Victoria Plaza Hotel has looked that awful for over 40 years now. Where's a fire when you need one?

#12 Rob Randall

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 08:13 PM

It was really classy at one time. The Century Inn had just been remodeled in 1966. Don't forget that was stylish back then.

#13 Nparker

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 08:30 PM

It was really classy at one time. The Century Inn had just been remodeled in 1966. Don't forget that was stylish back then.


The next thing you are going to tell me is that people once thought Centennial Square was beautiful and would do nothing but draw citizens from all over the CRD to the upper part of downtown. :eek:

IMO the 1960s were a near disaster in terms of good architecture and design, at least as far as Victoria was concerned. Suburbanization and "auto-centrism" seems to have been the "driving force" (no pun intended) in much of what got built in that era. The new buildings (and remodeling of older structures) from this period have not stood the test of time. More so, without much exaggeration, I think the mind-set behind these designs was a major factor in the decline of the downtown core of Victoria that we are only just now starting to rectify.

 



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