Sunday 10 March 2013

Ugly Architecture of Toronto - Liberty Street


What happens to a neighborhood when it is planned by developers rather than urban planners?

You end up with Liberty Street in Liberty Village. This article is more about ugly urban planning rather than ugly architecture as it is hard to distinguish one building from another the way they are so jammed together.

The first time I drove east along Liberty St a few months ago and saw this bend in the road, I knew I would be writing about it. This part of the street reminds me of a river flowing on in the open then disappearing into a canyon. The only difference is canyons are beautiful and this here is just a mess!


The unbelievable thing when you look at the picture above is that developers want to tear down the 100 year old building on the right and throw up another condo high rise. Locals are fighting this one but likely will lose!

This part of Liberty St will always be in the dark. I took this picture today at 2pm on a bright sunny afternoon!


Liberty Street offers the only way for residents to leave east or west from the village. There are only 3 ways to drive out to the north and no southern exits from the village. Yet as overdeveloped as it already is, builders keep on building, and still want to build more!


Other cities take note. This is what will happen should you let the developers do the planning.

It's time for Toronto to give its planning back to the urban planners. If the urban planners are giving neighborhoods like this their blessing, then fire them and hire someone with a love for the city of Toronto.

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