For all of its Grade 'A' pedigree, L'Esplanade Laurier (Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden) has been laid low by years of neglect. Olympia and York's second development (1972-1975) in Ottawa after Place Bell Canada (1969-71), it was everything a megablock should be - twin towers on a supersized podium, two floors of retail in an internal mall, on top of hundreds of underground parking spaces.
Admittedly, Gloucester Street is the complex's service side. And as a year-round sun trap it's undoubtedly the brightest and whitest block in the central area. Is it a candidate for the bleakest? It's certainly become a dumping ground for ugly objects.
Shortly after 9-11 a portable generator with Jersey barriers was dumped in the street outside l'Esplanade - supposedly as a security measure to keep power flowing to the Department of Finance inside in the event of a terrorist attack. It was recently upgraded with a pad-mounted unit on the sidewalk, guarded by (get this) a six foot chain link fence.
It sort of matches the recycled parking meter bike rings. I guess that it's intended to keep evil-doers out - but there are openings on all sides.
Maybe the gates are coming later. In the meantime there's just a warning cone.
Of course, it could be dressed up with white vinyl strips like the enclosure in front of the parking garage's exhaust vent.
Long ago the podium above the loading bay and entrance ramp doors was stripped of its white marble cladding after the panels started falling onto the sidewalk. The metal channels for fasteners and the underlying concrete blocks were painted white.
L'Esplanade Laurier was once ringed with trees. Despite their tiny tree pits and minimal watering area they actually grew for a while. Unfortunately, as bastard trees their survival fell into a bureaucratic limbo. Although located on the city right-of-way, they were planted and owned by the developer in the days before legal site plan controls and maintenance and liability agreements.
The openings in the sidewalk were so small, that once the original trees were dead it was nearly impossible to find replacement trees with a root ball sufficiently small to plant back into these holes. In the 1990s the Tree Community of the community association managed to insert a few ginkgo's.
L'Esplanade Laurier was clad stem to stern in a dazzling white carrara marble. The urban legend is that this is the material that had been rejected by the city's Building Appearance Committee when proposed for Olympia and York's earlier Place Bell Canada, shown here in consulting architect Edward Durell Stone's initial flat top version.
So, did O & Y get even by using it at the next available opportunity? As owners of the Olympia Tile and Marble Company (their corporate origins) they had access to an unlimited supply. It was a fateful choice. Within ten years several pieces had fallen off, with some pedestrians narrowly escaping injury. The marble was removed from the lower floors which have been covered up with painted plywood and composite board ever since. Every couple of years they get a fresh coat of paint.
The Bank Street end received an historicizing remodel in the 1980s, with the same stone that's on the Ontario Provincial Court (fake-looking, but real I think). And, a word about these second floor malls, which were intended to be linked together by the 'Plus 15' skywalk system. If you're sharp-eyed you can still spot some of the potential portals. There is one on the north side of the World Exchange Plaza.
The makeover stopped just short of the 300 Laurier tower, where there have been some new problems.
The newer panels have been bashed up a bit.
And there have been some staining issues.
An esplanade is a long, level place to walk - often beside a river or ocean front. This esplanade has a colonnade, which is usually a freestanding row of columns. In Ottawa this term has come to mean those recessed areas under towers. They were once mandated for all major downtown developments. The theory was that when the full allowance was taken for future road widenings, there would still be a place to walk.
Looking east, this could be a dramatic or interesting space, offering some shelter from the sidewalk.
But that covered convenience is barricaded at several points along Gloucester Street.
This demonstrates all of L'Esplanade's deferred maintenance problems in one shot. What to do with these white marble elephants?
One of the newest obstructions is a welcome addition and a sign of life that could animate this block - the new outdoor patio for 'Tosca' restaurant.
L'Esplanade has one of the city's most internationally significant works of art - a large bronze by Barbara Hepworth. The other major artwork, a riotously coloured triptych by Jack Shadbolt that once hung in the lobby of 140 O'Connor Street, has gone missing.
The Hepworth bronze is from the sculptor's 'Family of Man' series (1970) at the Maltings, Snape, in Sussex.
The funkiest 70s hangovers at L'Esplanade are the bunch-of-grapes light standards.
Beneath this backlit 1980s Shopping Centre/Centre d'Achats sign (no need to bother anymore, the stores have mostly gone) is another archaeological scrap.
There's a glimpse of the original signage, big silver letters mounted on precast, which was lit with a wash of light from above.
For all of its Grade 'A' pedigree, L'Esplanade Laurier (Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden) has been laid low by years of neglect. Olympia and York's second development (1972-1975) in Ottawa after Place Bell Canada (1969-71), it was everything a megablock should be - twin towers on a supersized podium, two floors of retail in an internal mall, on top of hundreds of underground parking spaces.
Admittedly, Gloucester Street is the complex's service side. And as a year-round sun trap it's undoubtedly the brightest and whitest block in the central area. Is it a candidate for the bleakest? It's certainly become a dumping ground for ugly objects.
Shortly after 9-11 a portable generator with Jersey barriers was dumped in the street outside l'Esplanade - supposedly as a security measure to keep power flowing to the Department of Finance inside in the event of a terrorist attack. It was recently upgraded with a pad-mounted unit on the sidewalk, guarded by (get this) a six foot chain link fence.
It sort of matches the recycled parking meter bike rings. I guess that it's intended to keep evil-doers out - but there are openings on all sides.
Maybe the gates are coming later. In the meantime there's just a warning cone.
Of course, it could be dressed up with white vinyl strips like the enclosure in front of the parking garage's exhaust vent.
Long ago the podium above the loading bay and entrance ramp doors was stripped of its white marble cladding after the panels started falling onto the sidewalk. The metal channels for fasteners and the underlying concrete blocks were painted white.
L'Esplanade Laurier was once ringed with trees. Despite their tiny tree pits and minimal watering area they actually grew for a while. Unfortunately, as bastard trees their survival fell into a bureaucratic limbo. Although located on the city right-of-way, they were planted and owned by the developer in the days before legal site plan controls and maintenance and liability agreements.
The openings in the sidewalk were so small, that once the original trees were dead it was nearly impossible to find replacement trees with a root ball sufficiently small to plant back into these holes. In the 1990s the Tree Community of the community association managed to insert a few ginkgo's.
L'Esplanade Laurier was clad stem to stern in a dazzling white carrara marble. The urban legend is that this is the material that had been rejected by the city's Building Appearance Committee when proposed for Olympia and York's earlier Place Bell Canada, shown here in consulting architect Edward Durell Stone's initial flat top version.
So, did O & Y get even by using it at the next available opportunity? As owners of the Olympia Tile and Marble Company (their corporate origins) they had access to an unlimited supply. It was a fateful choice. Within ten years several pieces had fallen off, with some pedestrians narrowly escaping injury. The marble was removed from the lower floors which have been covered up with painted plywood and composite board ever since. Every couple of years they get a fresh coat of paint.
The Bank Street end received an historicizing remodel in the 1980s, with the same stone that's on the Ontario Provincial Court (fake-looking, but real I think). And, a word about these second floor malls, which were intended to be linked together by the 'Plus 15' skywalk system. If you're sharp-eyed you can still spot some of the potential portals. There is one on the north side of the World Exchange Plaza.
The makeover stopped just short of the 300 Laurier tower, where there have been some new problems.
The newer panels have been bashed up a bit.
And there have been some staining issues.
An esplanade is a long, level place to walk - often beside a river or ocean front. This esplanade has a colonnade, which is usually a freestanding row of columns. In Ottawa this term has come to mean those recessed areas under towers. They were once mandated for all major downtown developments. The theory was that when the full allowance was taken for future road widenings, there would still be a place to walk.
Looking east, this could be a dramatic or interesting space, offering some shelter from the sidewalk.
But that covered convenience is barricaded at several points along Gloucester Street.
This demonstrates all of L'Esplanade's deferred maintenance problems in one shot. What to do with these white marble elephants?
One of the newest obstructions is a welcome addition and a sign of life that could animate this block - the new outdoor patio for 'Tosca' restaurant.
L'Esplanade has one of the city's most internationally significant works of art - a large bronze by Barbara Hepworth. The other major artwork, a riotously coloured triptych by Jack Shadbolt that once hung in the lobby of 140 O'Connor Street, has gone missing.
The Hepworth bronze is from the sculptor's 'Family of Man' series (1970) at the Maltings, Snape, in Sussex.
The funkiest 70s hangovers at L'Esplanade are the bunch-of-grapes light standards.
Beneath this backlit 1980s Shopping Centre/Centre d'Achats sign (no need to bother anymore, the stores have mostly gone) is another archaeological scrap.
There's a glimpse of the original signage, big silver letters mounted on precast, which was lit with a wash of light from above.
The World Exchange Plaza was supposed to have bridge connecting to another sister development across Queen street that would have connected it to Sparks Street.
ReplyDeleteHow much healthier would the retail be if the owners made some attempt to face the street, instead of the "mall"?
ReplyDeleteI find the light standards on Laurier look terrific at night.
ReplyDelete