The blue-and-white building on the left of the Queensway in the above photo is actually on Rochester street, but formally it's part of Preston Square at 333 Preston. I knew it as the "Xerox" building, because of the large red logo on both sides of the building. I have memories of seeing it out the window of the school bus on the way to McNabb; our bus would come down this ramp and turn up Bronson:
In the last few years, the building was "Xerox"ed, and its twin was put up, seen here. Other buildings have also been put up at Preston Square, including the one along Preston with restaurants and food stores at the ground level.
More recently, the "Xerox" title was replaced with that of Sun Life Financial. In August, the building owners sought permission for a third sign on the building on the North side, and the
Dalhousie Community Association chose not to oppose the request.
That third sign is currently being installed. It reads, "RBC Dominion Securities". Not very catchy from a distance.
In the last few years, the building was "Xerox"ed, and its twin was put up, seen here. Other buildings have also been put up at Preston Square, including the one along Preston with restaurants and food stores at the ground level.
More recently, the "Xerox" title was replaced with that of Sun Life Financial. In August, the building owners sought permission for a third sign on the building on the North side, and the Dalhousie Community Association chose not to oppose the request.
That third sign is currently being installed. It reads, "RBC Dominion Securities". Not very catchy from a distance.
In August, the building owners sought permission for a third sign on the building on the North side, and the Dalhousie Community Association chose not to oppose the request.
ReplyDeleteWhy, that was generous of them.
Why should a community association care in the first place?
Why should anyone else care that they care?
WJM, do you even live in Ottawa anymore? Your blog suggests you've been in Labrador for a while.
ReplyDeleteI take it you don't really like the fact that the City (of Ottawa, that is) regulates anything, be it building size, or sewage capacity, parking, or garbage collection. And as a corollary, I suspect this is why you don't seem to like the fact that the City consults residents on these matters, or that some residents actually exercise this opportunity.
A friend of mine who spends a lot of his time in Kabul noticed that people here pay a lot of attention to details like architecture, preserving natural forests, streetscaping, etc., and found it somewhat jarring compared to the overal apathy toward democracy and civil society in Afghanistan. Then he realized the reason we have things so good in Canada is precisely because people care enough about these things to get involved and speak out for improving their (natural and built) environment.
WJM, do you even live in Ottawa anymore? Your blog suggests you've been in Labrador for a while.
ReplyDeleteVice-versa.
I take it you don't really like the fact that the City (of Ottawa, that is) regulates anything, be it building size, or sewage capacity, parking, or garbage collection.
Au contraire; I don't like it that they over-regulate the wrong things (commercial signage, setbacks, heights, use-segragation) and don't or can't regulate nearly enough the things that should be regulated (subdivision layouts, look-and-feel-and-function of buildings at street level.)
I care very much about the built environment. I also care very much that too many of the self-appointed "community" representatives worry way too much about the wrong things, and only work to stultify and fossilize the city they supposedly care about. It's infuriating.