Here it is. After Ted's comment on Ottawa's World Exchange Plaza, a hidden gem, I had to go back to see the whale across the Starbucks on Queen. Poor thing.
I also noticed something rather disturbing... Notice the five doors leading to what looks like a 24ft drop? I wonder what was the thinking behind that decision!
photos : MOOT
The doors are probably meant to lead to a Plus 15 walkway that has not (or has not yet) been built. There's another on the north side of Queen between Kent and Bank.
ReplyDeleteThe downtown is filled with artifacts that are testimony to failed and abandonned city policies. For many years municipal govt required buildings to have pedestrian scaled street lights installed, remants still exist around Esplanade Laurier, but others, like the Journal Towers, later removed them. Another idea was for sheltered pedestrian sidewalks, ergo there were sidewalk arcades or overhanging stories for a number of buildings. Some of these spaces were later filled in (eg, Journal towers filled in the 16' wide arcade on its west facades) while others remained, but of the concept that pedestrians might have blocks of rain-sheltered walking opportunities ... abandonned, just as the requirement to accomodate plus 15 systems was. The plus 15 were second storey pedestrian bridges joining adjacent buildings. Remnants of these abound: The Alleyway at the Varette Bldg, the support beams on the south facade of 240 sparks, the second floor doors at World Exchange tower...
ReplyDelete-Eric Darwin
www.WestSideAction.blogspot.com
Thanks for the info :) I'm guessing a lot of money was wasted during the process. Such a shame. Although I guess if the second storey pedestrian bridge was going to look like the one at the Rideau center, it's probably a good thing they didn't build it.
ReplyDelete