(01-21-2016, 09:23 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Does anyone know how Bell Canada is utilizing its massive building at Duke and Water Streets? It's a huge monolith, built in 1940 and not really my idea of a heritage building but maybe it has future potential. The site certainly is large and at a premium location, next to the LRT and close to the intermodal hub.
Is Bell still utilizing a large part of the building?
You find these telecom buildings in a number of key areas around Toronto actually all over the city. Most are older than 50+ years and were once where operators worked at the telephone exchange centre. They fit in 50 years ago on the streetscape and do so today and will into the future in Kitchener and in other cities as well.
When new development happens, as it is, in Toronto at "Young and Eligible", newer larger buildings abut, cheek to jowl and Bell builds up . I worked in a building (one block east of Yonge and Eglinton) that was connected to A bell building beside telecom hub and the newer bigger buildings just go up beside them and Bell sells the air rights to their buildings to developers next door. The buildings tend never to be higher than 10 stories but I won't wager a bet on my stereo type height limitation guess.
Infill and new buildings help fill every foot of land right up to these important buildings rather than even attempt to relocate them. You can see in the photograph that Bell has gone up and out with at least three or four additions to the small central office that was there (the facade sticking out in the center of the photo shows new add-ons on each side, as well as the top floor add on which is the latest.
If I remember well enough tonight, on a Saturday downtown, the smaller central building was where my mother made me run up the stairs and drop off the cheque for our Bell telephone ... the only phone company in town or Ontario and most of Canada. Then we would go down King Street to Gaukel St. and into the Kitchener Uitilities building where we would pay the electricity bill.