Claridge, condos, design, hintonburg, intensificatioin, west wellington

Look up, way way up Jerome

I am always dating myself by referring to things by their old name, or to things that no longer exist and so no one (except other older people) knows what I am referring to.

Are you old enough to remember the Friendly Giant on CBC TV?

I could hear the phrase “Look up, look way way up” when I saw this condo building on West Wellington near Island Park.

I do wonder just how well that concrete overhang will shelter the entrance a number of floor below. Or if it will simply feel like it is about to come crashing down.

And do we really want to be reminded of who the builder is every time we look up? Well, at least it isn’t the normal door number.

When this building was first proposed, I noted that it reminded me very much of the not-very-loved exteriors of the LeBreton Flats condos by Claridge. These ones were designed by Barry Hobin, but have many of the same vocabulary elements: variation in window placement, variation in exterior textures and finishes, etc. But no yellow brick, instead there is black brick. The proposed Claridge condos opposite Loblaws at Kirkwood look even more like the Flats.

 

10 thoughts on “Look up, way way up Jerome”

  1. This looks very precarious to say the least, and who would possibly be looking that high for an address check,…especially at night !!

  2. I think the idea is that the address and logo would appear below on the sidewalk below. If that’s the case, it’s not in the right location because the main doors to the building are on Carleton. It’s a very odd development. It’s called the Wellington at Island Park, but is actually at Carleton. If a condo ever goes in at Island Park, it will only get worse. And Theberge has not exactly done a great job project managing. People have moved in, but the parking garage is not yet finished, the brick and outside finishing pieces are still not complete either.

    1. If the idea is that the logo and address will project onto the ground below, they really goofed, because the address will be upside down and backwards (at least to anyone approaching from the east)

      1. It’s unlikely to project anyway – the width of the characters is too small in relation to the thickness of the slab for the sun to be able to project unless the sun is nearly overhead, which is not possible in Ottawa. It might project for a few hours around midday for a few days around midsummer’s day, but that would be it.

        Not only that, it may well be too high (too far from the surface onto which it would project) for the characters to appear on the ground as discernible shapes.

  4. I am just glad to see a few splashes of colour on this one, to break up the prevailing monotony of West Wellington condo beige. Why is red brick so out of fashion? I assume it must cost more.
    Yes, what the heck is that concrete overhang?! I had not noticed it before! Another reason to use the south side sidewalk. Of course, we don’t currently have a choice, as the north side, in front of that building, has had no sidewalk for many many months now.
    I’m 41 and I fondly remember Jerome, Rusty and Friendly!

    1. Yes, the length of time that the sidewalk has been closed continuously has been most vexing (MONTHS!) , I hope they’re paying rent, and a wish that rent was going to fund pedestrian improvements in the area, but I doubt that’s the case…

  5. That overhang looks to be one of those things that will fall down first in a “Life after people”, probably because a good tornado or ice-and-wind storm would take it down long before anything else. Of course, in a life with people, that thing might well become a flying hazard under similar conditions.

    As to these plastacky window panels that seem to adorn Barry Hobbin condos (Westboro Station has them too), I figure in a few years or a decade or so they’ll have started to fade and will begin making the building look dated long before its time.

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