Hotel X is the canker of the CNE: Micallef

A hotel at the CNE is not, in principle, a terrible idea, but the execution here is, writes Shawn Micallef.

TheStar.com
Sept. 11, 2016
By Shawn Micallef

There was a new, disturbing addition to the Canadian National Exhibition this year, and it wasn’t something concocted in the Food Building. Rather, it was Hotel X. Under construction for a few years now, CNE-goers saw the “urban resort” rising above the midway as it finally nears completion.

The tallest thing on the site, it’s impossible to ignore. When an ugly building goes up in the city, we can hope new ones will spring up nearby to obscure it. No chance of that here. Hotel X and its floors of random columns, like the ruins of north Toronto McMansions floating in the sky, will be the dominant canker on Toronto’s western skyline for generations.

Hotel X is why people hate highrises. It’s why they hate architects. It’s why they hate developers, planners and politicians. Buildings like Hotel X are misanthropy machines, an angry fist of radical Toronto mediocrity foisted on us.

It’s the kind of behemoth hotel and convention complex that desperate, mid-sized cities in the rust belt or other places the economy has left behind sell their souls for. Their souls being the best downtown public land, handed over to a carpetbagger peddling a megaproject that will revive their city.

A hotel at the CNE is not, in principle, a terrible idea, but the execution here is. At first glance the Ex might not be a showcase of great design and architecture, especially if you visit at the end of August when the electric spectacle distracts from what’s there year-round. Many of the buildings are quite fantastic.

Pre-war, there are some Beaux Arts beauties like the Ricoh Coliseum or the Liberty Grand. There are art deco gems like the bandshell and Horse Palace. Post-war buildings such as the Better Living Centre and Queen Elizabeth Building embody the modern optimism of the era. There are many more to discover in between the vast parking lots; take a walk through the site when it’s quiet to appreciate it all.

To be sure, these are all “decorated sheds,” to borrow a term from the 1972 book Learning from Las Vegas, an appreciation of the superficiality of these kinds of showy buildings. Even the grand Princes’ Gates are made from everyday concrete, and the Goddess of Winged Victory statue atop is a plastic replica of the original one that began to disintegrate. The CNE is an honest kind of pretension. The same is not true for Hotel X, a $240-million project.

There’s a revived movement to add names of architects to buildings for posterity, so everybody knows who was responsible. Currently Noor Architects has a temporary sign on X, proclaiming the company’s authorship, but it should be permanent, along with the names of the developers behind it and politicians who gave it the nod. All city projects should bear such names, especially politically motivated ones such as the Scarborough subway. A success, you bathe in glory forever; a dud, you own that too. Maybe such close association with one’s personal legacy might encourage sober second thought.

Despite its great architectural heritage, the Ex has been treated poorly. The historic Stanley Barracks and Battle of York archaeological site will forever be incorporated into the rough beast that is Hotel X. The Raptors’ BioSteel Centre on the west side of the site would be at home in a big-box shopping plaza. BMO Field is also a bit of an aesthetic mishmash on the site of the demolished 1961 Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (its accordion-like facade and lobby mosaic is incorporated into the west side of the stadium.)

Perhaps people forgive BMO because it brought soccer to Toronto, but that, too, seems a bit sad and desperate for this great city. Why can’t the team play in something beautiful, rather than disposable architecture? The once-noble Ex has many such wounds.

Just to the south is Ontario Place, soon to be revitalized as an urban park. Like the Ex, it was left to deteriorate for years. The Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, a boxy beer can of a complex, replaced the beloved Forum, a concert venue in the round. Ontario Place architect Eb Zeidler compared Ontario Place’s decline to “a fantastic Jaguar, and you run it into a ditch.”

This Thursday, the 10-day in/future art festival opens with 50 art projects at Ontario Place. It may be the public’s last chance to see the site before revitalization begins.

We’ve let parts of the Ex and Ontario Place run into the ditch too many times. Maybe Hotel X is the shock Toronto needs to always fight for a fantastic Jaguar.