Ellis Don Construction posted this time-lapse video of the SkyDome under construction. “Two and a half years in two and a half minutes” they call it. Apart from the Dome going up, it’s a remarkable view of the Entertainment District in the background. Look at all that space and all those parking lots. Long before the condo boom changed the skyline here radically, it was also before Toronto rezoned the area to allow for new uses in those old buildings. When this video was shot, any lofts back there were old-fashioned, ungentrified Queen West lofts. When a “Queen West loft” wasn’t yet a marketing term. No granite counter tops or concierges. Ellis Don has also posted other videos of their projects if you follow the link.
(Hat tip to Louroz Mercader for the find)
8 comments
the music hasn’t aged nearly as well as the building. 🙂
Wow, that brings back memories! I was there behind the scenes working for McD’s, 2 months prior to opening night (to go one to work for 12 years there). I remember being given a tour by my boss and with my co-managers and being told we were going to be open in two months. They just finished putting up the roof, the field was still dirt, more than half the seats were still not installed and most of our locations didn’t even have doors let alone equipment. I worked 18 hour shifts everyday until the day we opened, that place was going 24 hours a day until the very last minute. It was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. It paid for college, I got to do and see things most people will never get to do in their lives. I met people from around the world and I got to see the Blue Jays win back to back World Series. I got to see the Chicago Bulls (with Jorden, Pippen) play the Raptors for the first time and a Grey Cup Championship (with a very young Celine Dion), countless of concerts from the Stones to Madonna. Something I will never forget.
This video clip is the end part of a 20 minute movie documentary about the construction of the building, titled SkyDome: The Inside Story. Unfortunately nobody has taken the initiative to upload the movie to YouTube, although of course there would be the risk of incurring the wrath of the copyright gods 🙁
Back up until about the year 2000, before Concord Adex started building CityPlace, there were plenty of locations nearby to get a nice view of the building. Back then I would look at the SkyDome and fantasize about all the then unbuilt railway lands between Bathurst and Spadina someday being just one big park, giving people travelling into the city along the Gardiner a long term unimpeded view of the CN Tower and Dome. I made so many pieces of art of the building when it opened, and I knew I wasn`t the only one who was excited. And while the building sits empty more now than then, it can still on occasion pull in a full house. I was there when U2 last performed and every seat was filled. Nothing made me happier than to see the building come to life like it did that night, and I will definitely be looking forward to when they come back for their second show this july. 🙂
And is there a video of the taxpayers getting raped with a lengthy series of broken promises and blatant fraudulent rip-offs? Private business made a fortune and left the public treasury holding the bag. The money wasted on this could have built many useful things in Toronto instead of corruptly lining the pockets of the wealthy and well-connected.
I could watch that roof open and close all day, minus the cheesy music of course.
It cost a fortune, is a lousy place to watch a ball game when the roof is closed, and is kind of ugly, but it is ours and the comments here reflect what it means to our city. Now lets force them to call it the Rogers Skydome.
So much raping. Even the SkyDome “raped.” Maybe there is a snuff film, better for the invective.
What a rip off of the public purse.
Ripoff, maybe, maybe not. But, that investment in the SkyDome is a large factor in the revitalization of the centre waterfront.
No CN Tower, no Dome, no ACC… we probably are still looking at mostly abandoned brown fields down there.
It’s easy to look at government spending and criticize, but in truth the public funds spent have probably more than paid for itself through what has become massive amounts of private investment into that area of the city, let alone the branding and recognition the Dome DID achieve way back when, it was and still largely is a landmark.
But, yes it is much easier to scream ripoff I suppose without looking at the benefits, whether intended or accidental.