City Hall

I should explain that the photos used in this post were taken a few weeks ago, before winter weather disappeared (or what passed for winter weather in Southern Ontario this year, which was rather wimpy for Canadian standards) and was replaced with seriously mild weather. While it is overcast and chilly today, it’s not cold enough to do this:

I’m skating on the outdoor rink outside Mississauga city hall (which features satellite radio playing 80’s music over the P.A. system):

The rink is a fountain during the rest of the year and until a few years ago was significantly smaller. However, a few years ago city council recognized that the area outside of city hall was kind of a dead-zone and rebuilt it to be more use to the community. The result is Celebration Square:

It is significantly more user friendly. It has a big permanent stage, instead of the small one that was periodically erected for events. The road between the square and city hall has been closed, which means you don’t have to worry about getting run over by traffic when going from one side to the other. Which could be a problem if you’re busy looking at the unusual style of city hall, or Mississauga Civic Centre to use its formal name (which I wasn’t aware of until I started doing research for this blog post):

It was opened in 1987 and is, according to Wikipedia, is a fine example of post-modern architecture in Canada. But what exactly is it supposed to look like, you might ask?

It’s based on a barn. Yep. Not making this up.

The area that is now known as the city of Mississauga was once a number of small farming villages. Until about ten or fifteen years ago, it was not uncommon to see the odd farmhouse on the outskirts of town. Now it’s all been replaces with development, which is why Mississauga is often cited when talking out urban sprawl in Canada (usually as an example of what not to do, since it's mainly low density single dwelling homes). What exactly the city is going to do now that it’s out of farmland to develop is anyone’s guess, but I have a feeling that it will define the city in the post-Hazel McCallion era (our mayor since 1978 who has said she will retire once this term is up). But I’m getting way off-course. Mississauga’s city hall is designed to look like a barn. Now you know.