Christopher Hume doesn’t like the new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

The Toronto Star architecture critic, who gave a talk last Wednesday at Hart House sounding off on the best and the worst of Toronto’s current “architectural renaissance,” calls the opera house a personal pet peeve.

“The Four Seasons Centre tells people the city doesn’t care much about opera. Three of the four walls are completely nondescript. The entire outside exterior fails.

“Not everyone goes to the opera, but we still need an opera house. It’s part of the culture of an urban city. In the 21st century, the buildings cities need are cultural buildings: art galleries, museums and opera houses.”

He attributes the opera house’s disappointing appearance to a lack of proper funding for Toronto’s cultural institutions.

“We have no architectural patrons, no philanthropy. We live in the wealthiest city in Canada (excluding Alberta), yet we believe we are poor.”

On the other hand, recent works from architectural firm Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB) get his seal of approval.

“I can’t say enough good things about them,” Hume said.

The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, currently being redesigned at a budget of $20 million, is the “smallest but most exquisite” project in Toronto. Hume applauds its “urban feel”.

The other is the new campus of the National Ballet School of Canada, located on Jarvis Street. Hume calls it the best of KPMB.

Hume is anxious about the competition to re-design Nathan Philips Square. As he sees it, the new City Hall is the image of the city, its most beloved and important statement of Toronto’s “arrival on the scene.”

“Architecture is about cities, about city-building. We live in an age of city versus city. It’s funny: cities, not countries, are the most important in the 21st century, but cities continue to remain junior players in government.”

“As a critic and Torontonian, I’m thrilled [about the current architectural renaissance] but I’m not very happy with the efforts that have been made.”

Hume reasons that the rash of “second and third-rate architecture” is due to all the condos that have been built.

Though condos have helped draw more people back to city, he points out that the poverty gap continues to grow as the city flourishes.

Still, he’s hopeful about the current bout of architectural activity.

“I want it to lead to a revolution that will truly put Toronto on the map.”