Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonovision
Word on Twitter is that there is a plan forming for the Dennis Building. Dexel is going to retain the facade and build a 9 storey mixed use building.
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This will no doubt be an improvement over what's there now, and Dexel tends to build good quality buildings, but it's disappointing to see so much facadism relative to the number of faithful restorations happening. At this rate there won't be a lot of intact prewar buildings left downtown in a few decades. Halifax has lost a huge amount of heritage just in the last 20 years. I realize part of the excuse here is that the building interior has little heritage value left but it was allowed to deteriorate into that condition and architectural integrity is always lost somewhat even in a good facadectomy.
The article says that one requirement was for "no commercial or retail space on Granville Street". What does this leave? A parking garage entrance and a blank wall or some decorations similar to what is found along some sides of the Nova Centre? If they're doing a facade job they may not want 3 pedestrian entrances on the Granville side. Hopefully there is some kind of creative solution to this.