[OldDartmouthMark]

Just wanted to haul these comments over from the Pavillion at South Park thread, where it had gone off on a little tangent. I thought that the comments would be more appropriate for this thread:

Originally Posted by someone123

A lot of buildings were destroyed in the North End but just about everything survived downtown and in the South End. The old poor asylum burned down in 1882. Unfortunately, a lot of those big Victorian-era buildings were prone to fires.

Most of the heritage buildings were lost over decades due to the exact process we're seeing today with the Doyle Block and CBC Building. Back in the 1960's they were tearing down buildings from the mid-1800's and earlier. A lot of people argued that they were obsolete and run-down.

I agree that Halifax could have had an Old Montreal kind of area, particularly below Barrington Street and the harbour. Some of that could still be recaptured by doing things like restoring the Dennis Building and Province House grounds, etc. There are a couple of old buildings that might be worth reconstructing too, like the building that originally had the naval clock (from 1772). That would be a nice landmark for the waterfront. People really like the Morse's Teas building but it is only one of maybe 6 or 8 similar buildings (Cunard, Brown Brothers/Pentagon, and a few other unidentified ones) that were mostly demolished. Similarly there was a handful of Dennis Building type 7 storey narrow offices that were demolished. The stretch up Sackville Street, around Hollis and over to where the Maritime Centre is now was mostly 4-6 storey masonry office buildings that would be heritage buildings today.

The Great Pontack is another interesting old waterfront landmark (from 1754, played a role in the Seven Years' War, and apparently survived until at least 1925): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pontack_(Halifax)

Prince Edward also had a townhouse somewhere around the Citadel, maybe near Brunswick Street. I've never managed to find any pictures or drawings of it.

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

And to add credence to someone123's post about the relative lack of destruction in other areas, there's this photo from downtown (Five Fisherman building) shortly after the explosion:

https://novascotia.ca/archives/explo...ives.asp?ID=22

Originally Posted by someone123

You can see St. Paul's Parish Hall in that scene, 1718 Argyle Street. Another unfortunate architectural loss, although part of the facade is still there.

The Auction House next door isn't a terribly impressive building but it is from 1765. Five Fishermen is circa 1810.

Originally Posted by fenwick16

It is sad that such a beautiful building was torn down.

I like to imagine Halifax with these interesting old buildings, including ones such as the pentagon building, mixed with modern 20, 30 and 40 storey tall buildings. Halifax has achieved this to an extent but could have done better.

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

That's exactly the vision that I have, in my ideal world. A vibrant, lively downtown with a combination of functional modern and heritage buildings, creating a neighbourhood that has a recognition and respect for the historical aspects of one of the oldest and arguably most interesting cities in North America.

It could still happen, but change has to occur first from the most basic levels of the political, planning, and development communities.

Originally Posted by someone123

Yeah, this is what I would like to see too, and I think it is what a lot of people would actually like even though a lot of people don't see the big picture (many are stuck in the "development vs. heritage preservation" mindset, but it's a false trade-off; you can have both).

HRM by Design and the Barrington Street heritage district have brought planning rules a bit more in line with this vision but there's still a big gap remaining. The city needs to simultaneously provide better heritage protections and throw out pointless and harmful restrictions on development. The Centre Plan also needs to be put in place so that it is easy to grow the downtown core of the city into new areas, removing the incentive to redevelop the same old downtown areas over and over every time land values and demand for new space grow a bit.