Quote:
Originally Posted by q12
I think most of us on this forum will be glad to know that it will be finished and as one of the most prominent buildings on Halifax's skyline it won't be an eye-sore for years to come.
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I don't think the old concrete Fenwick was the most beautiful building and I am happy that 60's/70's-style exposed concrete has gone out of style.
However, Fenwick gets maligned a lot by South End NIMBYs who hate it because it is tall and would hate any tall building and tolerate ugly short buildings. They try to argue that tall buildings should not exist at all in residential areas and a simple argument that tall = ugly = Fenwick is a way to achieve that.
I think it's impressive that somebody built a 30+ storey building in circa 1970 Halifax and I don't believe it destroyed the South End or in fact had any significant negative impact on the area. Whatever subjective negative aesthetic impact it had was hugely outweighed by the affordable, convenient housing option it provided to generations of students and renters.
When it comes to local media like the Herald we hear the homeowner perspective a lot more than we hear the student/renter perspective. There are a lot more students and renters in the South End than there are well to do retirees in Victorian houses who worry that they can sometimes see buildings off in the distance or that their central urban neighbourhood doesn't feature tomb-like silence at night. We also hear from affordable housing advocates but people rarely make the connection that the ambitious housing developments of today are the affordable housing of tomorrow.