General Updates and News

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

What are "progressive" tennis courts? Do they all lean to the left?

They are for children to learn on a proportionately sized court and also mean that kids don't take up valuable space on the standard courts.

[kph06]

New SMU building:

[Nilan8888]

What are "progressive" tennis courts? Do they all lean to the left?

No. These will be Progressive Conservative Tennis Courts.

Unfortunately, Joe Clark will be the only regular player.

[someone123]

Southwest Properties is soon going to move forward with a proposal to build a 21-storey, 274 unit apartment building at the corner of Sackville and Hollis. The existing Bank of Canada Building will be demolished and that site as well as the corner parking lot will be built on.

One the proposal is submitted to the city we can make a project thread. Hopefully renderings will come out soon.

[cormiermax]

I assume its this building being talked about?

[halifaxboyns]

Awesome! I had hoped this block would slowly start being redeveloped. More residential - not quite what I had thought I would put there. Well - I had hoped a hotel would go on this block and then an apartment building on the other side, but I'm happy either way.

[someone123]

Yes, that's the site. I find that to be a very unattractive stretch of Hollis and it is a great spot for a tower. It will tie in nicely with the Nova Centre and give Sackville Street a more complete, built-up feel. Right now the downtown stretch of Sackville has 5 empty lots, but soon that will be down to 2 (Skye and the lower portion of the Bank of Canada block, if it is not included in this development). The Discovery Centre and Roy proposals are also nearby so this could become a very busy area. 1,000-2,000 new residents in these buildings would have a big positive impact on Barrington.

The only bad part of this is that the Bank of Canada Building is being torn down. Halifax doesn't have a lot of buildings in that style. I think we will regret the demolition of 1950s-70s era buildings in a few years.

[fenwick16]

I can't say that I will miss that building. Here is the Bing Maps Birds Eye View.

Based on the allnovascotia.com story, the portion of the surface parking lot between the 1583 Hollis Street building and Sackville Street is owned by Southwest Properties but I wonder about the area adjacent to Lower Water Street? With 274 units this will be a substantial building.

[alps]

Originally Posted by someone123

The only bad part of this is that the Bank of Canada Building is being torn down. Halifax doesn't have a lot of buildings in that style. I think we will regret the demolition of 1950s-70s era buildings in a few years.

Is it? I was hoping they'd build on the parking lots before tearing that down, though I'm not sure who owns what land in that area. I agree that the Bank of Canada building is fairly handsome and definitely unique in the city.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by alps

Is it? I was hoping they'd build on the parking lots before tearing that down, though I'm not sure who owns what land in that area.

I believe that the parking that goes down Sackville and along Lower Water is multiple different lots with different owners. It sounds to me like the plan is that Southwest will build on the BoC building site, the parking deck next door, and the roughly square empty lot at the corner of Sackville and Hollis. I don't think this development will be on the lower part of the block.

I'd really like to find good street level shots of this area from the 1950s-70s period. There used to be 5 storey brick buildings on Sackville Street between Hollis and Lower Water, and there were some more 4 and 5 storey buildings on the west side of Hollis from Sackville to the Maritime Centre lot.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by someone123

Yes, that's the site. I find that to be a very unattractive stretch of Hollis and it is a great spot for a tower. It will tie in nicely with the Nova Centre and give Sackville Street a more complete, built-up feel. Right now the downtown stretch of Sackville has 5 empty lots, but soon that will be down to 2 (Skye and the lower portion of the Bank of Canada block, if it is not included in this development). The Discovery Centre and Roy proposals are also nearby so this could become a very busy area. 1,000-2,000 new residents in these buildings would have a big positive impact on Barrington.

The only bad part of this is that the Bank of Canada Building is being torn down. Halifax doesn't have a lot of buildings in that style. I think we will regret the demolition of 1950s-70s era buildings in a few years.

Agreed - this area needs more build-up. Too bad it can't be accommodated on the surface parking lots rather than tearing down buildings like this. I guess the only architecture the heritage trust cares about preserving is the type that is representative of an era that didn't consider women persons.

[Halifax Hillbilly]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Agreed - this area needs more build-up. Too bad it can't be accommodated on the surface parking lots rather than tearing down buildings like this. I guess the only architecture the heritage trust cares about preserving is the type that is representative of an era that didn't consider women persons.

You could also make the argument that the architecture of the modern movement didn't consider persons to be persons: a lot of modern architecture is a disaster from a livable, vibrant streetscape perspective. The public spaces created by the modernists are by and large failures from the same perspective.

The myopic views of the Heritage Trust, while on the extreme side, are not unique to Halifax. In addition to ignoring anything modern I also find there is too little interest in older working class areas of the city, like the North End.

What would you suggest are modern buildings worthy of preservation? I think the Dal Arts Centre is an obvious one, but beyond that there are not a look of good modern buildings in Halifax. The Law Courts aren't too bad if the lower levels and plaza could be re-worked.

[Halifax Hillbilly]

Originally Posted by someone123

Southwest Properties is soon going to move forward with a proposal to build a 21-storey, 274 unit apartment building at the corner of Sackville and Hollis. The existing Bank of Canada Building will be demolished and that site as well as the corner parking lot will be built on.

One the proposal is submitted to the city we can make a project thread. Hopefully renderings will come out soon.

This is also the section of downtown that could most use some residents. Pretty dead at night. Do they have 21 stories as-of-right under HRMbyDesign?

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Halifax Hillbilly

The public spaces created by the modernists are by and large failures from the same perspective.

This really depends. When they were first built some of the severe, open modernist spaces created an interesting contrast and had a lot of architectural appeal. The problem is that the style worked for isolated, expertly-designed projects, but did not work when sloppily applied to all new construction and combined with car-oriented planning. A city can only handle so many monumental buildings.

Originally Posted by Halifax Hillbilly

This is also the section of downtown that could most use some residents. Pretty dead at night. Do they have 21 stories as-of-right under HRMbyDesign?

Yes, they mentioned quick approval under HRM by Design at that height and that is the HbD height for the Skye site as well. It's possible there was an old development agreement for that site because I heard of the same proposal years ago. In the past development agreements didn't necessarily have expiry dates.

[someone123]

Here's a little rendering I made that shows what Hollis might look like with the Southwest proposal and Waterside Centre. Hollis is only a few blocks long but it is a fairly impressive street.

[halifaxboyns]

I guess there is some consolation if Skye doesn't go forward - they could do the original approval under HbD and get a quick approval. 66m is the post bonus height - so that's good for this block.

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I guess there is some consolation if Skye doesn't go forward - they could do the original approval under HbD and get a quick approval. 66m is the post bonus height - so that's good for this block.

How likely do you think this is?

We still aren't even sure if the company has financial means to continue.

Could they not re-engage their intentions for the Twisted Sisters?

[someone123]

United Gulf's old DA is set to expire, if it hasn't already. I think it was issued sometime in 2007 with a 5 year limit.

I think a development based on the new HbD rules is as likely as anything at this point.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Halifax Hillbilly

You could also make the argument that the architecture of the modern movement didn't consider persons to be persons: a lot of modern architecture is a disaster from a livable, vibrant streetscape perspective. The public spaces created by the modernists are by and large failures from the same perspective...

Absolutely. Doesn't mean that they aren't part of the layered meaning found in a city. If you're going to preserve one built expression of our shitty cultural consciousness, then you need a pretty good reason not to preserve another that marks an equally well-defined moment in cultural self-perception. Modernism sort of coincides with Canada positioning itself on the international stage as an ideal expression of the "New World" free of the cultural baggage that contributed to the two World Wars. So, maybe it was more of a marketing tool... I think it'd be hard to say that we REALLY carried none of the colonial posturing with us... but still, it's a romantic idea.

Originally Posted by Halifax Hillbilly

The myopic views of the Heritage Trust, while on the extreme side, are not unique to Halifax. In addition to ignoring anything modern I also find there is too little interest in older working class areas of the city, like the North End.

Agreed - love the North End as urban form

Originally Posted by Halifax Hillbilly

What would you suggest are modern buildings worthy of preservation? I think the Dal Arts Centre is an obvious one, but beyond that there are not a look of good modern buildings in Halifax. The Law Courts aren't too bad if the lower levels and plaza could be re-worked.

Interesting - the Law Courts are pretty well aligned with the part of the modernist movement where pedestrian and vehicular traffic were separated (here, with the pedestrian bridge, which I think was intended to connect to a whole network of similar bridges spanning the planned waterfront superhighway that was thwarted with the preservation of the Historic Properties), but forgot that streetscapes needed to be animated and human scaled to provide environments where people could feel comfortable living and interacting. Tower in the green = bad.

I'd want to preserve the Canada Permanent Trust Building (where Starbucks and Durty Nelly's are right now)... it'd need some restoration work first, but the original terrazzo floor is still apparent, and I think it was the first curtain wall building in Atlantic Canada.

Dalhousie Killam Library. Unfriendly, I know... but pretty cool.

There's a nursing home with attached round church behind Quinpool and the old St. Patrick's High School that I like... the original brick cladding is covered up on the main building with some panel system (likely a compromised brick cladding that leaked and was falling apart as many from that era are), but the building has nice corner windows, and the church is a nice formal expression of sacred space.... I've always wanted to peek inside.

The Nova Scotia Public Archives Building

The former CNIB building on Almon St. is gone now, but I liked that one...

[Halifax Hillbilly]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Absolutely. Doesn't mean that they aren't part of the layered meaning found in a city. If you're going to preserve one built expression of our shitty cultural consciousness, then you need a pretty good reason not to preserve another that marks an equally well-defined moment in cultural self-perception. Modernism sort of coincides with Canada positioning itself on the international stage as an ideal expression of the "New World" free of the cultural baggage that contributed to the two World Wars. So, maybe it was more of a marketing tool... I think it'd be hard to say that we REALLY carried none of the colonial posturing with us... but still, it's a romantic idea.

I'm with you, we should preserve part of the modern movement's legacy. I guess the question is do we have to preserve their failed urban design principles that continue to make our streets dull and blocks unappealing? How do we decide between preservation and updating a building for modern needs? I guess I'm only in favour of "museum-piece" preservation for the absolute best buildings. Other buildings may deserve some form of protection but they might be adapted or re-purposed along the way. Also part of the layered meaning and history within a city.

Interesting - the Law Courts are pretty well aligned with the part of the modernist movement where pedestrian and vehicular traffic were separated (here, with the pedestrian bridge, which I think was intended to connect to a whole network of similar bridges spanning the planned waterfront superhighway that was thwarted with the preservation of the Historic Properties), but forgot that streetscapes needed to be animated and human scaled to provide environments where people could feel comfortable living and interacting. Tower in the green = bad.

I'd want to preserve the Canada Permanent Trust Building (where Starbucks and Durty Nelly's are right now)... it'd need some restoration work first, but the original terrazzo floor is still apparent, and I think it was the first curtain wall building in Atlantic Canada.

Dalhousie Killam Library. Unfriendly, I know... but pretty cool.

There's a nursing home with attached round church behind Quinpool and the old St. Patrick's High School that I like... the original brick cladding is covered up on the main building with some panel system (likely a compromised brick cladding that leaked and was falling apart as many from that era are), but the building has nice corner windows, and the church is a nice formal expression of sacred space.... I've always wanted to peek inside.

The Nova Scotia Public Archives Building

The former CNIB building on Almon St. is gone now, but I liked that one...

The church on Windsor is very cool. Not at all context-sensitive but in small doses that's not really a problem. Funny, I've never thought to go inside.

All of the above suggestions for some type of preservation make some sense. A few well chosen buildings from different eras can make an enormous difference in a streetscape or district. The Archives Building should be preserved for no other reason than the cornerstone dedicated to John Buchanan. Nothing like a reminder of how much debt you can pile up during a government building spree.