[Halifax] The Roy (1650 Granville) | 71 M | 22 FL | Completed

[Jonovision]

From today

20160525_154615_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[portapetey]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

From today

20160525_154615_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

Looks like Fliburger's gonna need a nice steel awning just like Chives, with that plaster buckling and ready to fall off.

[JET]

Originally Posted by portapetey

Looks like Fliburger's gonna need a nice steel awning just like Chives, with that plaster buckling and ready to fall off.

It kinda looks like it's held on with drywall screws.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by JET

It kinda looks like it's held on with drywall screws.

I've been thinking this building would be a great candidate for restoration, but this being Halifax it'll probably just deteriorate until it's replaced with a prefab cube.

[ILoveHalifax]

Come on Keith bring on the wrecking ball - that is nothing great to be bothered saving. If some people on here had their way the whole city would be nothing but slums.

[KnoxfordGuy]

[QUOTE=Duff;7442402]From today



Great sweet wall!

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

Come on Keith bring on the wrecking ball - that is nothing great to be bothered saving. If some people on here had their way the whole city would be nothing but slums.

"The historic Flipburger building must be saved to preserve the heritage of the $2.99 "Glad-U-Ate" pizza and $1 draft beer at its predecessor, The Graduate beverage room of the 1980s!"

[terrynorthend]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

"The historic Flipburger building must be saved to preserve the heritage of the $2.99 "Glad-U-Ate" pizza and $1 draft beer at its predecessor, The Graduate beverage room of the 1980s!"

Oh, this brings fond memories of the draft wars! The beer was terrible, and yes they were the 8oz "kiddy" cups, but I remember counting out my quarters, dimes and nickles on a Friday night in college knowing I could get beer for under 50 cents at Alexander's (the scowls from the waiters were free!)

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by terrynorthend

Oh, this brings fond memories of the draft wars! The beer was terrible, and yes they were the 8oz "kiddy" cups, but I remember counting out my quarters, dimes and nickles on a Friday night in college knowing I could get beer for under 50 cents at Alexander's (the scowls from the waiters were free!)

Thanks for the memories! I remember the big guy with the beard yelling at everybody to "DRINK UP!" at the end of the night!

Good times!

[counterfactual]

I actually did like the Greek restaurant Opa that was in there previously; I believe they added the outer drywall which was lighter colored and aimed to mimic houses in Greece/Mediterranean.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

I actually did like the Greek restaurant Opa that was in there previously; I believe they added the outer drywall which was lighter colored and aimed to mimic houses in Greece/Mediterranean.

That was the best iteration of that building in my memory. I really liked the ambiance of the restaurant at the time.

That said, I don't remember much of its history beyond that. I was in the bar Keith wrote of a couple of times, but didn't really like it much then.

There are a couple of buildings in that area, including the old Paperchase building, that have a lot of potential for 'those of us who don't like change' (lol), if somebody had the vision to invest in them. I can imagine that as a nice restaurant looking out on Argyle from the second floor. The large opening windows would make it a great spot in which to have a drink and an appetizer on a warm, sunny afternoon.

[Drybrain]

These kinds of unremarkable background buildings give character and texture to an area, and they provide affordable locations for small upstart businesses. Especially in an area like the Argyle/Grafton/Market area, they keep the vibe of small, unique, interesting businesses. It's important to retain that. Most major cities are chock-full of these kinds of buildings.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

There are a couple of buildings in that area, including the old Paperchase building, that have a lot of potential for 'those of us who don't like change' (lol), if somebody had the vision to invest in them. I can imagine that as a nice restaurant looking out on Argyle from the second floor. The large opening windows would make it a great spot in which to have a drink and an appetizer on a warm, sunny afternoon.

An unspeakable desecration of a heritage structure! Surely they did not have windows that large back when it was built. And look at those 21st century bricks! Travesty.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

An unspeakable desecration of a heritage structure! Surely they did not have windows that large back when it was built. And look at those 21st century bricks! Travesty.

Keith, you need to dial back on your heritage advocacy a little bit, you are becoming somewhat of a zealot!

While I can understand your point, sometimes modifications done to original structures to make them more fitting and functional in the environment that has evolved within the neighbourhood over the decades is a good thing.

However, I commend your sticking to your principles...

[Hali87]

Incidentally, just saw this on Facebook.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Hali87

Incidentally, just saw this on Facebook.

Hey, how cool is that?!

I had a feeling it was too good a spot to let go to waste.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

These kinds of unremarkable background buildings give character and texture to an area, and they provide affordable locations for small upstart businesses. Especially in an area like the Argyle/Grafton/Market area, they keep the vibe of small, unique, interesting businesses. It's important to retain that. Most major cities are chock-full of these kinds of buildings.

Yep. I think they are pretty critical for diversity and economic success. One important area where HRM by Design failed somewhat is that there isn't anything to slow down or stop the consolidation of lots into buildings with larger and larger footprints. Small footprints are good for cities but developers tend to either build out the lot they have or merge together lots. I think this is one subtle reason why we perceive new developments and newer blocks/streets as not being as good; they have less variety in a given land area and are therefore less vibrant.

In NYC some areas have rules around maximum street frontage width. It might be worth thinking about that in Halifax. Density bonuses for buildings with smaller footprints? Requirements for smaller commercial spaces?

The prevalence of these smaller buildings in Halifax is an interesting topic. I think of Halifax as simultaneously an "older" and "newer" city compared to most others in North America or in the Northeast. It has far more pre-Confederation buildings than average but it also has more modern development than average. Since the 1930's it has actually been one of the faster-growing cities in Canada. Consequently it has inherited some great gems from before 1870 but fewer of the run-of-the-mill buildings from 1870-1930 that are common in places like Ontario. There isn't a big "streetcar belt" with lots of lowrise, pedestrian-oriented heritage commercial buildings (Quinpool is one example). A lot of towns comparable to Halifax in the US don't have the same kind of development pressure because their inner cities have barely expanded since 1930.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by someone123

Yep. I think they are pretty critical for diversity and economic success. One important area where HRM by Design failed somewhat is that there isn't anything to slow down or stop the consolidation of lots into buildings with larger and larger footprints.

I'm hoping the centre plan will address that kind of consolidation, which is really ramping up, it seems.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

I'm hoping the centre plan will address that kind of consolidation, which is really ramping up, it seems.

Why is that thought to be a bad thing?

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Why is that thought to be a bad thing?

A city needs a wide variety of building scales and frontages, and narrower ones (in a healthy mix of old and new buildings) create opportunities for a wide variety of businesses and other uses. Newer buildings tend to have large frontages (not in every case--ugly as the Trillium is, it works well at sidewalk level).

Even when new buildings are well-scaled, it's still important to keep a variety of older buildings around. As much as the Spring Garden West development will likely be an architectural improvement (except for the loss of the Coburg Apartments, which seems like a lost opportunity for re-use) it will probably have a far more upscale mix of businesses, and perhaps a higher concentration of chains, than what's there now, due tiny the higher overhead of the new building). That's not necessarily bad, and we need somebody that. But if we have too much of that develipment all at once, we run the risk of tipping the balance too far to new buildings. I think it'd be pretty plainly a bad thing to see the small-scaled frontages of Halifax become overwhelmingly consolidated into large frontages. We need a diversity of building types and ages to ensure a healthy mix of businesses.