Quote:
Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian
I feel like there is a selective memory about the time when it was the Herald building on this site.
To confirm: It was absolutely terrible... and all the patios were in the shade. It was like the pit before the Nova Centre... except an eyesore and completely dead zone.
Furthermore, the western site was like the current "twisted sisters" site.
Its probably the ideal situation for both lots.
|
I don't know why you're fixating on my question regarding the shade conditions caused by the Herald building.
FWIW, I knew the building and the street very well. In fact I almost worked out of that building many years ago until I decided to change my career path and not go into the print media industry (thankfully in retrospect). My question was merely based on the fact that when I, like many other university students, used to frequent Argyle St. on a weekly basis (for bar-hopping) there wasn't the proliferation of outdoor patios on the strip and thus I didn't care about nor did I pay attention to the shade conditions on the street (don't really care about it now, for that matter, other than when musing about how the street will look/function once the Nova Centre is complete).
My comparisons to the Herald bldg. stops right there, at shade conditions. I think it's pointless to compare the Herald bldg. to the Nova Centre as it was a throwback to another time - when many of Halifax's downtown streets were occupied by businesses more industrial in nature.
In that building, the Chronicle Herald/Mail Star was produced from start to finish, right from the reporters and columnists submitting their work for editing to printed newspapers leaving in trucks to be taken to the large green boxes in bundles for the paperboys to pick up for delivery. Yes, it was always a dead zone because the building was not supposed to relate to the public, other than to represent the business as an external presence. The Grafton street side was bordering the production area of the building and was thus completely blank - I can recall walking by there at night hearing the hum of newspaper production inside and smelling the fresh ink fumes being emitted from the vents near sidewalk level. For that matter the building had been vacated several years before the Nova Centre was built, creating even more of a dead zone from the perspective of our younger members or members who did not live in Halifax for many years.
So, I don't know why people would even consider comparing the Herald bldg. to the Nova Centre as it's like comparing apples to bacon.
However, I will say it again - the NC was started from a clean slate. Anything could have been built there to relate to the street and the neighbourhood as well as possible. The sky was the limit considering the size of the budget and the backing that this building had from the government. My concern was solely centred around whether it will be the best it can be for the street, and if half of the Argyle St. side is going to be a bank branch I'm not sure that it is a great fit for what arguably is the most vibrant stretch of road for nightlife in all of Halifax. But - it's not a decision that we have to make, so we will see what happens. I'm hoping for the best.
That's all.
Prev
Linear Mode
