[Halifax] Nova Centre | 65-58-58 m | 16-15-14 fl | Completed

[RoshanMcG]

View from the Nova Centre


Source

[fenwick16]

That is an interesting perspective. The Dennis building stands out like a sore thumb though; hopefully it will be restored/redeveloped soon.

[fenwick16]

I noticed that Ziobrop has quite a few interior pictures from Jan 20, 2017 - http://novacenter.builthalifax.ca/

It looks like they still have a lot of work to do on the interior of the convention centre. I wonder why there has been so little progress on the Exhibition Hall since July 20, 2016. I am eager to see the Convention Centre open, but is there a reason for people to be concerned with the slow progress? (hopefully it is just because of the temporary exterior cladding)

[JustinFromMontebello]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

That is an interesting perspective. The Dennis building stands out like a sore thumb though; hopefully it will be restored/redeveloped soon.

It looks better than 5161 George Street, at least from this angle. Halifax's skyline looks really dated here

[teddifax]

I am still hoping that building (5161) would be re-developed. It is not an attractive building.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by JustinFromMontebello

It looks better than 5161 George Street, at least from this angle. Halifax's skyline looks really dated here

I was gonna say. The Dennis only looks bad because we're seeing the exposed back-side of it. If we could flip the shot around it'd look fine.

The real problem is the old RBC building, and BMO to a lesser extent.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by JustinFromMontebello

It looks better than 5161 George Street, at least from this angle. Halifax's skyline looks really dated here

In most cities I would say that it's more common for downtowns or highrise districts (and therefore skylines) to grow off in a new direction where there is cheaper property to redevelop. The redevelopment of the same few blocks that has happened in Halifax is not the only or most common way that growth happens in other cities, and is probably not the healthiest way for things to go. It is better to have a mix of old and new buildings, and it's economically inefficient and not environmentally friendly to tear down old highrises.

In the local Halifax media there are often negative stories about older buildings losing tenants but these stories are really about older buildings naturally moving downmarket and they are given their negative spin by the property owners. Why should a 1960's building that has barely been updated get prime tenants? And why is that better than having cheap office space for smaller companies and startups? Volta Labs is in the Maritime Centre, but I doubt they could afford newly-build space downtown.

In the future people will probably think of "downtown" as extending out to Robie or maybe even to Quinpool a bit and along Gottingen. I used to think that was a long way off but with all of the proposals along Robie and the western end of Spring Garden Road it no longer seems to be. Likewise there used to be a clearer central business district below Barrington (before 1950) and this has slowly been growing to cover everything below the Citadel and along Spring Garden Road up to South Park.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

I was gonna say. The Dennis only looks bad because we're seeing the exposed back-side of it. If we could flip the shot around it'd look fine.

Uhhh, no. If you flipped it around you would see the staging that currently scars the Granville St side, and people on the Granville side would see the ugly tacked-on steel and fiberglass sheet emergency exit stairs, while people on George St would see the hideous side that currently faces the vacant lot. It looks like a relic of 1945 Berlin post-bombing right now.

[terrynorthend]

Originally Posted by JustinFromMontebello

It looks better than 5161 George Street, at least from this angle. Halifax's skyline looks really dated here

Anyone here got an office in, and on the east side of TD Centre? Project something fun onto that big white wall!

[TheGreenBastard]

Originally Posted by terrynorthend

Anyone here got an office in, and on the east side of TD Centre? Project something fun onto that big white wall!

Someone hire the guy who did the mural on the side of Freak Lunchbox!

[teddifax]

I think that would be an awesome idea!

[Jonovision]

Brickwork has been on going on the Argyle St facade. The dark brick works really well here.

20170220_125001 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[Jonovision]

Some work happening on the back side.
20170307_071617 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[teddifax]

Is there some sort of secret construction going on here? Why is this side taking so long to get finished?

[Ziobrop]

Originally Posted by teddifax

Is there some sort of secret construction going on here? Why is this side taking so long to get finished?

there's HVAC stuff back there. - it needed to go in first.
this is under there:

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by teddifax

Is there some sort of secret construction going on here? Why is this side taking so long to get finished?

Cut them some slack... this is only the biggest project in the province's history!

[bluenoser]

Source

It's a miracle how great Argyle St. is - and is still becoming - in spite of the abominable Marriott hotel and also the Neptune Theatre (which I don't consider much better in terms of looks or street presence).

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by bluenoser

It's a miracle how great Argyle St. is - and is still becoming - in spite of the abominable Marriott hotel and also the Neptune Theatre (which I don't consider much better in terms of looks or street presence).

Both will probably be given heritage designations as epitomizing the state of downtown Halifax development in the 1990s - stubby, sawed off, red-brick faux-Victorians which were about all you could get built here in those dark times.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Every now and then I come across a photo which reminds me of the long history of Halifax's downtown area. The photo below from the archives shows one of the early iterations of the corner of Argyle and Prince, which is now home to the yet-to-be-completed Nova Centre.

Dr. Almon's stone house was built at the corner of Argyle and Prince streets, Haifax, in about 1812.

After Dr. Almon's death in 1817, the house became the residence of his son Dr. William Bruce Almon. It eventually became a boarding house called "The Central House". The building was demolished in May 1928 and a large garage was erected on the site.

Date: 10 May 1928

Source

The photo above is at the very end of the life of this building - what was there before 1812 is currently a mystery to me, but it's fascinating to consider that for 116 years, this corner was occupied by this house built of stone - it meant many things to many people, I'm sure, as it started life as Dr. Almon's house, was a boarding house for a period of time, and finished its life as "Robertson Motors Ltd."

The "large garage" mentioned in the caption above is shown at the far end of this 1960 photo. Zooming in, it looks like it contained a service station on the bottom floor with a parkade above.



Source

At some point in its history, it looks like it was converted for use by the Halifax Herald. I can remember seeing trucks loaded with newspapers hot off the press leaving the garage doors on their way to circulate the bundles to various locations in the city.

Here it is seen on Google maps from 2009:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.6470726,-...ZP2DoCggQC2Cg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

Currently, the lot is waiting to start a new life as a bank branch or some sort of retail as part of the Nova Centre.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.6470744,-...5s20161001T000000!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

In another 100 years... who knows?

[fenwick16]

Interesting research OldDartmouthMark.

I was wandering (virtually) around in the Google link that you provided and noticed the Midtown Tavern. How is it doing at its new location?