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Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark
I'm going totally by memory, so this could not be completely accurate, but what I recall from the situation was that there actually had been heritage designation for the building (it was built in the 1840s) but there was some kind of slip-up in the paperwork that made it invalid (don't know the details and I didn't have any info that wasn't available to the public).
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Your memory is actually pretty darn good, save for a few minor quibbles.
The matter of whether the building actually was registered was litigated in the NS Supreme Court. The upshot, and the evidence was pretty clear, is that the Violet Clarke property's address, 1872 Upper Water, was mistakenly added to the register, while the
intention had been to register 1869 Upper Water, across the street. It was a simple clerical error. The court found that (1) not only was any purported registration done in error, by virtue of the incorrect address but (2) it was not recorded appropriately at the Registry of Deeds in any event, so would have been invalid even if the correct address had been used. Whether it was registered incorrectly or never registered is a legal point we could slice and dice (I lean to the latter, FWIW), but they amount to the same thing.
The important point is that
it was never intended to be registered, despite the disingenuous way that some heritage activists characterized the court's decision. As I noted in my earlier post, the city's Landmarks Commission had specifically excluded it from a list of properties intended to be registered back in the 70s.
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The 'shot across the bow' was not my original idea, rather (IIRC) it was reported at the time that Armour was frustrated by the holdup caused by heritage advocates and thus sent the wrecking crew in without notice to bring down the building with the idea that the others could be next. Perhaps this was bravado or media click-generation, but that's how I remember it.
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I take your point, but I think it would have been a hollow threat. It's doubtful that Armour ever would have been able to get "straight" demolition permits (i.e., without some heritage accommodation, such as maintaining facades). But as you alluded, some media bravado just for effect would not have been out of character for Ben McCrea.
And, just for the record, I'm largely in agreement with your comments. I just tend to be (maybe overly) fastidious about facts, even when they're not necessarily on my side (just ask my long-suffering family...)
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