Found Photos

[alps]

Really interesting photo. I've never thought about the idea of the Westmount houses being at the same grade as the HSC parking lot.

These houses couldn't have been around for very long:



I'd be really interested to know more about the timeline of all this development. Wikipedia says the shopping centre opened in 1961. The old airport closed long before that, so I'm surprised there are still houses under construction in Westmount in this photo. Did the 102 open around 1949 -- and was the connection to Bayers a big afterthought or what? I imagine there were many angry homeowners in this area afterward.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by alps

Did the 102 open around 1949 -- and was the connection to Bayers a big afterthought or what? I imagine there were many angry homeowners in this area afterward.

The name "Bicentennial Drive" would imply a 1949 date, but something tells me that is not the case. The current configuration seems to date from the early 1960s. I wish I could find out more about when exactly the elevated portion was built.

[Keith P.]

Some cursory research has revealed that the highway from Bayers Road outbound that we now know as the 102 was opened in 1958. The connection to Bayers Road seems to have been completed in its current form in the early 1960s, perhaps opened in 1961 or so. It has not changed significantly in 50 years.

[Jstaleness]

Didn't really "find" these but I did take them. An angle not always seen from Purdy's Wharf.





I have always thought that it was neat the way both buildings where build over the water.

[ILoveHalifax]

I was born in Halifax in '47. I remember they built the houses in Westmount that back onto Chebucto a few years after that.
The family moved away and back in '54. We lived in Rockingham and left again in '57.
I can remember my father talking about a highway to be built above Rockingham but I do not believe that construction had started.
BTW that is Bayer's Road SC in the picture. I remember in '54 you had to drive all along Dutch Village Rd thru Fairview to get over to Mumford Rd. My parents shopped at Simpson's
Sometime after '54 and before '57 they put thru Joe Howe Dr; it was a dirt road, as was Bayer's Rd. The only store on Bayer's Rd was Dominion Stores, probably the largest supermarket in the city at the time, opened probably '55 about the time Dartmouth SC opened shortly after the Mac Donald bridge. The Dominion store had a shopping centre added down one side of the parking lot as in the picture. There was a Zeller's store in the shopping centre but not over where the Dominion store is pictured.
The family visited in '58 or '59, the plane flew into Shearwater so HIA was not open. In '62 I suspect Bicentenniel Drive was open to the airport, 2 lanes with occasionally a passing lane.
In '66 and '67 I went to school in Moncton and can remember driving with friends to Halifax for a weekend. 2 lanes all the way about 4 hours very heavy traffic from Truro and bumper to bumper thru Elmsdale and Enfield which would ease up once we got to the airport and on Bicentenniel Dr.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

I was born in Halifax in '47. I remember they built the houses in Westmount that back onto Chebucto a few years after that.
The family moved away and back in '54. We lived in Rockingham and left again in '57.
I can remember my father talking about a highway to be built above Rockingham but I do not believe that construction had started.
BTW that is Bayer's Road SC in the picture. I remember in '54 you had to drive all along Dutch Village Rd thru Fairview to get over to Mumford Rd. My parents shopped at Simpson's
Sometime after '54 and before '57 they put thru Joe Howe Dr; it was a dirt road, as was Bayer's Rd. The only store on Bayer's Rd was Dominion Stores, probably the largest supermarket in the city at the time, opened probably '55 about the time Dartmouth SC opened shortly after the Mac Donald bridge. The Dominion store had a shopping centre added down one side of the parking lot as in the picture. There was a Zeller's store in the shopping centre but not over where the Dominion store is pictured.
The family visited in '58 or '59, the plane flew into Shearwater so HIA was not open. In '62 I suspect Bicentenniel Drive was open to the airport, 2 lanes with occasionally a passing lane.
In '66 and '67 I went to school in Moncton and can remember driving with friends to Halifax for a weekend. 2 lanes all the way about 4 hours very heavy traffic from Truro and bumper to bumper thru Elmsdale and Enfield which would ease up once we got to the airport and on Bicentenniel Dr.

Very interesting. Did you see the construction work on the MacDonald Bridge? That would have been a very exciting time in the history of the two cities Halifax/Dartmouth

[ILoveHalifax]

I was just a kid at the time. I don't remember any incident seeing the construction on the bridge. I do remember going by ferry in a car to Dartmouth ov several occassions.

I do remember that my father went in to Halifax airport from hwy 2 while it was under construction. I believe we waited in the car for his return. must have gone in someone else's truck. He sold heavy equipment. It was not on a road for cars. possibly a logger's road.

I remember the Armdale rotary before it was a rotary. Big traffic tie ups with traffic on hwy 3 and Herring Cove Road meeting and then crossing Quinpool and Dutch Village to get to Chebucto. I remember traffic lights somewhere there.

I remember the Fairview underpass where the Bedford Hwy and Dutch Village road met and you went under the railway tracks to get to Kempt Rd. I remember it flooding at least once; it was in quite a hollow.

[Keith P.]

Interesting stories, ILoveHalifax. It is rather amazing to think that there have been no significant road projects here since that time.

[Dylan Leblanc]

The aerial view of the Halifax Shopping Centre on the previous page is really neat. Here's a contemporary aerial view for comparison - http://binged.it/woVnGj

[halifaxboyns]

What I find so telling about that photo of HSC is the landscape. Notice the total lack of trees. But yet, if you walked through there now - it has a very nice tree canopy.

It also looks like they were thinking about the highway long before it was ever built. Did anyone notice the 'gap' in the houses just above the rail cut - where Mailing Street is now? There are the 5 buildings and then what looks to be a park - which is where the inbound ramp eventually went. It's funny that even way back then - they had the really wide ROW for Bayer's Road but those few houses ended up in the way to make it complete up to where HSC is.

[someone123]

Here's an interesting new aerial photo of part of the downtown area:


Source

It covers a large area so details are difficult to see, but there are many recent changes around Spring Garden Road -- the Trillium tower, the All Saints building, LSRI, and the City Centre Atlantic Addition. Unfortunately this was taken before the library crane went up, but the library and Sister Site developments would obviously have a big impact on this view.

Something else the photo shows is how much of a difference the Citadel Hotel redevelopment will make, particularly if it is paired with the development planned for the Trinity site at Brunswick and Cogswell. We might also soon see the Drum condos under construction one block up. Decent buildings and more activity around Cogswell will make it much easier to "fix" that end of the downtown if and when the interchange comes down.

As usual, we can also see the big wound that is the empty Nova Centre site.

[c@taract_soulj@h]

Great aerial photo of the mainland and very clear too!

In all honesty however, I've never seen a more bland, empty and cold shot of the city before haha

On the upper hand, it definitely makes for a great scale for future construction

[RyeJay]

The appearance of the peninsula during the winter months would be far less bland if the city would plant as many coniferous trees as it does deciduous.

On the other hand, Halifax has a more temperate look during the summer because of this lack of evergreens and abundance of broadleafed trees.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by RyeJay

The appearance of the peninsula during the winter months would be far less bland if the city would plant as many coniferous trees as it does deciduous.

On the other hand, Halifax has a more temperate look during the summer because of this lack of evergreens and abundance of broadleafed trees.

Exactly... which is more urban and preferable in my opinion.

Evergreens are nice, but they just don't belong in the city context aside from parks.

[fenwick16]

I have been in Vancouver a few times (although not recently) and I thought that Vancouver had quite a few evergreens. Maybe a mix of evergreens would be a good idea for the Halifax urban area (Nova Scotia certainly has an abundance of evergreens in the rural areas).

[someone123]

Vancouver does have lots of evergreens right in the city. They are not used as street trees (between standard sidewalks and roads) but lots of people have them on their properties. In Vancouver the climate also supports a variety of somewhat exotic plants like certain palm trees, evergreen magnolias with leaves, and holly trees. Halifax is not as mild but could probably have more of that than it does.

University Avenue in Halifax does have a row of evergreen trees that are pretty nice, and the Public Gardens has a mix of species. Point Pleasant Park has more of a mix too. The natural state for coastal forest around Halifax is for evergreens to dominate.

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian

Exactly... which is more urban and preferable in my opinion.

Evergreens are nice, but they just don't belong in the city context aside from parks.

I don't necessarily equate urban settings to tropical environments. Vancouver, as previously mentioned, has a rather spectacular array of evergreens and this contribution is a positive one, not just for their biodiversity, but because part of the reason why Vancouver's skyline is so damn sexy is the city's urban forest and its amazing variety of trees. Vancouver looks like a city completely in harmony with nature. It's refreshing.

A year-round presence of the colour green would go a long way for improving the psychology of Haligonians. Public spaces would be more enjoyable during the winter -- and actually quite striking after a windless snowfall.

You don't even need to settle for green in the world of evergreens. I recall a low-rise apartment building in Moncton with an exterior of red bricks. Clusters of Colorado Blue Spruces were planted, improving the appearance of the apartment building. Halifax could make use of evergreens to improve its own cityspace.

[fenwick16]

I like the mix of evergreens shown in this Google Street View link from Purcell's Cove Road - http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=halifax,+ns...kdW70IZy_aPXlVKlA&cbp=11,145.16,,0,-4.61.


It is interesting in the picture posted by someone123 how the natural environment of Mainland Halifax is so much greener during the winter than the almost bare peninsula (green wise).

Originally Posted by someone123

Here's an interesting new aerial photo of part of the downtown area:


Source

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by RyeJay

I don't necessarily equate urban settings to tropical environments. Vancouver, as previously mentioned, has a rather spectacular array of evergreens and this contribution is a positive one, not just for their biodiversity, but because part of the reason why Vancouver's skyline is so damn sexy is the city's urban forest and its amazing variety of trees. Vancouver looks like a city completely in harmony with nature. It's refreshing.

A year-round presence of the colour green would go a long way for improving the psychology of Haligonians. Public spaces would be more enjoyable during the winter -- and actually quite striking after a windless snowfall.

You don't even need to settle for green in the world of evergreens. I recall a low-rise apartment building in Moncton with an exterior of red bricks. Clusters of Colorado Blue Spruces were planted, improving the appearance of the apartment building. Halifax could make use of evergreens to improve its own cityspace.

I just view Halifax as a small east coast US city with a splash of european. The east coast style is generally not evergreen.

[ScovaNotian]

Clayton Park West has many small pockets where the original (coniferous) vegetation has been preserved. Those do make a nice contribution I think.