50's-60's South End Apartments

[atbw]

Does anybody know the history of these long, 3-storey apartment buildings scattered through the South End?

[Keith P.]

No idea of the history, but I suspect they were the 1950s version of today's Highfield Park Special, with an off-the-shelf design plan and materials spec. There were a great many of them around, including the ones on the corner of Bayers Rd and Joe Howe that recently came down. I never lived in one, but visited a friend who did. She had the rearmost unit on her floor which ran across the back of the building and as such was fairly spacious with 2 (?) bedrooms. But IIRC the kitchen was still tiny and it only had a single small bathroom. I think most of the other units were fairly "cosy" in terms of size. I suspect that just like the HPS of today, there were contractors familiar with their construction and so they could be built fairly quickly and reasonably cheaply (though I would suspect that they were fairly substantial structurally given the times).

[Summerville]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

No idea of the history, but I suspect they were the 1950s version of today's Highfield Park Special, with an off-the-shelf design plan and materials spec. There were a great many of them around, including the ones on the corner of Bayers Rd and Joe Howe that recently came down. I never lived in one, but visited a friend who did. She had the rearmost unit on her floor which ran across the back of the building and as such was fairly spacious with 2 (?) bedrooms. But IIRC the kitchen was still tiny and it only had a single small bathroom. I think most of the other units were fairly "cosy" in terms of size. I suspect that just like the HPS of today, there were contractors familiar with their construction and so they could be built fairly quickly and reasonably cheaply (though I would suspect that they were fairly substantial structurally given the times).

I believe that they were built by Kaiser Construction, which had a building streak around that time. My dad always remarked how a building built by Kaiser meant that they were built well

[atbw]

Originally Posted by Summerville

I believe that they were built by Kaiser Construction, which had a building streak around that time. My dad always remarked how a building built by Kaiser meant that they were built well

They do seem to be fairly solid, and despite the half-century that's gone by a lot retain original details like the gold-lettered names above their front doors and some nifty peepholes.

[ILoveHalifax]

I lived in thee building just north of the one on Lucknow and it was definitely well built, interesting layout, long skinny apartment with hallway from one end to the other. entry into a living room that I used as a dining room with a china cabinet and a love seat as well, down the hall bath on right and further a small bedroom on the right - big enough to take my queen size and dresser and then what would have been the master I used as an office/living room with desk cabinets and sofa. i painted it in greys and it was quite charming . The kitchen had space for a small table and one wall with metal cupboards - there was a design show on TV one day had the same metal cabinets and the designer made a big fuss about them, then went on thru the reno and came back again to ridicule the cabinets - nice pantry off the kitchen as well. They were owned by a company by the name of Smith, same company that years earlier were into fish and had a warehouse on the waterfront - I had seen a picture of it - nice people who ran things well but were not enlarging their business - I felt I was paying fair rent, not financing the growth of the company as they expanded their portfolio.

[pblaauw]

There was another one, demolished for the Workliv project on Seymour St.

[Good Baklava]

Had a family member who lived in 5661 Victoria Rd. "Balmoral" 20 years ago. I remember it being reasonably sized for a single person in the South End, although it did show signs of age. When looking up the building I saw a review stating it had recently been renovated.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Good Baklava

Had a family member who lived in 5661 Victoria Rd. "Balmoral" 20 years ago. I remember it being reasonably sized for a single person in the South End, although it did show signs of age. When looking up the building I saw a review stating it had recently been renovated.

Looks like they added a gable roof and some new exterior decoration.



Just around the corner from here at 1055 Lucknow, I have long been fascinated by the Park Plaza. It seems to date from the same era and is of similar design but on a much larger scale. It has always looked well-kept but I never knew anyone who lived there:

[atbw]

Originally Posted by pblaauw

There was another one, demolished for the Workliv project on Seymour St.

I thought you meant Studely House, but it does look like the one on Seymour is pretty close. It does have a fairly different entrance though, and looks like the first level is somewhat below ground.




It also looks like another riff on the building used to be on the corner of Brenton St. It's like they put the entrance on the side, but still has the gold-leaf name and glass brick windows.

[IanMacDonald]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Just around the corner from here at 1055 Lucknow, I have long been fascinated by the Park Plaza. It seems to date from the same era and is of similar design but on a much larger scale. It has always looked well-kept but I never knew anyone who lived there:

A friend of mine lived there a few years ago. My recollection is that is a reasonably well-maintained place, but definitely a little dated. The unit was a little smaller than I was expecting and it had that parquet flooring that is everywhere in buildings that age.

[Kittle]

Originally Posted by atbw

I thought you meant Studely House, but it does look like the one on Seymour is pretty close. It does have a fairly different entrance though, and looks like the first level is somewhat below ground.




It also looks like another riff on the building used to be on the corner of Brenton St. It's like they put the entrance on the side, but still has the gold-leaf name and glass brick windows.

I lived in Park Victoria (shudder) for a while. I'm fairly sure that one was called The Pickwick.

[Dmajackson]

Should be noted the Seymour Street one is now gone. It's part of WerkLiv that is now under construction.

[ILoveHalifax]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Looks like they added a gable roof and some new exterior decoration.



Just around the corner from here at 1055 Lucknow, I have long been fascinated by the Park Plaza. It seems to date from the same era and is of similar design but on a much larger scale. It has always looked well-kept but I never knew anyone who lived there:

When I lived next door on Lucknow, I occasionally chatted with the property manager on my way to the Sobeys - Many of the units in Park Plaza were rented to Chinese students - great tenants

[Luisito]

I grew up in that area. There are a lot of these little buildings in that part of the south end.

Tower Road

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.6360...7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.6351...7i16384!8i8192

Wellington Street.
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.6350...7i16384!8i8192

Victoria Road
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.6361...7i16384!8i8192

Inglis street
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.6346...7i13312!8i6656
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.6353...7i16384!8i8192