Old Halifax

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

I also used to work there (in the Ralston Building) but my pre-MetroPark memory is vague. But I do recall that at 1566 Hollis was the former DoubleDeuce, later Stonewall tavern. I found these photos of the DoubleDeuce but I have a recollection the building was painted blue when it housed the Stonewall. I believe it was Stonewall for just 2-3 years before it closed in the late 90s.

Looks like the building that housed the Hollis Tavern and a drycleaner in the pics below:







Looks like it was a honey of a building...


http://gencat1.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/request/Action?ClientSession=127acd5b:1626b0f204d:-7e9c&UniqueID=6000_20185_20185_6&TemplateProcessID=6000_20185_20185&PromptID=&ParamID=&TemplateProcessID=6000_1051_1051&PromptID=&ParamID=&CMD_(DetailRequest)[0]=&ProcessID=6000_20062(0)&KeyValues=KEY_5015582

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

Oh wow, that's awesome!

Also, I found this one:



The building on the right appears to be the TexPark garage, so I guess this isn't technically before it was built. I think the blank wall on the left is what is now MEC. What's depressing is that the really nice arched facade in the background somehow became the metal-clad butt-end of the Green Lantern building (and is now demolished).

Looks like this would be the next block up on the corner of Blowers and Granville (now an empty lot), I think.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Approximate location of photographer based on perspective is where the blue lines meet.

So you are suggesting that the photographer was standing in the backyard of those houses? Possible I suppose.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

Interesting to see that Thrush Hermit and Jale are scheduled to appear there.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

So you are suggesting that the photographer was standing in the backyard of those houses? Possible I suppose.

I think so, actually.

A lot of the Municipal Archives pics look like they were taken by building inspectors investigating unsightly or unsafe properties, and many of them appear to be from the vantage point of actually being on private property, like in driveways and back yards, etc. Seems a little intrusive by today's standards, but I think back then things were a little looser and they would take whatever shots they could get away with (without getting assaulted by the property owner or bitten by their dog, which was probably roaming freely back then...).

Also from the perspective of expropriation, this would have been part of the advance research of the properties, I think.

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Looks like the building that housed the Hollis Tavern and a drycleaner in the pics below:

Thanks for the images: they're fascinating. Not often we get a glimpse of an historic lavatory

According to Halifax History's Wine and Dine page, the Hollis Tavern was at 114 Hollis, later 1560 Hollis, so a couple doors down from the Double Deuce. Here's a piece from the Herald about the closure of the Deuce in 1994: Doors locked at Double Deuce

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

Thanks for the images: they're fascinating. Not often we get a glimpse of an historic lavatory

According to Halifax History's Wine and Dine page, the Hollis Tavern was at 114 Hollis, later 1560 Hollis, so a couple doors down from the Double Deuce. Here's a piece from the Herald about the closure of the Deuce in 1994: Doors locked at Double Deuce

Some of those old candid shots can be quite interesting. Truth be known, I was hoping for a pic of the actual tavern interior, but all they had was the bathroom...

Thanks for the article re: the Double Deuce. It reminded me of the decline of Halifax's live music scene, which has partially recovered but never regained the level (IMHO) of the 1980s. Things were looking pretty bleak for fans of live music around that time...

[Keith P.]

Was the Double Deuce previously called a different name? I have a memory of going there a few times in the early '80s but I seem to think it was called something else. I remember a very unusual layout with several sections separated by low walls or different floor heights.

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Was the Double Deuce previously called a different name? I have a memory of going there a few times in the early '80s but I seem to think it was called something else. I remember a very unusual layout with several sections separated by low walls or different floor heights.

I believe that place went through at least a few identities. I think it was once Scoundrels (which moved for a time to the TD building) and before that it was known as Sams.

[Keith P.]

Thank you, I believe it is the Sam's incarnation that I am thinking of.

[OldDartmouthMark]

In a little bit of deja vu, JET posted the following in this thread in 2012:

That is the Gingers Tavern that was on the west side of Hollis between Morris and South. I don't know of any other Gingers at that time. Gingers eventually 'moved' to the Henry House, Granite Brewery.
There was a Sam's bar that was further North on the same side of Hollis in the early 80's and sounds like your description, but I don't recall it being as far north on Hollis as the metropark.
http://www.openfile.ca/halifax/blog/...ax-bar-history
"What is now a parking lot on Hollis between Sackville and Blowers
Sam’s Tavern
Silver Bullet
Double Deuce (1990-1994)
Stonewall Tavern"

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=157

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

In a little bit of deja vu, JET posted the following in this thread in 2012:



http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=157

Hopefully this time I will commit the Sams name to memory.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Hopefully this time I will commit the Sams name to memory.

Ha ha... after all this discussion I was trying to remember whether I had actually been in the place during my university partying days of yore... It was a long time ago and things start to all blend together after awhile...

[OldDartmouthMark]

Further to the discussion of the Tex Park, there is a list of properties to be expropriated on the city council minutes of July 28, 1960 (page 857):



http://legacycontent.halifax.ca/arch...p0835-0868.pdf

For those who aren't aware, there is an archive of old city council minutes at the following link:
http://legacycontent.halifax.ca/arch...ndex.php#M1937

Discussion of Tex Park actually started on May 26, 1960, in a proposal to council by the Downtown Business and Professional Men's Association (apparently professional women didn't have a voice back then...), whereby it was felt that a lack of public parking downtown was having a negative effect on businesses.

The discussion starts on page 633 at the link below:
http://legacycontent.halifax.ca/arch...p0627-0654.pdf

In the discussion they are also talking about a Grafton Street parking garage, which I imagine is the drawing below from 1957 showing a parking complex at the location currently occupied by the Prince George Hotel:


Looks like it never evolved past anything greater than just a surface parking lot, though, as this photo from around 1970 indicates:


There was also mention of digging down at the Grand Parade and building an underground parking complex there - not sure if it would have been a good thing or not...

Also of interest is the discussion just before the parking garage of a Northwest Arm bridge(!).

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Looks like the building that housed the Hollis Tavern and a drycleaner in the pics below:



http://gencat1.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/request/Action?ClientSession=127acd5b:1626b0f204d:-7e9c&UniqueID=6000_20185_20185_6&TemplateProcessID=6000_20185_20185&PromptID=&ParamID=&TemplateProcessID=6000_1051_1051&PromptID=&ParamID=&CMD_(DetailRequest)[0]=&ProcessID=6000_20062(0)&KeyValues=KEY_5015582

There's been something about the above pic that I wasn't able to resolve...

When compared to the pics posted by ns_kid:




I noticed that the street-level, pillared area appeared to be the same, but the older photo showed a 4-storey building whereas the Double Deuce building appeared to be a 2-storey structure. At the time, I thought it strange, but figured that for some reason the upper 2 storeys were removed at some point.

Then I found the photo below, listed without a civic number, dated 1962, showing what appears to be the same building as the Double Deuce at the right side of the photo (looks to be what is the empty lot with cars parked in the later photo):


Looking closer, I noticed that the brickwork looks different above the pillared section than the 4-storey structure...

So now I'm wondering if they are the same building or not... could the top 3 floors have been removed and a second storey rebuilt above the original pillared area? Seems unlikely, though it does look newish - like it may have been refurbished - in the 1962 photo. Also, there appears to be some kind of bolts protruding from the brick section of the 2-storey as if it had been stabilized for some reason.

Hmmmm.... any ideas?

[IanWatson]

Hmmm, very interesting observation! All the ground-floor openings in this image are identical in relative location and dimensions as the image with the Hollis Tavern:


I think that would be too much of a coincidence if they were separate buildings. It looks very much to me like they removed floor 3 and 4, and refurbed floor 2.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Also of interest is the discussion just before the parking garage of a Northwest Arm bridge(!).

That discussion spanned 3 volumes of the archived minutes. Nothing was resolved and it would take some further digging to find out how it all played out in the end and why no bridge was ever built. It is interesting that the proposal called for it to land on the peninsula in the Oakland Road/Robie St. area which caused great consternation among the area residents. It was also interesting to note that the opinion of those same residents was that the area of Spryfield on the west side of the Arm was "badlands" that would never be developed to any extent because of the rugged terrain and therefore a bridge was not necessary. Finally it was also noted that the Rotary was a big problem even then and that there were apparently plans made as part of its original construction that were never acted upon to build overhead ramps from Chebucto to Herring Cove Road to alleviate much of that traffic load. There was also discussion of a causeway from the Horseshoe Island area of Quinpool to the Herring Cove Rd that was also never acted upon.

The more things change the more they stay the same...

The minutes are quite interesting in that they are virtually verbatim transcripts.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

Hmmm, very interesting observation! All the ground-floor openings in this image are identical in relative location and dimensions as the image with the Hollis Tavern:


I think that would be too much of a coincidence if they were separate buildings. It looks very much to me like they removed floor 3 and 4, and refurbed floor 2.

I note that the older photograph shows an arched vertical brick lintel above each 2nd floor window whereas the later photo show no arching. Unless there was damage suffered in removing the 3rd and 4th floors that led to these being repaired in that way, I would suspect they took all 3 upper floors off, though why is a bit of a mystery.

Given the number of broken windows on the upper floors and how what apparently was the main entrance to those areas was essentially walled off, judging from the look of the arched entryway being boarded up, perhaps the space was abandoned and left to decay until finally action needed to be taken.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

That discussion spanned 3 volumes of the archived minutes. Nothing was resolved and it would take some further digging to find out how it all played out in the end and why no bridge was ever built. It is interesting that the proposal called for it to land on the peninsula in the Oakland Road/Robie St. area which caused great consternation among the area residents. It was also interesting to note that the opinion of those same residents was that the area of Spryfield on the west side of the Arm was "badlands" that would never be developed to any extent because of the rugged terrain and therefore a bridge was not necessary. Finally it was also noted that the Rotary was a big problem even then and that there were apparently plans made as part of its original construction that were never acted upon to build overhead ramps from Chebucto to Herring Cove Road to alleviate much of that traffic load. There was also discussion of a causeway from the Horseshoe Island area of Quinpool to the Herring Cove Rd that was also never acted upon.

The more things change the more they stay the same...

The minutes are quite interesting in that they are virtually verbatim transcripts.

Yes, in reading the minutes I was left almost with the feeling of having attended the meetings, vs. a glossed-over summary in point form that I would have expected. The actual dialogue was very interesting to read.

I didn't read very far into the bridge debate, but was surprised that it had gone so far. It's really too bad that they weren't able to have a little more foresight to see how beneficial it might have been moving into the future, and made it happen.

...but then I find myself thinking the same things about today's council. While they're busy discussing donairs and statues nobody seems to be thinking much on how to provide services and infrastructure into the next half century...

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I note that the older photograph shows an arched vertical brick lintel above each 2nd floor window whereas the later photo show no arching. Unless there was damage suffered in removing the 3rd and 4th floors that led to these being repaired in that way, I would suspect they took all 3 upper floors off, though why is a bit of a mystery.

Given the number of broken windows on the upper floors and how what apparently was the main entrance to those areas was essentially walled off, judging from the look of the arched entryway being boarded up, perhaps the space was abandoned and left to decay until finally action needed to be taken.

I noticed the differences above the windows as well, which left me the most tentative as to what had been done. In the other photos I posted (and more on the archive site), the building looks like it was in really poor condition, top to bottom, which makes me wonder why it would not have just been leveled, rather than potentially rebuilding everything above the ground floor - especially given those times of 'urban renewal'. There must have been a financial reason for it, I'm thinking, but it would be interesting to know the actual details.