[Halifax] The Jade & Green Lantern (1595 Barrington) | Completed

[Keith P.]

I haven't seen it in person so I will qualify my comment in that respect, but the red and black cladding on the back of the Green Lantern building looks awful, like it might fall off or deteriorate quickly. It really isn't much of an improvement over the cheap vertical metal siding that used to be on the original. I also note it goes all the way to street level, making it an ideal canvas for graffiti vandals to disfigure. The original renderings showed what appeared to be masonry or stone on the first floor at the rear.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Builditfan

Are you even kidding about the vents?
The developers have done a great job preserving the original facade, at I'm sure an incredible expense, and you comment on a vent?
Really?

I think it's a fair comment. While I'm happy that the original cladding has been saved and re-used, the vent colour and placement makes them stand out like a sore thumb. It would be nice if they could camouflage them a little so they aren't so stark.

IMHO, it would have been nice for them to preserve a little more of the building other than just the cladding, but whereas this is Halifax, I'm just happy they didn't cheap out with some faux heritage like The Roy.

My standards for heritage preservation in Halifax have become very low in recent years, so I do like the project as it's turning out overall, but it would be nice if some of the low-hanging-fruit details could be done better.

Just my ... don't shoot me.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Builditfan

Are you even kidding about the vents?
The developers have done a great job preserving the original facade, at I'm sure an incredible expense, and you comment on a vent?
Really?

Welllll, those particular vents look pretty haphazard. Detracts from what might otherwise be a nicely ordered and well-considered facade.

[Northend Guy]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Welllll, those particular vents look pretty haphazard. Detracts from what might otherwise be a nicely ordered and well-considered facade.

Agree totally. Louvers can be spec'd with almost any color. This looks like whoever specified it used their cookie-cutter spec and did give much consideration to how it would look on sandstone. And the placement...WTH. Surely they could have aligned them vertically...ugh. Unless they were running out of little chunks of good reclaimed sandstone to fill in the gaps or something...

Those louvers are usually paintable...maybe they will find a better color before they are done...

[Citizen_Bane]

Jade 1 by Citizen Bane, on Flickr

Jade 2 by Citizen Bane, on Flickr

Jade 3 by Citizen Bane, on Flickr

Jade 4 by Citizen Bane, on Flickr

[someone123]

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[OldDartmouthMark]

I like it, but in photos the cladding on the rear of the building doesn't look so great. In the renderings, it looked like it was going to be brickwork in keeping with the front face of the building but it looks like they cheaped out?

I haven't seen it in person yet, so maybe it looks much better in person.

Citizen_Bane's photo from above:

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I haven't seen it in person so I will qualify my comment in that respect, but the red and black cladding on the back of the Green Lantern building looks awful, like it might fall off or deteriorate quickly. It really isn't much of an improvement over the cheap vertical metal siding that used to be on the original. I also note it goes all the way to street level, making it an ideal canvas for graffiti vandals to disfigure. The original renderings showed what appeared to be masonry or stone on the first floor at the rear.

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I like it, but in photos the cladding on the rear of the building doesn't look so great. In the renderings, it looked like it was going to be brickwork in keeping with the front face of the building but it looks like they cheaped out?

I haven't seen it in person yet, so maybe it looks much better in person.

Citizen_Bane's photo from above:

Mark, you had the same thought I had when seeing the images. It may be a step up from the corrugated metal siding the Green Lantern had on its backside, but a very small one. Disappointing. I can see it becoming a target for graffiti vandals.

[mleblanc]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Mark, you had the same thought I had when seeing the images. It may be a step up from the corrugated metal siding the Green Lantern had on its backside, but a very small one. Disappointing. I can see it becoming a target for graffiti vandals.

Same thoughts as myself. I really like the windows they used and can't help but picture it if they chose brick instead. Would give a nice loft/warehouse style vibe.

The ground level also seems awkward with the large vents. Granville St needed all the help it could get and this fell short in my opinion.

[Jonovision]

Proper brick definitely would have made this a standout.

I am mostly curious to see how this ceramic tile holds up over the years. It's appearing on nearly all new projects now.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

Proper brick definitely would have made this a standout.

I am mostly curious to see how this ceramic tile holds up over the years. It's appearing on nearly all new projects now.

... curious to see how the tile and the (aluminum?) corner trims hold up. I would think the corner trims might be susceptible to damage from snow clearing etc, right at street level.

[someone123]

Looks like this one is coming together nicely with the copper (?) around the roofline and the black stone visible near the base. Hopefully the old decorative metalwork that used to be on the corner window will be put back in place too?

I stand by my vent comment from before though. They don't look so great, on a facade that is otherwise quite nice. I wonder if they'd look better if their colour was matched to the stone more.


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[mleblanc]

Originally Posted by someone123

Looks like this one is coming together nicely with the copper (?) around the roofline and the black stone visible near the base. Hopefully the old decorative metalwork that used to be on the corner window will be put back in place too?

I stand by my vent comment from before though. They don't look so great, on a facade that is otherwise quite nice. I wonder if they'd look better if their colour was matched to the stone more.


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I do agree, even just making them sandstone colour would prevent them from standing out so much. Even with them though I think this is definitely one of the nicer developments downtown in the past few years. If only it was taller!

[someone123]

If you follow the link there is another photo of the site which zooms in on the facade more and shows a bit of the Green Lantern. It looks really good.

Hopefully Skye will start up soon. This area is changing dramatically. It should eventually have an attractive mix of old and new architecture and a lot of population density, thousands of residents within a radius of 1-2 small blocks. I'd imagine the new grocery store nearby (plus full size Superstore not far away) makes this a much more convenient place to live. I think eventually a much larger area will have a feel kind of like what Spring Garden Road had developed by 2010 or so, and the 9-5 business type areas downtown will be smaller or nonexistent.

[mleblanc]

Originally Posted by someone123

If you follow the link there is another photo of the site which zooms in on the facade more and shows a bit of the Green Lantern. It looks really good.

Hopefully Skye will start up soon. This area is changing dramatically. It should eventually have an attractive mix of old and new architecture and a lot of population density, thousands of residents within a radius of 1-2 small blocks. I'd imagine the new grocery store nearby (plus full size Superstore not far away) makes this a much more convenient place to live. I think eventually a much larger area will have a feel kind of like what Spring Garden Road had developed by 2010 or so, and the 9-5 business type areas downtown will be smaller or nonexistent.

Likewise, I can not even begin to explain how excited I am to see this city finally growing up. Not every development is going to be groundbreaking but all together the downtown core is shaping up to be a great spot to live for some people.

[RoshanMcG]

[someone123]

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[teddifax]

I'd love to see more pictures of what is going on at Maritime Centre....you can see just the corner at Barrington and Salter.....

[RoshanMcG]

[ScovaNotian]

I hadn't realized that the third floor windows are much taller than they used to be.