Found Photos

[teddifax]

What is the secret to actually finding buildings on this NS Archive site... I grew up in an old 4 unit apartment building, originally officers quarters that was torn down in the late 60's on the corner of Brunswick and Gerrish (SW corner), diagonally across from the Old Dutch Church and have never been able to locate a picture. Back in those days, it seems, no one had a camera, so we don't have any pictures of it....

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

To revisit this part of the thread for a second, I found a couple more pics on NS Archives that are relevant:

I haven't seen that last image before (1951). The Cragg Building looks pretty good from that angle capping off the block. I know this has probably been said multiple times on here but it amazes me that lot has been empty for so long being directly across from Grand Parade. Would anyone have any images or maybe any remembrance from 1996 when the G7 conference was in town? I read that the lot was decked over and turned into a pavilion/beer garden.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by teddifax

What is the secret to actually finding buildings on this NS Archive site... I grew up in an old 4 unit apartment building, originally officers quarters that was torn down in the late 60's on the corner of Brunswick and Gerrish (SW corner), diagonally across from the Old Dutch Church and have never been able to locate a picture. Back in those days, it seems, no one had a camera, so we don't have any pictures of it....

I can't say I have a 'secret' that works every time. In my case, I usually just do a search for terms that might be related to what I'm looking for - I start with very specific search terms, and if that doesn't work I broaden them out.

For example if I were searching for pics of the old Moirs factory on Argyle St., I would start searching for "Moirs factory" or "Moirs Argyle", and if that didn't yield results, I'd broaden it to simply "Moirs", or "Argyle", or "factory", or even "chocolate". If still no results, I might consider other views that might show it, like "Grand Parade", "Scotia Square", etc.

The more broad you get, the more results you will have to sift through. A while ago I was searching for some general old buildings downtown, and I ended up searching "street". You can imagine how many results that yielded.

Then, more times than not, I'll find something I had been looking for previously, while looking for something else...

On archives sites, you are at the mercy of how it was labeled. If mislabeled or labeled "unknown" you might just have to get lucky. In your case I'd probably start with the streets, then maybe search "officers quarters", or "military", etc. Then you might also try searching aerial photographs, sometimes labeled 'aerial' but not always. More often than not, it comes down to luck.

And, don't limit yourself to NS Archives, try Halifax Municipal Archives, and others. There are also facebook pages and online albums that contain old Halifax photos. I've also found things by doing a Google image search - sometimes you get lucky.

Basically, be tenacious and don't give up if you can't find it at first. Sometimes new images are added to archives sites as well.

I haven't done this, but if you physically visit the archives, I believe that there would be a number of photos that haven't been scanned to online sites yet, so it may exist there...

Good luck!

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by K-Man

I haven't seen that last image before (1951). The Cragg Building looks pretty good from that angle capping off the block. I know this has probably been said multiple times on here but it amazes me that lot has been empty for so long being directly across from Grand Parade. Would anyone have any images or maybe any remembrance from 1996 when the G7 conference was in town? I read that the lot was decked over and turned into a pavilion/beer garden.

I have long had a number of questions regarding that corner:
- Why were all the buildings torn down at once? I'm thinking that there must have been a development planned that didn't pan out, but I'm not sure.
- How did the Provincial government end up owning it?
- Why has it been allowed to remain an empty lot for so long? Is it that government wanted to retain parking there? If so, that seems like a conflict of interest, or at least poor use of government assets...

IMHO, it's a shame that the buildings in the 1951 photo were torn down. It think the corner would look great if they were still there (and properly maintained...).

Funny, I remember the G7 activities, but have no recollection of that lot being decked off for a beer garden. It may have been, but I just can't recall anything special being done there.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I have long had a number of questions regarding that corner:
- Why were all the buildings torn down at once? I'm thinking that there must have been a development planned that didn't pan out, but I'm not sure.
- How did the Provincial government end up owning it?

These buildings were torn down around 1989/1990 for an office development that was never built due to the economic downturn at the time. I've seen a rendering of it before but I don't remember where I found it. If I remember correctly it looked like a pretty standard 90's office building, probably 7-10 storeys, not a highrise.

I think it was a private developer who later sold to the city then the city did a land swap with the province to get the library site. The public ownership helps explain why this lot was left undeveloped for so long, although back in the 90's there was almost no market for new developments downtown.

[teddifax]

Thanks Old Dartmouth Mark for the great hints... I will try some of the ways you mentioned.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by someone123

These buildings were torn down around 1989/1990 for an office development that was never built due to the economic downturn at the time. I've seen a rendering of it before but I don't remember where I found it. If I remember correctly it looked like a pretty standard 90's office building, probably 7-10 storeys, not a highrise.

I think it was a private developer who later sold to the city then the city did a land swap with the province to get the library site. The public ownership helps explain why this lot was left undeveloped for so long, although back in the 90's there was almost no market for new developments downtown.

Thanks! I thought that was the case, maybe you wrote it here before?

It's too bad the buildings were torn down in the first place, but perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that there wasn't any underwhelming 1990's building built on it, as most '70s - '90s structures in the area are nothing to write home about.

Hopefully, with the potential development of the Dennis building and the Barrington Street historical district in place, there is a chance that whatever is built here will be quite nice...

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by teddifax

Thanks Old Dartmouth Mark for the great hints... I will try some of the ways you mentioned.

I hope you can find what you're looking for!

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Thanks! I thought that was the case, maybe you wrote it here before?

It's too bad the buildings were torn down in the first place, but perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that there wasn't any underwhelming 1990's building built on it, as most '70s - '90s structures in the area are nothing to write home about.

Hopefully, with the potential development of the Dennis building and the Barrington Street historical district in place, there is a chance that whatever is built here will be quite nice...

I have a nagging thought (but do not know for certain) that the developer in question was Bob Stappells, who was not a big player in such circles locally. His biggest claims to fame were the North American Life bldg on Brunswick St and One Government Place, which whispers say happened because of his political connections at the time. It was originally leased to the Province until they ended up purchasing it.

The plan (I have seen renderings somewhere) was to build a companion development for more govt offices in the same exact style that connected the new building to OGP on the upper levels. I don't recall if they foresaw keeping the Dennis Bldg as part of that or if it was proposed to be demolished. I suspect the latter. Anyway, he is no longer in the development business so that proposal is probably not in the cards in that earlier form.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I have a nagging thought (but do not know for certain) that the developer in question was Bob Stappells, who was not a big player in such circles locally. His biggest claims to fame were the North American Life bldg on Brunswick St and One Government Place, which whispers say happened because of his political connections at the time. It was originally leased to the Province until they ended up purchasing it.

The plan (I have seen renderings somewhere) was to build a companion development for more govt offices in the same exact style that connected the new building to OGP on the upper levels. I don't recall if they foresaw keeping the Dennis Bldg as part of that or if it was proposed to be demolished. I suspect the latter. Anyway, he is no longer in the development business so that proposal is probably not in the cards in that earlier form.

Interesting, Keith! If that's the case, then IMHO a bullet was dodged in that OGP is not the most attractive building downtown - not the worst, but certainly not among the best. I think it's a plus that the Acadian Recorder building still survives, as well as the Dennis. Still haven't seen any definite plans for that project, but hopefully something will be released on of these days...

[alps]

I've also seen a render of the early 1990s Birk's proposal somewhere. I vaguely recall it had a corporate postmodern look with a cylindrical element on the corner. There's a chance I saved it to my hard drive ages ago – will dig around when I am back in HK next week.

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by teddifax

What is the secret to actually finding buildings on this NS Archive site... I grew up in an old 4 unit apartment building, originally officers quarters that was torn down in the late 60's on the corner of Brunswick and Gerrish (SW corner), diagonally across from the Old Dutch Church and have never been able to locate a picture. Back in those days, it seems, no one had a camera, so we don't have any pictures of it....

Hey teddifax! I had a little look around but this is the best image that I could find of the SW corner. All you can really see though is the top of the building in the background which, because it's undated, may not even be the building you're looking for. There's lots of images out there but the SW corner seems to be elusive. OldDartmouthMark laid down about every trick that you use to try to find a picture. With the church being a 'landmark' structure you'll probably find a picture of the building in the background of that rather than the building itself.

I found an interesting file on HRM's website that has images from the 1960's of houses on Brunswick St. as well as the church. I had a look around to see if I could find the "1960's Retrospective" photos but couldn't find anything. I don't know how much effort you want to put into this but ODM's suggestion of going onsite was a good one. I've gone to the NS Archives multiple times and found images there that aren't online anywhere. They easily have 50-60 binders of scanned photos as well as a digital collection of images that aren't available on their website.

Lastly, I posted an image from Hopkin's Atlas. In all honesty it may be too old to be useful here but I wasn't able to find a more recent map that contained information about the buildings along the streets. There's been a time or two where I was able to find an image of a current building by researching structures that were there originally. But in this case I wasn't able to find much...

-- LITTLE DUTCH CHURCH - UNDATED --

Source: Old North End Blog - https://oldnorthend.wordpress.com/20...n-cock-church/

-- HRM ARCHIVES --

Source: HRM Archives

-- PLATE D - HOPKINS ATLAS 1878 --

Source: NS Archives - https://novascotia.ca/archives/maps/plate.asp?ID=6

[OldDartmouthMark]

K-man is exactly right! If you search through the Halifax Municipal Archives website, and do searches for "Brunswick" and "Gerrish", all kinds of pics of houses come up, mostly from the 1960s. I looked through some of them and wasn't sure if I was seeing the building you were describing, but at least it appeared that the photos were hitting all around it.

I would suggest that you do those searches on the site and see what is there. If that doesn't yield the result then perhaps visit the physical HMA site (I believe it's located in Burnside?) and I would think there is a good chance it was documented but perhaps not scanned and posted to the website.

It seems that there was a lot of documentation of the areas that were to be torn down for 'urban renewal' at the time, so I think it's likely that a photo exists there.

In addition, another possibility could be the Chronicle Herald photo archives, accessed at this location: https://shop.thechronicleherald.ca/H...ets_c_524.html
I'm not sure if they would search for a specific address, but it's worth a try.

[teddifax]

Originally Posted by K-Man

Hey teddifax! I had a little look around but this is the best image that I could find of the SW corner. All you can really see though is the top of the building in the background which, because it's undated, may not even be the building you're looking for. There's lots of images out there but the SW corner seems to be elusive. OldDartmouthMark laid down about every trick that you use to try to find a picture. With the church being a 'landmark' structure you'll probably find a picture of the building in the background of that rather than the building itself.

I found an interesting file on HRM's website that has images from the 1960's of houses on Brunswick St. as well as the church. I had a look around to see if I could find the "1960's Retrospective" photos but couldn't find anything. I don't know how much effort you want to put into this but ODM's suggestion of going onsite was a good one. I've gone to the NS Archives multiple times and found images there that aren't online anywhere. They easily have 50-60 binders of scanned photos as well as a digital collection of images that aren't available on their website.

Lastly, I posted an image from Hopkin's Atlas. In all honesty it may be too old to be useful here but I wasn't able to find a more recent map that contained information about the buildings along the streets. There's been a time or two where I was able to find an image of a current building by researching structures that were there originally. But in this case I wasn't able to find much...

-- LITTLE DUTCH CHURCH - UNDATED --

Source: Old North End Blog - https://oldnorthend.wordpress.com/20...n-cock-church/

-- HRM ARCHIVES --

Source: HRM Archives

-- PLATE D - HOPKINS ATLAS 1878 --

Source: NS Archives - https://novascotia.ca/archives/maps/plate.asp?ID=6

You have it right! This is the side portion of the building on Gerrish St. This is as close to a view of the building I have seen... All I have is a partial picture of the front steps, nothing of the building... Thank you so much for your hard work...

[teddifax]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

K-man is exactly right! If you search through the Halifax Municipal Archives website, and do searches for "Brunswick" and "Gerrish", all kinds of pics of houses come up, mostly from the 1960s. I looked through some of them and wasn't sure if I was seeing the building you were describing, but at least it appeared that the photos were hitting all around it.

I would suggest that you do those searches on the site and see what is there. If that doesn't yield the result then perhaps visit the physical HMA site (I believe it's located in Burnside?) and I would think there is a good chance it was documented but perhaps not scanned and posted to the website.

It seems that there was a lot of documentation of the areas that were to be torn down for 'urban renewal' at the time, so I think it's likely that a photo exists there.

In addition, another possibility could be the Chronicle Herald photo archives, accessed at this location: https://shop.thechronicleherald.ca/H...ets_c_524.html
I'm not sure if they would search for a specific address, but it's worth a try.

Thank you for all your help as well... I will try them all and appreciate all the help and support.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by teddifax

Thank you for all your help as well... I will try them all and appreciate all the help and support.

I wish you much success!

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by teddifax

You have it right! This is the side portion of the building on Gerrish St. This is as close to a view of the building I have seen... All I have is a partial picture of the front steps, nothing of the building... Thank you so much for your hard work...

Of course, you're very welcome!
I feel like we can hook you up better than just the top part of the building though. OldDartmouthMark was right in saying that you'll find the image you're looking for one day when you're searching around for something completely different. I'll keep this one in mind and if I happen to come across your building I'll make sure to post it up for you. If you end up finding it first throw it online for us....it'll be a small victory, lol. Until then, I thought I'd post these seeing as I had them saved. They're not the SW corner but it's kind of neat to see the buildings just south of the church change over the years while the church stays the same.

-- LITTLE DUTCH CHURCH 1868 --

Source: http://ttnotes.com/africville-herita...um-halifax.jpg

-- LITTLE DUTCH CHURCH - UNDATED (1920's MAYBE?) --

Source: NS Archives - https://novascotia.ca/archives/churc...ives.asp?ID=29

--LITTLE DUTCH CHURCH MARCH 26th, 1968 --

Source: HRM Archives - Retrieval Code (102-16N-0016.57)

[someone123]

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[someone123]

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[someone123]

Put these in the Canada section but I think they are nice enough for a repost. I think this is the best Nova Centre picture I have ever seen even if it's just the outline.


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