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  #441  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2020, 9:04 PM
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The concept of the interior floors not aligning with the windows in the facade must bring real challenges. Today I was in traffic on North St and while sitting there noticed this slummy-looking building that I believe used to be a MT&T office that was converted to apartments some decades ago. If you look closely you can see floor plates bisecting the windows on the second floor:



I wonder how that works on the interior to keep air, noise and debris from migrating floor to floor.
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  #442  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2020, 9:41 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is offline
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Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
The concept of the interior floors not aligning with the windows in the facade must bring real challenges. Today I was in traffic on North St and while sitting there noticed this slummy-looking building that I believe used to be a MT&T office that was converted to apartments some decades ago. If you look closely you can see floor plates bisecting the windows on the second floor:



I wonder how that works on the interior to keep air, noise and debris from migrating floor to floor.
I've noticed that one before and am not a fan of that particular execution. Never been in the building, but can only imagine what it might be like hearing the upstairs or downstairs neighbors 'activities', breathing their cigarette (or other) smoke, etc.

I do think if executed properly it could be an interesting quirk of the building, but have not heard or seen how they intend to pull it off in the NFB bldg...
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  #443  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2020, 11:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
The concept of the interior floors not aligning with the windows in the facade must bring real challenges. Today I was in traffic on North St and while sitting there noticed this slummy-looking building that I believe used to be a MT&T office that was converted to apartments some decades ago. If you look closely you can see floor plates bisecting the windows on the second floor:

I wonder how that works on the interior to keep air, noise and debris from migrating floor to floor.
I've been in this building a few times and those are not floor plates your seeing. The building has three floors. The first floor is a few feet below grade. The former industrial use of the building means it has high ceilings. Each unit is a bachelor and in order to cram as many units as possible into the building they used the high ceilings to build elevated bed lofts which are roughly the width of a double bed and accessed via a ladder from the main level.

As for quality I will simply say this building is strictly bachelor units occupied by single people. The rent is among the lowest in the neighbourhood. The building is owned by Joe Metledge.

PS I don't live in this building I just know more about the building than people would expect but I can't say why without outing myself.
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  #444  
Old Posted Feb 12, 2020, 5:16 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is offline
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Originally Posted by Dmajackson View Post
I've been in this building a few times and those are not floor plates your seeing. The building has three floors. The first floor is a few feet below grade. The former industrial use of the building means it has high ceilings. Each unit is a bachelor and in order to cram as many units as possible into the building they used the high ceilings to build elevated bed lofts which are roughly the width of a double bed and accessed via a ladder from the main level.

As for quality I will simply say this building is strictly bachelor units occupied by single people. The rent is among the lowest in the neighbourhood. The building is owned by Joe Metledge.

PS I don't live in this building I just know more about the building than people would expect but I can't say why without outing myself.
Thanks for clarifying. I had only seen it from outside and like Keith had assumed they were floor plates. I had wondered how and why, but without info I was left only with my assumption.

Do you know the origins of the building? Was it once MT&T offices?
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  #445  
Old Posted Apr 26, 2020, 9:53 PM
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  #446  
Old Posted May 24, 2020, 8:47 PM
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  #447  
Old Posted Jun 7, 2020, 7:45 PM
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  #448  
Old Posted Jun 7, 2020, 8:38 PM
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Originally Posted by Dmajackson View Post
I've been in this building a few times and those are not floor plates your seeing. The building has three floors. The first floor is a few feet below grade. The former industrial use of the building means it has high ceilings. Each unit is a bachelor and in order to cram as many units as possible into the building they used the high ceilings to build elevated bed lofts which are roughly the width of a double bed and accessed via a ladder from the main level.

As for quality I will simply say this building is strictly bachelor units occupied by single people. The rent is among the lowest in the neighbourhood. The building is owned by Joe Metledge.

PS I don't live in this building I just know more about the building than people would expect but I can't say why without outing myself.
I lived there over a decade ago for about 4 months. It was my first ever apartment when i left home in my late teens. It was fairly cheap for being so central and while the neighbourhood obviously wasn't posh, I didn't think there would be an issue. Well... it was a complete and total nightmare. It was filled with both mice and cockroaches and was NOT well maintained. I remember the first night I moved in it was in mid January but I had to leave the window open all night because the heat was on full blast. It was controlled only by a nob on the old-fashioned steam radiator but the nob was missing and all my stuff was packed so I didn't have any tools, and it wasn't until i could get out the next day and buy a vice grip that i could turn it down.

At the time it was owned by Steve Metledge, who after significant complaints, offered to have the unit sprayed for the roaches. I didn't bother with that since they were all just coming in from neighbouring units and he wouldn't spray the whole building. I decided to seal up the place with caulking, expanding foam, and weather-stripping which mostly worked except there was a combined half sink, two burner stove, and below-counter fridge unit which was plumbed into the wall so i couldn't pull it out far enough to plug the plumbing holes. Plus the mice kept chewing new holes which the roaches then used so whenever I saw an increase in activity i had to keep finding and plugging them.

I had never even seen a cochroach in real life before and had no idea places like that even existed outside of the 70s era Bronx so it was quite traumatic. The place was just overall dismal and depressing. The hallways smelled like a weird combo of cigarette smoke and urinal deodorizer cakes or something, the walls needed to be painted, and the on-site super didn't care about anything and wouldn't answer the door most of the time. I only lasted there 4 months but seemed like an eternity. The loft space was kinda fun though.
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  #449  
Old Posted Jun 8, 2020, 12:40 PM
Northend Guy Northend Guy is offline
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Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse View Post
I lived there over a decade ago for about 4 months. It was my first ever apartment when i left home in my late teens. It was fairly cheap for being so central and while the neighbourhood obviously wasn't posh, I didn't think there would be an issue. Well... it was a complete and total nightmare. It was filled with both mice and cockroaches and was NOT well maintained. I remember the first night I moved in it was in mid January but I had to leave the window open all night because the heat was on full blast. It was controlled only by a nob on the old-fashioned steam radiator but the nob was missing and all my stuff was packed so I didn't have any tools, and it wasn't until i could get out the next day and buy a vice grip that i could turn it down.

At the time it was owned by Steve Metledge, who after significant complaints, offered to have the unit sprayed for the roaches. I didn't bother with that since they were all just coming in from neighbouring units and he wouldn't spray the whole building. I decided to seal up the place with caulking, expanding foam, and weather-stripping which mostly worked except there was a combined half sink, two burner stove, and below-counter fridge unit which was plumbed into the wall so i couldn't pull it out far enough to plug the plumbing holes. Plus the mice kept chewing new holes which the roaches then used so whenever I saw an increase in activity i had to keep finding and plugging them.

I had never even seen a cochroach in real life before and had no idea places like that even existed outside of the 70s era Bronx so it was quite traumatic. The place was just overall dismal and depressing. The hallways smelled like a weird combo of cigarette smoke and urinal deodorizer cakes or something, the walls needed to be painted, and the on-site super didn't care about anything and wouldn't answer the door most of the time. I only lasted there 4 months but seemed like an eternity. The loft space was kinda fun though.
Funny you say that. I was reading your story, and it sounded identical to one my wife had when she first moved to Halifax back around 2001 or so. Roaches, mice, heat on too high, the loft, the landlord's name. I didn't know which building you were referring to until I scrolled up to see the photo. Same one. She didn't stick around any longer than she had to...
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  #450  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2022, 7:03 PM
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  #451  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2022, 10:06 PM
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Should be finished sometime in the next few decades.
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  #452  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2022, 10:31 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is offline
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Should be finished sometime in the next few decades.
Just in time to start restoring it again...
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  #453  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2022, 10:55 PM
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Future generations will marvel at this when it's done.
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  #454  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2022, 5:38 AM
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Future generations will marvel at this when it's done.
Halifax's Sagrada Família!
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  #455  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2022, 4:52 PM
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Should be finished sometime in the next few decades.
You're optimistic. Let's see if it's finished at all...ever
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  #456  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2022, 4:54 PM
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Halifax's Sagrada Família!
LOL, Let's actively watch, and have our kids watch and see which one does actually get completed first.
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  #457  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2022, 3:12 AM
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  #458  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2022, 10:30 AM
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Looks like the exterior needs to be re-restored again. It is very unattractive.
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  #459  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2022, 12:34 PM
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I lived in Halifax in the 1980s and the NFB Building was a hollow facade even then -WTF!!!
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  #460  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2022, 12:26 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is offline
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Coming along, slow but steady... The signage makes me believe that perhaps it's at least partially occupied already?

The exterior looks like a lot of the mortar was repointed and it contrasts with the older mortar (also looks like some brickwork had been replaced with best-fit match, but slightly off in colour). This will likely blend in more as the newer stuff ages and accumulates some dirt. IIRC, a long time ago the sandstone restoration was done a little too aggressively and thus some details were lost, which lends a bit to its worn appearance. However, it is an old facade, and does add visual interest to the street. The weathering is part of its history.

Overall, I like what they did here, especially how they blended in the new construction with the existing, previously burnt-out facade. Work like this is time consuming and more difficult than a clean-slate new build. Finishing the roof details will improve its appearance greatly, IMHO.

It really has been an interesting journey to watch and really unusual that it wasn't just bulldozed all those years ago. Many historic buildings disappeared during the time that this facade stood empty...
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