[Halifax] Armoury Villa l ? m l 5 fl l Completed - Page 4

Waye Mason · #61 Posted **Apr 19, 2009, 10:59 PM**

How about they fix the cladding on the armoury so they can take down those god awful fences and construction hording. So disappointing.

eastcoastal · #62 Posted **Apr 19, 2009, 11:08 PM**

The bright rigid insulation, sheathing, or weather barrier, or whatever it is, makes me hope that it'll have a fantastic, colourful exterior cladding that makes something of its prime corner position. Something tells me they'll aim for nothing short of adequate, and we'll end up with dumpy faux stone installed unevenly a la Agricola & North, or a hideous combination of brick and vinyl like the beauty on the other corner.

Shame - could be a real opportunity to play on the colourful buildings that are starting to characterize Agricola Street further north.

someone123 · #63 Posted **Apr 19, 2009, 11:39 PM**

It is supposed to be bland fake stone. I agree that this was a missed opportunity.. I doubt a better design would have really cost any more.

The Armoury should be restored. It's a nice building and is unique within Canada (from the 1890s but electrified and with structural steel columns).

Dmajackson · #64 Posted **May 9, 2009, 5:14 PM**

Picture taken by me today;

Waye Mason · #65 Posted **May 10, 2009, 1:26 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by someone123

The Armoury should be restored. It's a nice building and is unique within Canada (from the 1890s but electrified and with structural steel columns).

Hugely important, culturally and historically. The Armoury should be restored, or reused as something else (cultural centre and museum?) It is the kind of building that defines Halifax. Very cool.

Keith P. · #66 Posted **May 10, 2009, 11:59 AM**

Are those french doors I see? Balconies aren't shown on the renderings, but what are the doors for?

Nilan8888 · #67 Posted **May 10, 2009, 2:20 PM**

Hugely important, culturally and historically. The Armoury should be restored, or reused as something else (cultural centre and museum?) It is the kind of building that defines Halifax. Very cool.

Well with the rigorous work the HT has been doing to preserve culture in Halifax, surely we don't need to worry about-

Oh. Wait a minute...

Aya_Akai · #68 Posted **May 11, 2009, 3:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Are those french doors I see? Balconies aren't shown on the renderings, but what are the doors for?

More than likely a styled Venetian balcony... you'll have the patio doors which will open, but outside will probably have a decorative grate and rail to keep people from falling out of your living room. lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nilan8888

Hugely important, culturally and historically. The Armoury should be restored, or reused as something else (cultural centre and museum?) It is the kind of building that defines Halifax. Very cool.

Well with the rigorous work the HT has been doing to preserve culture in Halifax, surely we don't need to worry about-

Oh. Wait a minute...

Good call.

Commoner · #69 Posted **May 11, 2009, 9:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

Hugely important, culturally and historically. The Armoury should be restored, or reused as something else (cultural centre and museum?) It is the kind of building that defines Halifax. Very cool.

The hoarding is there to prevent bits of the building from falling off and injuring people or damaging property (the sandstone is crumbling and falling off). Agree that it should be restored; it's a nationally designated heritage structure, so there are strict rules about what can and cannot be done with it. For example, the exterior must be restored to it's original design, despite what anybody plans to do with the inside. It's an historic site because of the design (first major public building in Halifax with electrification, as well as huge open space unsupported by columns), the architect (Fuller, who was Dominion Architect at the time...wonderful title!....went on to design the current centre block of the Parliament buildings) and finally, that it was a staging area for WWI.

Waye Mason · #70 Posted **May 12, 2009, 12:46 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commoner

The hoarding is there to prevent bits of the building from falling off and injuring people or damaging property (the sandstone is crumbling and falling off). Agree that it should be restored; it's a nationally designated heritage structure, so there are strict rules about what can and cannot be done with it. For example, the exterior must be restored to it's original design, despite what anybody plans to do with the inside. It's an historic site because of the design (first major public building in Halifax with electrification, as well as huge open space unsupported by columns), the architect (Fuller, who was Dominion Architect at the time...wonderful title!....went on to design the current centre block of the Parliament buildings) and finally, that it was a staging area for WWI.

Oh I know, and agree, with all that. There is the open space, the Regimental office on Cunard, the residence/mess block on Armoury place. Then you have those amazing towers. You could have a museum, a gallery, offices, and a 1500-2000 person concert hall inside. I love the idea of having the space used for something meaningful. If the military wants to keep it, they should fix it and maybe move Land Forces Atlantic offices into a renovated armoury. Make it a working facility. Either way, I want to see the building fixed, and used, not half way mothballed and hardly used.

Jonovision · #71 Posted **May 12, 2009, 4:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

Oh I know, and agree, with all that. There is the open space, the Regimental office on Cunard, the residence/mess block on Armoury place. Then you have those amazing towers. You could have a museum, a gallery, offices, and a 1500-2000 person concert hall inside. I love the idea of having the space used for something meaningful. If the military wants to keep it, they should fix it and maybe move Land Forces Atlantic offices into a renovated armoury. Make it a working facility. Either way, I want to see the building fixed, and used, not half way mothballed and hardly used.

A concert hall would be a great use for that building. And there's probably enough room in there to make one that would be a fair big bigger then the Cohn.

Commoner · #72 Posted **May 12, 2009, 9:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

There is . Make it a working facility. Either way, I want to see the building fixed, and used, not half way mothballed and hardly used.

Glad that we agree that it would be good to fix it. I would argue with you on the hardly used part though; about 350 part-time and about 25 full-time members of the Canadian Forces use that building on a daily/weekly basis. It's actually quite a busy place.

Waye Mason · #73 Posted **May 13, 2009, 12:48 AM**

Well, sure, but you could cram them into Scotian, or another much smaller building. It used to hold a regiment, didn't it? We have a tonne of buildings up at Willow Park/Windsor Park, we have the almosted empty Dartmouth Annex. 350 people, sure, think what it costs to heat the place!

I just doubt the CF will be willing to invest the many millions the place needs.

Jonovision · #74 Posted **May 22, 2009, 5:27 PM**

It's barely noticeable just to the right of the top of the crane at the dockyards.

Dmajackson · #75 Posted **May 30, 2009, 10:49 PM**

Credit: Me

Jonovision · #76 Posted **May 31, 2009, 1:14 AM**

Is that a thin layer of concrete they are putting on the facade?!

miesh111 · #77 Posted **Jun 3, 2009, 2:41 PM**

It's stucko. A lot of different homes are finished with it, and some small areas of larger developments. This is the first time I've seen an entire condo / apartment building done in it.

Barrington south · #78 Posted **Jun 3, 2009, 10:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by miesh111

It's stucko. A lot of different homes are finished with it, and some small areas of larger developments. This is the first time I've seen an entire condo / apartment building done in it.

Ohhhh F*** me!!!......Stocco?.....is that gonna be the finally layer, you think? or is something going to cover it up?.....I heard a term used some time ago on this thread and thought it was pretty derogatory and inacurrate.....however, I must ask....is this what some have referred to as a "Lebanese Building"

miesh111 · #79 Posted **Jun 4, 2009, 12:44 PM**

Well that is pretty derogatory, considering the Trilium, 5552 Kaye Street, Kings Wharf, Mount Royale, Barrington Gate and a whole bunch of good buildings are / were built by Lebanese Developers.

But if you mean that how a building looks in Lebanon, then yes, I guess stucko is what is used an awful lot. Maybe they'll have red tile roofing too?

Also, I'm not sure if the developer of this is Lebanese or not. I tried a registry of joint stocks search and Armoury Villa doesn't even come up.

maoro · #80 Posted **Jun 7, 2009, 6:39 PM**

The developer of this project is a first-time condo builder from what I can tell, and has typically built suburban homes in the past: http://www.solidhomes.com/projects.html

It would be scary buying from a first time builder, and based on some of the choices they have made, like using stucco, I wasn't comfortable buying in this building. It seemed to be particularly low quality, even for Halifax condos.