General Updates and News

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Countdown to hand-wring and anguished cries in 3, 2, 1...

[ScovaNotian]

Does anyone know whether the old RBC building at the corner of Queen will come down as well?

[midasmull]

Originally Posted by ScovaNotian

Does anyone know whether the old RBC building at the corner of Queen will come down as well?

It's coming down too. It's been vacant for a little bit and currently has construction fencing surrounding it.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Countdown to hand-wring and anguished cries in 3, 2, 1...

I guess you would argue these buildings are unremarkable and they're private property so the owner should be able to tear them down at will.

I see them as having a public interest component too and people care when demolition happens since it is disruptive. They care what new buildings look like since they inhabit spaces impacted by them. In an urban setting, there's more to demolition and construction than just the provision of private space for tenants and owners.

It seems like communication around many of these changes is poor in Halifax. Stuff just happens and hints of what will happen often spreads as rumours. Demolition often happens before the long-term plan for a site is known, even when it's very prominent. It is hard for me to imagine other cities operating this way with buildings suddenly disappearing along major shopping streets while the public is mostly in the dark. Communicating what is going on is easier than it has ever been.

Some of the development process has been modernized but there are still lots of as-of-right developments happening that follow procedures that feel like they were developed in the 1960's before public consultation became common.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by midasmull

It's coming down too. It's been vacant for a little bit and currently has construction fencing surrounding it.

Years ago the owner at the time commented about expanding the building to fill in the rear of the site and add another storey, and how the current building is inappropriate for such an important corner (not wrong). I figured this building was toast when years went by without any of these improvements happening.

[MonctonRad]

I will not lie, I will miss the Mills Brothers building, mostly because it has been a fixture on Spring Garden Road for such a long time. My memories of it date back to 1979.

But, realistically, it is time for the building to go. It really has no architectural merit aside from it's faux Tudor cladding. I'm sure it's replacement will be superior and a definite step forward.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by someone123

I guess you would argue these buildings are unremarkable and they're private property so the owner should be able to tear them down at will.

I see them as having a public interest component too and people care when demolition happens since it is disruptive. They care what new buildings look like since they inhabit spaces impacted by them. In an urban setting, there's more to demolition and construction than just the provision of private space for tenants and owners.

It seems like communication around many of these changes is poor in Halifax. Stuff just happens and hints of what will happen often spreads as rumours. Demolition often happens before the long-term plan for a site is known, even when it's very prominent. It is hard for me to imagine other cities operating this way with buildings suddenly disappearing along major shopping streets while the public is mostly in the dark. Communicating what is going on is easier than it has ever been.

Some of the development process has been modernized but there are still lots of as-of-right developments happening that follow procedures that feel like they were developed in the 1960's before public consultation became common.

I think you are mixing up the aspects of public communication about a demolition decision with the rationale for demolition itself.

I have no knowledge of the old RBC building on the corner but from the outside I always liked it simply because of the stone cladding. Since it was built as a bank branch however I suspect reuse and adaptation would be difficult, and it would not likely be easily expanded. As for the Mills buildings, those I do have personal experience with, and they are a mess. A pastiche of numerous old buildings interconnected over the years with low ceilings, varying floor heights, and questionable structural integrity. The only thing noteworthy about them was the faux-Tudor exterior treatment. That could be easily replicated on the exterior of a new build if someone was of a mind to do so. Clearly the failure of businesses there in recent years has shown that whatever appeal the building may have contributed to those operations was minimal at best.

Of course, trumpeting the upcoming demolition of these would likely brought the Usual Suspects out of their hidey-holes to decry the loss of such an important piece of Halifax heritage. Meanwhile those same individuals are silent while HRM and the Councillor for the area allow the old Memorial Library to rot away unused. Priorities, please.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Meanwhile those same individuals are silent while HRM and the Councillor for the area allow the old Memorial Library to rot away unused. Priorities, please.

I actually do agree with this sentiment. As with Bloomfield, the old Dartmouth City Hall, etc., another publicly owned site of historic importance just being left to deteriorate.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

I actually do agree with this sentiment. As with Bloomfield, the old Dartmouth City Hall, etc., another publicly owned site of historic importance just being left to deteriorate.

I agree also. The old public library may not have any particular architectural or historical merit, but it's siting on the lot does have merit, as does also the public space in front of the building. These reasons alone merit preservation. Surely the city can come up with some sort of public use for the building, perhaps a municipal museum or exhibition space of some kind, combined with a public meeting space or municipal conference facility.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I think you are mixing up the aspects of public communication about a demolition decision with the rationale for demolition itself.

It's true that there are multiple separate things going on:

- Lack of communication about major changes to public areas
- Lack of proactive municipal and provincial government action in identifying and protecting the sites that should be protected, including government-owned sites
- Lack of faith in the quality of new construction being better than what is replaced

I'm not necessarily against the demo of these particular buildings and I think it could be possible to replace them with something better. Will this replacement be better? It seems few people know, and even if there were a rendering I'm not sure we could know since the buildings don't always follow the renderings.

The demo fits into the overall context of the neighbourhood which includes demolition of the Doyle site, surprise demolition of the building on Blowers, and neglect of the old library building. Character buildings are a dwindling resource in the city.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I agree also. The old public library may not have any particular architectural or historical merit, but it's siting on the lot does have merit, as does also the public space in front of the building. These reasons alone merit preservation. Surely the city can come up with some sort of public use for the building, perhaps a municipal museum or exhibition space of some kind, combined with a public meeting space or municipal conference facility.

It is a nice stone building with some interesting characteristics, and local architects have come up with reuse scenarios.

The idea of it being a hard to reuse building or having no future strikes me as a "made in Halifax" type of viewpoint that betrays a certain insularity, lack of imagination, and lack of energy or direction. The Bloomfield buildings have been deteriorating for decades. The city is full of small businesses and non-profits that want space and is growing by 2% a year. I think this is mostly about not enough or no councillors caring what happens to these buildings.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by someone123

I think this is mostly about not enough or no councillors caring what happens to these buildings.

Well, when your one and only priority is narrowing streets to punish motorists and construct unused bike lanes, and pandering to loud special interest groups, this is the result.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Well, when your one and only priority is narrowing streets to punish motorists and construct unused bike lanes, and pandering to loud special interest groups, this is the result.

...and here is the 'hand-wringing and anguished cries' we were waiting for...

[atbw]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

I actually do agree with this sentiment. As with Bloomfield, the old Dartmouth City Hall, etc., another publicly owned site of historic importance just being left to deteriorate.

I always like to think it's the hoards of dead in unmarked graves beneath the library cursing it to become their collective gravestone.

Would still be nice to see it become something at all though. It's absurd to think a public building on one of the busiest streets in town is being left to rot.

[Good Baklava]

Originally Posted by someone123

It is a nice stone building with some interesting characteristics, and local architects have come up with reuse scenarios.

I have to agree. To be romantic, it represents an important era of Canadian history and marks a particular stage in the evolution of Halifax. I must say that I have a soft spot for some modernist public buildings.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Good Baklava

I have to agree. To be romantic, it represents an important era of Canadian history and marks a particular stage in the evolution of Halifax. I must say that I have a soft spot for some modernist public buildings.

There was a pretty decent collection of 1940's and 50's era public and commercial buildings downtown but it's been completely trashed during the past decade or so. Ralston, BoC, the former Maritime Life Building, St. Pat's, the community college building, old YMCA, and the old library slowly falling apart, plus many others. None of these buildings had heritage protection and there won't be protected postwar buildings if they don't survive long enough to get registered.

Halifax was a boomtown during that era and it seems to me had an unusually nice collection of those buildings. Thankfully some nice ones still survive on the Dalhousie campus and are unlikely to go anywhere.

[MeEtc]

Construction fencing has been erected along Gottingen St this week, blocking the sidewalk beside the concrete wall of Stadacona between Almon and Macara. Maybe something finally being done about the brutalist wall?

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by MeEtc

Construction fencing has been erected along Gottingen St this week, blocking the sidewalk beside the concrete wall of Stadacona between Almon and Macara. Maybe something finally being done about the brutalist wall?

I saw that too! Looks like the wall is coming down to me. If recent updates there are any indication, it'll be a low wall of precast faux stone capped with some sort of metal mass-manufactured fence where the paint will peel off in large sections that flap in the wind like little flags, giving us all a better view of the new (brutalist?) building.

[kph06]

Work looks to be starting for the demolition around the former OK Tire between Percy and Joe Howe. A neighboring property is fenced off and being gutted.

HRM Case 22503

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Demolition Permits issued for 2850-2860 Isleville Street. This is the vacant commercial building and its neighbour across the street from Camille Residences and kitty corner to 5550 Bilby (both U/C). Unlike a lot of the immediate area it is not subject to a development agreement. It falls under C-2 zoning. The lots have frontage on both Isleville and Bilby Street.

Construction permit has been issued for 2850 Isleville. It's listed as a three storey, $1.5 million, 11'000sq ft commercial building for 'Other Services'. There's no residential units included.

This could support the rumour of a veterinarian clinic. Mostly likely with offices or something else on top.