Old Halifax

[ns_kid]

Thanks for posting that, someone123. That is a marvelous photo of the North Street station. It is probably the best extant image of the structure.

While photos exist of the interior of the trainshed, I have searched for but have yet to find any photo taken inside the head house, such as the waiting room areas or offices. It would be fascinating to see how the building was laid out inside.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Yeah, great photo. Looks like a higher-quality version of the photos posted on page 44 of this thread. It's nice in that you can even see some of the masonry detail of the building.

I too would love to see some interior photos of the station. I can't help but think that some must exist somewhere that just haven't seen the light of day in awhile...

I'm also intrigued by the similarities to the old Halifax Academy building, which was built around the same time period as the station...



https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep...u.aspx?id=3896



https://novascotia.ca/archives/Notma...ves.asp?ID=969

[Keith P.]

That use and style of masonry was apparently the reflective-glass window wall of its day.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

That use and style of masonry was apparently the reflective-glass window wall of its day.

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

That use and style of masonry was apparently the reflective-glass window wall of its day.

That's a pretty astute observation. It's what people don't understand when they grouse about, "all these new buildings being the same". That's the way it's always been. At any particular time there is one style that is overwhelming the choice for new construction, due to taste trends, technology, the type of skilled trades you have available, and regulations.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

That's a pretty astute observation. It's what people don't understand when they grouse about, "all these new buildings being the same". That's the way it's always been. At any particular time there is one style that is overwhelming the choice for new construction, due to taste trends, technology, the type of skilled trades you have available, and regulations.

Actually, I don't agree with that point.

While, yes, certain architectural trends were more popular in particular time periods (i.e. Victorian, Georgean, etc.), I think there was much more variation in buildings built during the same time periods.

I think this was possible because there was more handwork and craftmanship in the buildings in the 19th and early 20th centuries, thus allowing more one-off features. Presumably custom features like carved stonework were cheaper than it would be today, for example. I feel that there may have been more of a trend among architects to create distinctive work, but I can't confirm this.

The reason I pointed out the similarities between the North Street Station and the Academy was that I was surprised to see such similarities in two seemingly unrelated buildings from the late 19th century. Typically they would share certain design features, but not so many.

I don't think it is a fair comparison to say that glass walls with almost identical (except the colour) cladding is quite the same, but that's just my opinion of course.

[K-Man]

Hey everyone!

I've really been enjoying the photos in this thread. There's some gems on here, eh? On page 5 there was some discussion about the indoor skating rink that used to be in the Public Gardens. I'm not sure if these have been posted or not but I didn't see them. I thought I'd put this up as it offers another view of the rink (well, a cropped one) with an accompanying note that I thought was pretty cool.

The note reads:
"South Park Street from Sackville St. looking south with the building housing the tearoom and washroom facilities in the Public Gardens on the right of the picture: and the first house on the left looking south was formerly 187 South Park St. and was the house in which John Delaney was found consealing (sic) himself in a cupboard following the murder of his wife in 191 or thereabouts. The YMCA and the Nova Scotia Teachers' Union Offices are now located where granite wall and iron fence is shown in the picture." The photo was probably taken from just south of Sackville Street.

HRM Archives does make a correction to the note though:
"The Public Gardens building on the right is actually the indoor skating rink that was demolished in 1889."


Source: HRM Archives - https://gencat1.eloquent-systems.com...es=KEY_5016529

Fenwick16 had originally posted this image below on page 5 but to give some perspective and save clicking back I'll repost. That's the roof of the indoor rink on South Park St. and in the far background you can see the Exhibition Building. I bet that was a pretty cool site to see in it's day.


Source: NS Archives - https://novascotia.ca/archives/Notma...ves.asp?ID=406

**There seems to be an odd "timeout issue" with the source link as it keeps expiring with a "Session ID Invalid" error.

[K-Man]

I've always found the Spring Gaden Rd/Barrington St. intersection to be an interesting one with all the history in the nearby buildings. I had these few images of the Academy of Music/Majestic Theatre that I thought I'd throw up along with some interesting quotes about opening day from this article written in 1949 by Phyllis R. Blakeley.

If you have some time to kill it's actually a pretty interesting read describing the history of music/theatre in Halifax and includes the names of popular bands and plays of the time. I sometimes enjoy reading these older publications where the author describes buildings in present tense but to us they've long been gone. Also, the opening of new venues/buildings seemed celebrated and revered in older days. Buildings go up and entertainment comes to us so easily these days with the internet, Netflix, Youtube, etc. that sometimes I think it's not appreciated the same way it used to be.

Anyway, do you think bands had groupies in the 1800's?.....some saucy damsels from the docks to canoodle the night away 'till the late hour of 11:40pm? Haha ;-).

Link to paper:
https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bits...pdf?sequence=1

QUOTES:

"The first theatre in Halifax was opened in 1789, five years before the first theatre in Boston and fifteen years before a theatre was established in Montreal. This was the Grand Theatre on Argyle Street where H.R.H. Prince Edward attended many plays".


The Academy of Music - undated
The Majestic Theatre - Exterior - May 27, 1929
Source: NS Archives - Both images taken with the camera on my phone of the image on their monitor

"In 1869 many citizens considered it absolutely ridiculous that Halifax with a population of nearly 30,000 should not have "a respectable looking" Theatre or Concert Hall".


The Majestic Theatre - Entrance & Main Floor as seen from the stage - June 28th, 1929
The Majestic Theatre - Main Stage as seen from the balcony - June 28th, 1929
Source: Taken with the camera on my phone of the image on their monitor

"Designed by A.M. Jackson, an English architect, the Academy was constructed of brick faced with stucco, by S. M. Brookfield on Barrington street at the foot of Spring Garden Road, where the Capitol Theatre stands today. The building, site and furnishings cost about $100,000. The Academy of Music opened on Tuesday, 9 January, 1877 with a Grand Opening Concert by one hundred and fifty singing members of the Halifax Philharmonic Union under the direction of C.H. Porter, assisted by the Rudolfson Quartette of Boston and the Boston Philharmonic Club of Instrumentalists. The fine weather, the splendid programme and curiosity combined to fill the hall, although it was the most expensive enter-tainment yet offered in Halifax, at a dollar and a half for a reserved seat. The parquette circle in the shape of a horseshoe, which was greatly favored by many patrons, was later replaced by seats and boxes. The top gallery was known as "gods' pit" or "the gods." The large, brilliant and fashionable audience marveled at the beauties of the interior, admired the handsome frescoed ceiling and gasped at the flood of radiance when the light was turned on in the huge chandelier. The Academy was lighted by electricity, one of the first public buildings in Halifax to be lit in this way, which caused many to compo.re the spectacle to Alladin's Palace. All rejoiced in the impression of lightness and airiness, the promptness and civility of the ushers, and enjoyed the concert immensely, especially the rendering of Haydn's "The Heavens are telling the Glory of God" by the Union, and "Heaven hath shed a tear" by the tenor of the Rudolfson Quartette".

In regards to a play called Clouds: ".....some objected because the play did not end 'till the late hour of ll:40 p.m". ;-)


The Captiol Theatre - 1945
Source: NS Archives - https://novascotia.ca/archives/EastC...es.asp?ID=4490

The hall was later renamed to The Majestic Theatre in 1918 and finally demolished in 1929 to make way for the Capitol Theatre. Completed in 1930 the Capitol was demolished in 1974 (but not without a fight as the “Save the Capitol Society” was created in an attempt to preserve the building) to make way for the Maritime Centre currently onsite. It was completed in 1977 but in 1988 had an additional 7 floors added.

[K-Man]

TIME BALL ON CITADEL HILL

On a visit to the NS Archives I was surprised to come across this image and discover that at one time Halifax had a time ball in place at the the Citadel.
The first image below was undated. The second was taken in 1920. There was a note on the bottom of the first photograph with the following details:

"Old time ball above walls of citadel hill being repaired. Ball hoisted to position at 12 o'clock noon is dropped. In old days captains of ships in harbour watched for the ball and knew the correct time when saw ball fall. Photo by Wetmore."


Source: NS Archives - Taken with the camera on my phone on the image on their monitor
Source: Randal C. Brooks Article - https://journals.lib.unb.ca/journali...2rn01_fig1.jpg

There didn't seem to be much information available online but I did come across an excellent article by Randall C. Brooks with a great description. It's about a 2 minute read and can be found here:

Source - Randal C. Brooks:
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.ph...ew/17871/22106

If not here is a quick summary taken from his article:

"Built in 1904 on the south east rampart of the citadel . Shown in the down position (referring to the 1920 image above) the ball was raised, as was standard practice, halfway up at five minutes to the hour and all the way up at one minute to noon. An electrical signal from the nearby observatory released the ball at noon precisely. The advance notice signaled by raising the ball and the clear, visible signal of the falling ball provided more precise chronometer ratings than with the gun. It was removed sometime after 1959."

I had no idea this even existed until I found the above picture at the Archives. I've seen the tower in images before but always thought it was just a lookout. Does anyone have any memory of seeing this...maybe even in action?


Time ball can be seen in this 1949 aerial view of the Citadel.
Source: CSTM Collection - http://imagescn.techno-science.ca/re...78237753&id=46

[someone123]

That's interesting. I had seen that structure before in old photos but had no idea what it was for. It would be a nice little oddity to reconstruct.

[Keith P.]

At least now I know where the concept of the ball dropping in Times Square at 12 midnight on New Years is rooted.

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by someone123

That's interesting. I had seen that structure before in old photos but had no idea what it was for. It would be a nice little oddity to reconstruct.

Yeah, it was a pretty neat little find.

When I come across older images like this I actually find myself preferring the look of the fort in earlier days when there were cannon's lined up and footpaths everywhere - more authentic. I find it too "gussied up" these days. Don't get me wrong, I realize with the state of disrepair it was in and it's importance for tourism that it was absolutely necessary but I find that over the years it's lost some of it original "fort-ness".

Parks Canada has a pretty good 10 min. video on Youtube titled "The Restoration of the Halifax Citadel" that documents some of the repair work. Some of the shots show just how necessary the repairs/restoration was. What a cool project to have been part of, eh?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FERU-Q--14k

Actually, that brings a question to mind. Does anyone know if it's possible to volunteer for restoration projects? Is it possible to go in just as a grunt to help with tear down/moving debris/bringing new material onsite/etc??

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

At least now I know where the concept of the ball dropping in Times Square at 12 midnight on New Years is rooted.

I wonder how well the sound of a cannon would go over instead??

I think everyone has a pretty funny story of the first time they were beside the Citadel and heard THAT go off at noon!

[Dartguard]

Actually, that brings a question to mind. Does anyone know if it's possible to volunteer for restoration projects? Is it possible to go in just as a grunt to help with tear down/moving debris/bringing new material onsite/etc??[/QUOTE]

I don't know if you can volunteer to do heavy labor but there is a huge amount of Citadel related documents, plans, contracts and other paperwork in the casements that Parks Canada will let you organize and study. Be warned however that they are a mess with absolutely no Library of Congress sense to them. Parks Canada simply does not have the time or man hours to even start to look at all the material. It would be a life long study for a history nerd however.

[K-Man]

Haha....for a short time I think that would actually be pretty interesting working with some of the old documentation. But....admittedly paperwork and organization are not my forte. I'm kind of a "strong like bear smart like stick" kind of guy.

[K-Man]

OLD DEAL HOUSE

Hey all! I was browsing around a Facebook group today called "OLD Black and White Pictures of Halifax" and came across this here image of a house called the Old Deal House. I haven't been able to find any information at all on it and this is the only image that I've been able to dig up. Would anyone know anything about it or have maybe have actually seen it at one point? I assume it's probably been torn down by now, eh?

Anyway, the caption on the image reads:

"Pictured in what is generally referred to as the Old Deal House in the Fairview section of Dutch Village and which is believed may have been constructed as far back as 1760. This photo was originally published on September 23, 1948. Norwood-Herald File


Source: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...&theater&ifg=1

[Dmajackson]

^Here you go thanks to the Fairview Historical Society

TLDR is that house was demolished in the 50's to make way for the Old Halifax West High School. The property was known as the Deal/Keeler Farm. The site is now Boss Plaza. The small white house still standing on the north side of the plaza was built by the Deal family as a replacement.

[Keith P.]

Presumably the source of the "Deal St." in Fairview as well.

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

^Here you go thanks to the Fairview Historical Society

TLDR is that house was demolished in the 50's to make way for the Old Halifax West High School. The property was known as the Deal/Keeler Farm. The site is now Boss Plaza. The small white house still standing on the north side of the plaza was built by the Deal family as a replacement.

Hey nice find DmJackson, that was a fantastic article! I had no idea that Fairview had their own Historical site. Thanks for posting that link. I bet those wooden shoes were some comfortable, eh?

Which had me thinking when I was reading that article that here I was just the other day complaining that my kraft dinner wasn't cheesy enough from my heated recliner and here these guys are in wooden shoes pulling stumps and clearing acres of farmland everyday! *sigh* Modern day problems eh, folks?

[someone123]

There is a Noticed in Nova Scotia post on the seaport area with photos from around 1981:
https://halifaxbloggers.ca/noticedin...rminals-c1981/

There are some photos of a large concrete building that was a cold storage facility built in the area in 1928. I'd seen this in some old photos before but wasn't sure what its purposes was.