[skyscraper_1]

I thought we could make a big photo thread of Halifax pre-1980?

Old Halifax Airport - 1931(Bayer's and Connaught?)

http://ess.nrcan.gc.ca/ats-sat/hist/images/halifax_airport.gif

Aerial Shots of Downtown - 1921

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_001.jpg


http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_002.jpg

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_004.jpg

South Barrington

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_017.jpg

South Street and Queen.

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_018.jpg

Spring Garden area

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_019.jpg

The Commons

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_022.jpg

Central Halifax
http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_023.jpg

Hydrostone and areas still devastated by the Halifax explosion.

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_027.jpg

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_026.jpg

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/k2_028.jpg

[skyscraper_1]

Halifax map 1894.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/halifax_1894.jpg

[skyscraper_1]

Halifax-Dartmouth 1960

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/a17077_005.jpg

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/a17077_006.jpg

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/a17077_008.jpg

Halifax-Dartmouth 1993

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/images/a28000_049.jpg

http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/photos101/halifax_e.php

[terrynorthend]

Astonishing the difference in Dartmouth from 1960-1993 aerials

[someone123]

Dartmouth is a good example of how much of a difference transportation infrastructure can make.

It is interesting just how packed some of those North End blocks were. The Spring Garden Road area is unrecognizable in those pictures. Originally it looks like there were two buildings West of the TUNS building. I think one was a mansion built in the 1700s. It was probably almost as nice as Government House. I suspect the other was a small brick university or hospital building but I don't know for sure. It is kind of unfortunate that these were torn down and the lot was left empty for so long.

It's also interesting to see the Cornwallis Park area before the hotel was built. Originally the park itself was built up. The train station pre-dates the hotel but I don't know if it was a different building or not. I don't remember the exact year the rail cut was built but this station and the North End station may have both been operating for a few years before the explosion.

[skyscraper_1]

Here is a reeeally old Halifax "shot"

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/images/3.jpg

"The original Governor's House of 1749 was a small one-storey structure. The frame and material were brought from Boston and the governor took up residence in early October 1749. The new Governor's Mansion shown in the centre of this engraving was built in 1755 during the tenure of Charles Lawrence. With the arrival of Lieutenant Governor John Wentworth in 1792, complaints were heard of the unfitness of the house as a viceregal residence, and in 1796 Wentworth convinced the government to build a new structure, this time in the South Suburbs – thus allowing Government House to assume the aspect of an English country seat. The 1755 Mansion was pulled down in 1800. Mather's Meeting House (later St. Matthew's Church), the oldest Protestant Dissenting congregation in Canada, began worship in 1749 and in the following year built the church structure seen to the left in this illustration, at the corner of Prince and Hollis Streets. The church was used for worship, the basement as a bonded warehouse–until New Year's Day 1857, when a huge conflagration destroyed the church and two adjoining buildings."

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/exhibit.asp?ID=3

[alps]

Wow!! Thanks so much for posting these, guys. My home was built on the site of the "Halifax Riding Club & Polo Ground", my place of work is on the site of an orphanage, and my school appears to have been some sort of barracks. The difference in Dartmouth is incredible. CFB Shearwater looks so active. There are 3 or 4 runways, rather than the 1 that operates today.

It looks like there were a lot of natural features on the Halifax peninsula that were destroyed, too. Look at all the ponds, like the one behind the Victoria General (I guess today, there's a little power plant there, or the Centennial Building). Camp Hill is also pretty much nonexistent, with the QEII & associated parking garage there today.

I notice the Willow Tree used to be a roundabout. I wonder how that'd work out today.

[skyscraper_1]

Camp Hill is also pretty much nonexistent, with the QEII & associated parking garage there today.At onetime, a stream flowed from the commons, across the public gardens, down by south street and to the harbour though a ravine where the Queen Street Sobeys is!

New pictures
Tuff's Cove - 1871

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/images/141.jpg

Sackville and Lower Water 1904
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/images/146.jpg

[skyscraper_1]

"Portland Street between Prince Albert Road and the Five Corners, at the intersection of Pleasant, Portland and Albert Streets."
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/images/119.jpg

Laying tracks for the tramway, Quinpool Road? 1906-1912.
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/images/120.jpg

[someone123]

Here's a picture of the cover of a book for sale about the waterfront (from the WDC):

http://www.wdcl.ca/uploads/wdclbook.jpg

I've never seen a photo from this angle before. It shows a number of historic buildings that no longer exist, such as the original Royal Bank offices, Customs House, and buildings on Sackville Street.

[Keith P.]

Seems odd that they would put a shot of the law courts on the cover, since it is one of the most ill-placed and unfriendly buildings one could ever imagine for such a location.

[someone123]

Hopefully the law courts will go the way of those other buildings...

It's a really ugly building and, to add insult to injury, the little efforts to dress it up over the years all look kind of pathetic. I wouldn't mind if that little strip mall thing got torn down either.

[Halifax Hillbilly]

It is interesting just how packed some of those North End blocks were.

The population density in parts of the North End was pretty crazy up until urban renewal in the 1950s. The Falkland/Maynard area had over 20,000 people/sq. km (80 people/acre) in 1941, and there were other areas of the city that dense as well (all in central Halifax near Agricola and Gottingen). Almost exclusively in 2 or three bedroom buildings as well. Pretty intense crowding, lots of families took borders or shared with other families to make ends meet.

The densest area of Halifax today is east of Queen St. and south of Morris (Kent, Harvey, Church, Green, Smith St.) The population density in that area is just under 9000/sq. km.

Loving the pics :tup:

[Halifax Hillbilly]

Seems odd that they would put a shot of the law courts on the cover, since it is one of the most ill-placed and unfriendly buildings one could ever imagine for such a location.

I guess it just underlines how few good buildings there are on the waterfront. Summit Place isn't that hot from the water, neither is the Casino or the Marriot. Purdy's effectively kills the waterfront boardwalk.

[someone123]

I personally don't mind Purdy's Wharf much. The casino and the hotel are average but not terrible buildings. That Bioscience building (formerly DFO?) is much uglier, as are all the empty lots. The whole area below Hollis/Granville between Sackville and Bishop is really underdeveloped and looks awful. The downtown's intimate scale and downward slope amplify the effect of empty lots.

[hfx_chris]

You say Purdy's kills the waterfront boardwalk, but... what's beyond Purdy's anyway? The casino, and then the navy dockyard. You can't walk into the dockyard regardless, so Purdy's is an effective bookend to the harbour boardwalk.

[Dmajackson]

I think its about time we re-open this thread. I found these photos of Halifax from 1963. Its quite interesting to see what the north-end looked like when the factories were still in use;

http://www.halifaxhistory.ca/Robie%20Street%20Aerial-a.jpg

http://www.halifaxhistory.ca/Robie%20Street%20Aerial%202-a.jpg

Source (http://www.halifaxhistory.ca/other-photo.html)

[alps]

NSCC in the foreground of the first picture is a handsome building, looks fairly modern for Halifax at the time. I don't actually know what it looks like today.

[Keith P.]

Just south of NSCC in the first picture is St Stephen's school, which is built on an interesting piece of exposed rock which constitutes most of the "field" surrounding it. The large open area in the center of the pic is Fort Needham, the height of which is distorted by the air photo.

There was a lengthy thread in hfx.general a few months back about the second photo. The Oland grain drying plant at the bottom of the photo was a newish structure at the time. The tall office building on Young St now sits on that site.

[hfx_chris]

NSCC in the foreground of the first picture is a handsome building, looks fairly modern for Halifax at the time. I don't actually know what it looks like today.
Mm, I'll say. Damn good looking building - and it still is, in my opinion.

Today there's an additional 3 wings to the north (bottom of the picture), so it's quite amazing to me to see it in this state. It's an awesom building and I'm glad I attended there.

[Spitfire75]

I found this old pic. Wish it was bigger.

http://http-server.carleton.ca/%7Emflynnbu/PositivePresenceAbsence/450_africville_aerial.jpg

[Dmajackson]

^Nice find. :tup:

Its actually weird to me to see a photo of the Africville area from before the MacKay was built.

[Dmajackson]

I was looking through some old family albums and found these two photos. One is dated 1935 and the other I would guess was in the early '40's.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3506/3798808380_8192051606_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3548/3798808476_fa30b13eba_o.jpg

[alps]

Neat old Scotia Square ad. The complex had only been partially constructed at the time this was published, hence some of the towers looking different from their final form.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l217/halps00/8ebc35e9.jpg

[Keith P.]

Interesting rendering. Amazing how artist's conceptions of proposed developments always look so much better than the finished product. Certainly what was proposed looks better than the Cogswell Tower we ended up with, and the streetside looks far more appealing than it turned out to be. You can certainly understand why people wanted this back in the 60s based upon this, especially if you remember what was there previously.

[alps]

Yeah, I'm not sure the Scotia Square we know is this lush...

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l217/halps00/15eecf89.jpg

Does anyone have photos of the area prior to redevelopment?

[someone123]

Yeah, the Cogswell Tower leaves a lot to be desired.

I actually like the older towers and, to some degree, the Barrington and Duke corner. If the Barrington Street frontage were opened up a little more it would function a lot better (you could imagine an open ground floor in this rendering with main doors and some storefronts, for example, with a glassed in area above). Maintaining the old street grid a little more still probably would have been better in the long run, however.

[JET]

Yeah, I'm not sure the Scotia Square we know is this lush...

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l217/halps00/15eecf89.jpg

Does anyone have photos of the area prior to redevelopment?

http://www.halifaxhistory.ca/other-photo.html

If you scroll to almost the bottom of this page there ia a photo of the corner of barrinton and Buckingham, and a map of the area where scotia square was built. the Halifax history site is interesting. Lots of old photos.

[someone123]

Here's Gottingen Street in the 60s:

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab18/nsarm/gottingen1.jpg
Source (http://spacingatlantic.ca/2010/11/12/from-the-vaults-gottingen-street/)

[halifaxboyns]

Here's Gottingen Street in the 60s:

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab18/nsarm/gottingen1.jpg
Source (http://spacingatlantic.ca/2010/11/12/from-the-vaults-gottingen-street/)

Pretty impressive. If ever a street needed a redevelopment strategy; it's Gottingen.

[someone123]

Unfortunately it had a redevelopment strategy from the 1950s-70s: tear down about half of the buildings, give some people cheap mortgages in areas like Sackville or Woodlawn, and build public housing for other people.

Clearly the area's not what it was in 1962 but it's been doing better lately.

[alps]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1vLdnm7eFE

Neat Casino ad from the 80s. The spaces outside Maritime Mall and Quinpool Centre look better kept. What does the sign at 0:07 say? I am having trouble placing it because they must have removed a couple planters at some point, and because no entrance exists at that angle today. Is it where the Canadian Tire doors are? In the shots further on the whole stretch looks much better treed.

[kph06]

I'm pretty sure the sign at 0:07 is for Quionpool Centre, I think that is shot near the Wendy's. I think the planters were only removed about 5 years ago.

[Dmajackson]

The addition on the (nowadays) Westin Hotel on Hollis Street. Photo cortesy of The Chronicle Herald Community News (http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/BCW/1220005.html)

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_large/stories/photos/GREY_NovaScotianHotelneg001_BedSack_01-03-11_JIGTKST_7.jpg

This photo, published on May 14, 1959, informed readers about the "steadily mounting steel framework of the addition to the Nova Scotian Hotel." The original CN-owned hotel opened June 24, 1930. In 1966, the name changed to Hotel Nova Scotian. In 1981, CN sold it to Revenue Hotels and in 1989 the name changed to The Halifax Hilton when Hilton International took over management. It closed in 1993, then reopened on Dec. 1, 1996 as The Westin Nova Scotian.

[macgregor]

The addition on the (nowadays) Westin Hotel on Hollis Street. Photo cortesy of The Chronicle Herald Community News (http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/BCW/1220005.html)

Nice pic. I wish that South Street and Marginal Road lined up though

[someone123]

Here's an interesting photo from the NS archives. The title says that it shows the South Park gates of the Public Gardens:

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/images/Notman/200715179.jpg
(you can see it in more detail using a flash plugin at http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/notman/archives.asp?ID=693)

I never knew that this structure existed. Does anybody know anything about it, like the date of its construction or demolition? Is the title of the photo even correct?

[fenwick16]

I have been trying to find information about the image posted above by someone123 since I didn't know that there was such an elaborate gate at the Public Gardens. While looking through the Nova Scotia Archive images I came across the one below which is dated 1899 and is of an exhibition hall/rink that was at Tower Road and Morris Street. Does anyone know when this rink was demolished?

"Carnival, Old Exhibition Rink, Feb. 1899" (source: http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/archives.asp?ID=62 )
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/share.asp?url=/nsarm/images/Halifax&path=199900062&title=Captain%20Ferdinand%20James%20Odevaine%20%20NSARM%20%20%20accession%20no.%201992-306no.%2015%20%20%20%20%20www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/%20%20%20%20%20c%202011

PS: It was the Exhibition Building which could also be used as a rink. here is another image - http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/notman/archives.asp?ID=160

PS: In the image above, it looks like the photographer just superimposed images on top of a picture of the exhibition hall. At least one of the images (pirate costumed man) looks like one that I saw in another archived studio image from 1899. It is eerie looking at these old photos - the people are like ghosts who passed away long go.

[terrynorthend]

Here's an interesting photo from the NS archives. The title says that it shows the South Park gates of the Public Gardens:

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/images/Notman/200715179.jpg
(you can see it in more detail using a flash plugin at http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/notman/archives.asp?ID=693)

I never knew that this structure existed. Does anybody know anything about it, like the date of its construction or demolition? Is the title of the photo even correct?

Very nice. My guess is this would have been midway along that block, approximately across from the Paramount Apartments. Its too bad they didn't take some of the money donated/raised post-Juan to build a replica of this gate. I really like walking that section of South Park on summer nights, with the Gardens, lampposts and Lord Nelson lit up. It feels like Central Park at night.

[Jonovision]

Wow! I had no idea that gate ever existed. It would be awesome if they rebuilt it. Would give a more majestic quality to the gardens.

[JET]

Very nice. My guess is this would have been midway along that block, approximately across from the Paramount Apartments. Its too bad they didn't take some of the money donated/raised post-Juan to build a replica of this gate. I really like walking that section of South Park on summer nights, with the Gardens, lampposts and Lord Nelson lit up. It feels like Central Park at night.

The gate was no doubt across the street from the childhood home of Hugh MacLennan, 'Barometer Rising'. He lived there at the time of the explosion. The house is now gone, of course.

[kph06]

Here's an interesting photo of expansion on the VG from the Herald's Community section. (http://thechronicleherald.ca/HCW/1226482.html)

http://thechronicleherald.ca/sites/default/files/stories/photos/GREY_VictoriaGeneralHospital38_Halifax_02-07-11_62H89ON_1.jpg
"The steel skeleton of the Centennial Building of the Victoria General Hospital on Tower Road in Halifax was due to be completed in a couple of weeks when this photo appeared on Dec. 31, 1964, according to Manual Zive, chairman of the hospital board." - The Chronicle Herald archive

[someone123]

George Street. Tearing down some of these buildings was a mistake:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5132/5430701335_51feb9210b_b.jpg
Source (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56722204@N05/5430701335/sizes/l/)

[fenwick16]

George Street. Tearing down some of these buildings was a mistake:


Nice find. For comparison I pasted a link of the current view from Google Street View but slightly closer to the harbour on George Street - http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=&q=george+street,+halifax&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=George+St,+Halifax,+Nova+Scotia&gl=ca&ll=44.648632,-63.572656&spn=0.002706,0.008256&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=44.648731,-63.572709&panoid=v5rEgENvaFglMBbIUN44ug&cbp=12,268.36,,0,-10.09 . (It takes a few seconds to load).

Although from a viewpoint of nostalgia, I agree with your statement, but from a practical viewpoint, the low ceilings and inadequate building code standards compared to current standards would tend to sway the argument towards modern buildings. It is fortunate that some of the buildings in the old image still exist. Most of the the old buildings on the right side of the street are gone. But I think the two on the left side still exist. PS: I think one on the right side of George Street still exists also(?) Is this one in the old image? - http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=&q=george+street,+halifax&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=George+St,+Halifax,+Nova+Scotia&gl=ca&t=h&layer=c&cbll=44.648381,-63.573898&panoid=cHQ5ZwD9tISCu_Ygky5gOg&cbp=12,23.73,,0,-15&ll=44.648555,-63.573337&spn=0.002706,0.008256&z=18. I think that it is but it is just barely visible. And of course the old town clock at the top of George Street is still there.

I am glad that Halifax is a mix of old and new buildings. In the Street View image, the newer Bank of Montreal tower looks good and the TD Bank tower is passable, but the newer Royal Bank tower didn't add anything to George Street. These newer towers are all almost 40 years old now.

Question: Would George Street in the old picture have been dirt as it appears to be? If it was dirt then it must have been difficult to maintain.

[JET]

George Street. Tearing down some of these buildings was a mistake:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5132/5430701335_51feb9210b_b.jpg
Source (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56722204@N05/5430701335/sizes/l/)

Where the TD bank is located there was a restaurant called Sanford's, second story, great food, lovely building. There have been significant losses. I'm not a fan of facades, but...

[fenwick16]

Where the TD bank is located there was a restaurant called Sanford's, second story, great food, lovely building. There have been significant losses. I'm not a fan of facades, but...

Saving some of the facades would have been a benefit to Halifax, if the towers could have been built on top. The resulting buildings would have maintained their historical appearance but they would have been brought up to functional modern buildings with modern, safer building codes. However, I don't think it is economically practical to maintain many old buildings in their current form. The Founders Square is a good example of saving the historical appearance and making buildings economically functional with modern building codes.

[gm_scott]

Saving some of the facades would have been a benefit to Halifax, if the towers could have been built on top. The resulting buildings would have maintained their historical appearance but they would have been brought up to functional modern buildings with modern, safer building codes. However, I don't think it is economically practical to maintain many old buildings in their current form. The Founders Square is a good example of saving the historical appearance and making buildings economically functional with modern building codes.

Some of the facades are definitely worth saving, but it's nice walking in any city and looking at something modern. If Halifax was made up of these new developments built with old facades, I think for the pedestrian on the street level things would get very boring. Halifax would look great in skyline shots, but for anyone walking around in the downtown they wouldn't see Halifax as very progressive. I'm not saying tear down everything old, I just like some modern buildings thrown in. I don't know if these buildings in question were worth saving though, but I'm guessing probably not.

[halifaxboyns]

That's part of the whole HT argument that I will never understand. They say they want to preserve heritage, yet when someone proposed to do so but incorporate modern buildings - they go nuts?

I challenged them a while back and asked them why they were not more supportive of that idea because you got the best of both worlds. The basic response was that this kind of thing 'still destroyed the history because of the modern building above'. So I asked them - well why do many of the old historic cities in Europe do that? The answer - those cities cave to developers. Whatever. So, the HT: It's their way or no way.

[someone123]

Office towers could have been built nearby. There were plenty of sites in Halifax with marginal buildings -- many of those are now parking lots.

In places like Quebec City there is far more emphasis on preservation, but in Halifax we get excuses. You can also look to Europe to see many well-preserved cities. Somehow they managed the building code issues without bulldozing Paris.

[Keith P.]

That's an interesting pic, but I'm not sure I agree with the conclusion that those buildings were so special.

Keep in mind that just about everything on the left side of that photo still stands. So it is the ones on the right that we are talking about, which is where the BMO Tower, the Royal Bank Tower, and the TD Tower are located.

Are those great buildings? Arguably no, but neither are these. They are not the British Museum. They are the typical Halifax 19th-century 3 storey walkups, and while they had some interesting detailing, they were nothing particularly special even when they were new. The owners allowed them to run down over their lives. They were uneconomical at the end and were replaced with something new. That's what happens in societies. You do not live in a time warp, despite the best efforts of the HT.

Remarkable old buildings deserve to get saved. I do not put these in that category, any more than I would argue that the aforementioned towers should be saved in the future.

[halifaxboyns]

What I was trying to say was that they could have been saved (even though I agree with Keith - they are pretty typical for Halifax) and then had modern additions to them. But they weren't.

My issue with HT is that they fail to see big picture and think about ways to accomplish both new additions and saving older buildings. Someone mentioned Founder's Square - that's what i'm trying to say could've happened with these (something along that lines). Either way, the HT can't see beyond their own blinders.

[spaustin]

The saddest part of the shot is look at the bustle on the street! You don't see that anymore anywhere Downtown except for on Spring Garden. We've sadly forgotten how to build good streets. Take a look at most modern buildings built into the side of hills in this city. They tend to all be hostile to the street below because they're really just too big for their location and their design isn't sympathetic (Centennial, Joseph Howe, bank towers, Metro Centre etc). Contrast that with the fine grain of those od Halifax buildings in the picture that kind of climb up the slope. That's sadly all gone. The only street that runs up a hill in this city that actually still works as a street and not just as a path to get between cross-streets is Blowers.

[Grav]

We cant be deluded by these grainy old pictures from 60 years ago. We are living in a city. Skyscrapers towering into the sky, down on the street they will have shear walls of marble, concrete and brick. Cars rush through the city making it a noisy unpleasant space for people to be and move through no matter what the buildings look like on the street level its still an unpleasant human habitat.

Back in days of those old pictures there wasnt as much traffic and retail was spread all over the downtown core. As more people got cars and downtown streets go busier and busier shopping downtown suddenly was very inconvenient having to cross multiple busy streets to get from shop to shop. People were sick of it. Thus they demanded planned shopping centers free of traffic. Downtown public squares with fountains, trees and art made by cutting off small unnecessary streets. Buildings interconnected by tunnels with public friendly indoor spaces to get away from the noise of the downtown core. Cars and people were separated.

NOW we have current building trends demand for a more old fasioned looking downtown with these old facades and street style retail scattered across downtown. Malls and super blocks are being demolished and broken up to allow noisy cars to zoom through, and urban planners are against skyways saying "cities thrive when people are on the street", despite the fact city center streets are an unfriendly human habitat. WHY? Because of these grainy pictures of our city in a state only seniors remember? I dont understand it. Maybe for a small town these methods would be ideal. But for a city its so counterproductive.

[planarchy]

We cant be deluded by these grainy old pictures from 60 years ago. We are living in a city. Skyscrapers towering into the sky, down on the street they will have shear walls of marble, concrete and brick. Cars rush through the city making it a noisy unpleasant space for people to be and move through no matter what the buildings look like on the street level its still an unpleasant human habitat.

Back in days of those old pictures there wasnt as much traffic and retail was spread all over the downtown core. As more people got cars and downtown streets go busier and busier shopping downtown suddenly was very inconvenient having to cross multiple busy streets to get from shop to shop. People were sick of it. Thus they demanded planned shopping centers free of traffic. Downtown public squares with fountains, trees and art made by cutting off small unnecessary streets. Buildings interconnected by tunnels with public friendly indoor spaces to get away from the noise of the downtown core. Cars and people were separated.

NOW we have current building trends demand for a more old fasioned looking downtown with these old facades and street style retail scattered across downtown. Malls and super blocks are being demolished and broken up to allow noisy cars to zoom through, and urban planners are against skyways saying "cities thrive when people are on the street", despite the fact city center streets are an unfriendly human habitat. WHY? Because of these grainy pictures of our city in a state only seniors remember? I dont understand it. Maybe for a small town these methods would be ideal. But for a city its so counterproductive.

Talk about a timewarp. While I admire your strong belief in what most working in fields related to urban development would see as terribly outdated, the fact is that what you are describing is no better and has been proven time and time again as detrimental to general livability and economic viability of city centres. There are countless examples of current building trends reversing inner city decay - to the benefit of residents and investors. There is certainly lots to criticize about modern urban planning and building practices, but all you are doing is replace one nostalgic urban ideal for a more recent one. To say this revisiting of patterns and techniques in urban development is counterproductive, while remaining so attached to your modernist ideal - which in many ways set cities back decades - is baffling.

I find your love for anti-urban elements like interior malls, superblocks and pedways somewhat disturbing. There. I said it. Ha!

[alps]

Yeah...the Spring Garden Road area is modern, dense, urban, but also one of the most walkable and pleasant spots in the city because it retains the sort of streetscape Grav might consider old-fashioned.

[Grav]

Spring Garden road is very chaotic. The wide variety of retail is a draw there. The street itself is an unpleasant obstacle course to navigate its a major busy roadway which is noisy and dangerous. Navigating it is often met with confusing situations. One such situations is the; "There are no cars coming but the sign says dont walk, should I run for it? should I wait?". Some people do make a run for it. Which causes confusion by others wanting to do the same thing. Some people will follow, some will step out into the street just to jump back out of fear. People dont like to wait to cross the street nor do they like to wait for traffic. Spring garden is notorious for J walkers which proves that theory. Not to mention the beggers the line the street which cause people to speed up their pace while navigating shop to shop. Nobody dwells and relaxes on the sidewalks even in the summer. They are in more pedestrian friendly areas like the Malls or the park area in front of the Library.

Another theory I have about the Retail half of Spring Garden is it essentially acts as a shopping mall. It has Anchors which are the Mills and Duggers departments Stores, Petes Frootique, Empire and the giant 24 hour shoppers. These venues being so close together support each other and the smaller shops between. Cars being able to zoom through have nothing to do with its vitality. They just make it an unpleasant place to navigate. If the street were to be cut off from traffic, it would still thrive so long as it had its anchors. It would also be a much more pleasant place to shop and navigate and relax

A shopping mall needs an anchor! Barrington has no anchors anymore thus it died, the Maritime Mall never had an anchor and it died. It is at the bottom of Spring Garden but is too far and separated from the main area and its anchor stores by the expanse of cemetery and that big church. I also find alot of city center malls have failed because they were designed with no anchor or had a department store which was part of a chain that no longer exists like Scotia Square and Woolco. We have to be careful because to add an anchor to these venues and streets and revive the them as a shopping destination would be competition against Spring Garden road... Though Scotia Square would be a more logical place to be the retail center of the city. Things would become unbalanced. Like the Halifax shopping center growing and running West End Mall into the ground, or Dartmouth Crossing taking Walmart from Penhorn and closing it down.

[Grav]

Talk about a timewarp. While I admire your strong belief in what most working in fields related to urban development would see as terribly outdated, the fact is that what you are describing is no better and has been proven time and time again as detrimental to general livability and economic viability of city centres. There are countless examples of current building trends reversing inner city decay - to the benefit of residents and investors. There is certainly lots to criticize about modern urban planning and building practices, but all you are doing is replace one nostalgic urban ideal for a more recent one. To say this revisiting of patterns and techniques in urban development is counterproductive, while remaining so attached to your modernist ideal - which in many ways set cities back decades - is baffling.

I find your love for anti-urban elements like interior malls, superblocks and pedways somewhat disturbing. There. I said it. Ha!

Here is an informative video on the subject. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj0UTOXwskI

This Mall is an outdoor development. Not the best choice for Nova Scotia with its cold wet climate, but its still same idea. It still exists today and the city is considering it and its many works of art and fountains to be given historic status! The retail is suffering though, because in addition to anchors. A mall needs a certain number of people living nearby. Alot of these projects never included much housing. Something we now realize today and can fix!

And today in the Metro newspaper I was reading how the Winter Games organizers were happy with our interconnected downtown core. Four major downtown Hotels all connected to shopping and the WTCC which has recreation facilities for the athletes. “It’s not a necessity at any point for athletes to go outside unless they want to, so it’s a nice design,” said Bill Moore, volunteer chair of athletes’ services. Link http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/local/article/769650--come-to-play-stay-for-the-hospitality

[planarchy]

Spring Garden road is very chaotic. The wide variety of retail is a draw there. The street itself is an unpleasant obstacle course to navigate its a major busy roadway which is noisy and dangerous. Navigating it is often met with confusing situations. One such situations is the; "There are no cars coming but the sign says dont walk, should I run for it? should I wait?". Some people do make a run for it. Which causes confusion by others wanting to do the same thing. Some people will follow, some will step out into the street just to jump back out of fear. People dont like to wait to cross the street nor do they like to wait for traffic. Spring garden is notorious for J walkers which proves that theory. Not to mention the beggers the line the street which cause people to speed up their pace while navigating shop to shop. Nobody dwells and relaxes on the sidewalks even in the summer. They are in more pedestrian friendly areas like the Malls or the park area in front of the Library.


I really don't know if you are serious ?? Cities are chaotic, complex, etc. Halifax in general is barely a city, relatively calm, easy to navigate. Sure, some streetscapes can be improved - eg. wider sidewalks on Spring Garden, but it is a great street. And if homeless people make you walk faster, that is your issue and not necessarily shared with everyone. They still exist when you are in strolling around in the safety of the mall.

I would also assume, based on your expressed experiences, that you would encourage the proliferation of private "public" spaces, cctv cameras, gated enclaves, etc., or, in general, a more exclusive take on 'urban' and 'city'. Dangerous ideas that are certain to ultimately fail everyone.

I am in no way a new urbanist or traditional urbanist or whatever you want to label it, but I do walk, bike, take public transit etc. and am generally engaged in the places I live. I choose to live in the city for convenience, the diversity, as well as the chaos, which I think there isn't enough of in Halifax. City centres are made for jay-walking, or at least should be. There should be more encouragement of loose spaces and interium uses more creative than parking lots - appropriation of the city.

The picture you paint is a city for a narrow few. Sounds boring to me.

[halifaxboyns]

I have to agree with Planarchy.

You talk about cars zipping through the streets. We changed downtown to be about the car (as planners) and guess what...IT DIED. Because we focused so much on cars, we (planners) killed the downtown and quite nicely I'd add.

Also because we focused on cars, we created the awful suburbs we have now where roads aren't in grids and you end up taking longer to get to your destination.

A good city (to me) is about a rebalanced vision putting pedestrians and other non-car modes of transit first. I love the fact that Spring Garden road is crazy busy with pedestrians, delivery trucks, buses and even beggers. It means that the street is alive...it's electric. That's what I want Barrington to be. I want Gottingen and Agricola to eventually be that way and Quinpool too (to a certain extent because it's a major traffic corridor for getting into downtown, there will be more cars).

I don't agree with this idea that a modern commercial street needs a major anchor tenant. When I look at areas in Toronto and Vancouver that are major shopping streets; they are a wide variety of shops for all different things. What feeds these places is nearby residential, which is often tall multi-residential high density projects. That's what the downtown needs and as much of it as possible. And more on the edges, Agricola, Quinpool and around Fenwick.

The joy of Halifax is that everything in the core is roughly a 20 minute walk from places like Fenwick, the South End, Agricola Street and Quinpool. So if you don't have it in these areas - you can walk or bike too. If you add in a modern transit system like a streetcar, the place will explode.

I post a link to a youtube clip about Portland's Streetcar in the Metro Transit thread I'd suggest watching. The Commissioner of the Streetcar system (who is now the Mayor of Portland) talks about how the streetcar created over $3 billion in investment within 3 blocks of the streetcar line (which included multi residential and mixed use). Portland's vehicle trip distance is actually going down, versus other US cities. That's the way Halifax needs to be going - making the downtown about people, not cars and developing good transit options.

[Grav]

My issue is not with what is driving on the streets whether its cars, buses or old style street cars (which I agree would be nice for this city) . Its that the new trend is against getting rid of the streets in exchange for pedestrian only courtyards and indoor atrium's. The current trends call for shattering super blocks which for the most part, like Scotia Square a person can walk in one end and out the other because of all the public friendly corridors and common areas. Current trends favor buildings that are have street front retail but the building itself has no public friendly indoor space on the bottom levels. It's all employee's only, residence only ect...

I dont believe these types of places are "anti urban". If you build an indoor mall downtown and and put housing, office space, hotels and restaurants on top, parking underneath as well as integrate it with the rest of the downtown core's attractions like stadiums, museums casino's and libraries with tunnels and skyways it can be a healthy and positive thing for the downtown core so long as there is the population density to support it, and yes... an efficient transportation system to get you there and back quickly. Personally I find such networks show a cities maturity. Montreal is a perfect example. The subway was awesome, and once I was in that underground network of malls and halls I never had to go outside again.

[cormiermax]

Some really amazing videos from 1969, basically just a guy going all over Halifax with his home movie camera. Really cool too see how much the city has changed, or in some cases hasn't changed.

pt. 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkwdBiDUB14&feature=related

pt. 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACbTH_1I5yQ&feature=related

[Jstaleness]

I found this one while watching. Nice shot of a busy Barrington St.
IOmCwAcra6k

[fenwick16]

There are several other interesting clips on YouTube. This one shows Africville and aerial views of north Halifax prior to the construction of the MacKay Bridge - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ8knQJH1Jc&feature=related

PS: Also one from the 1930's - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlZ4H0yEwro&feature=related

[Keith P.]

That makes you realize what a building boom happened in peninsular Halifax in the '60s and early '70s, and how little has happened since.

[spaustin]

That makes you realize what a building boom happened in peninsular Halifax in the '60s and early '70s, and how little has happened since.

I was struck by that too. When those two videos were made, a lot of the ugly modernist buildings from the era were already in place including the IWK, Victoria General, Park Victoria etc. It wasn't until the camera man went up on the Citadel that it showed significant change since the Cogswell and Scotia Square were under construction and the only bank tower that was up was Royal. A few sad shots in there as it showed the Birks Jewelery store and its neighbours which were turned into vacant lots and have sat empty for two decades. Ditto for some of the small older buildings fronting Brunswick along the Citadel. Many of those were torn down to be replaced with ashfault.

[resetcbu1]

[
PS: Also one from the 1930's - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlZ4H0yEwro&feature=related[/QUOTE]

wow thats it is very cool ,It's too bad alot of those areas weren't preserved properly, if it had there could have been an area similar to old Montreal.
None the less they didn't so let's modernize DT!

[worldlyhaligonian]

Has anybody seen the Facebook group "Historic Halifax - Then and Now"? They overlay a bunch of images where buildings used to be on recent pics.

Its pretty cool... but also goes to show that the majority of loss of heritage happened years ago.

[Keith P.]

Has anybody seen the Facebook group "Historic Halifax - Then and Now"? They overlay a bunch of images where buildings used to be on recent pics.

Its pretty cool... but also goes to show that the majority of loss of heritage happened years ago.


It also goes to show how delusional so many of the people commenting are - calling some of the city's worst slums "beautiful" and calling all new buildings "ugly". The divide between the HT types who think every ramshackle run-down wooden building needs to be saved and those who want this city to progress and grow simply never seems to change.

[worldlyhaligonian]

It also goes to show how delusional so many of the people commenting are - calling some of the city's worst slums "beautiful" and calling all new buildings "ugly". The divide between the HT types who think every ramshackle run-down wooden building needs to be saved and those who want this city to progress and grow simply never seems to change.

Lol, someone should develop a "Keith P." app for smartphones that just spits fury about the obstructionist crowd. Like a soundboard style, maybe with the "computer voice". What is the derivation of the term ramshackle?

[Jonovision]

Has anybody seen the Facebook group "Historic Halifax - Then and Now"? They overlay a bunch of images where buildings used to be on recent pics.

Its pretty cool... but also goes to show that the majority of loss of heritage happened years ago.

I've been part of that for a while. It's a great little group. I can see why people would have fought for more heritage conservation. We have lost some amazing buildings in this city. But to at least a small degree I agree with Keith P. We have already lost most of the nice stuff. It's not worth fighting for every little thing, let alone the parking lots. lol

[cormiermax]

Some footage of Halifax from the 30's.

IWxb0xcWqWs

[terrynorthend]

Very cool. At 2:20 of that video, while showing the town clock, I think a fire truck rolls through the foreground.

The grounds around the Citadel seemed much busier and interesting back then too. I wonder if it was an active military installation?

[cormiermax]

I wonder if it was an active military installation?

I believe it was, I think it was only turned over to parks Canada sometime after WWII.

[q12]

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/halifax/DVD/84-l.jpg

A photograph of the first bridge to cross Halifax Harbour. Note the swing section near the Dartmouth shoreline. Built in 1884.

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/halifax/busting_harbour_myths-eng.php

[cormiermax]

Video of Halifax from 1946: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP_mS5WDApY&feature=related

Interesting too see how busy the downtown looked, specially with all the trams.

[fenwick16]

Video of Halifax from 1946: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP_mS5WDApY&feature=related

Interesting too see how busy the downtown looked, specially with all the trams.

Very interesting. Thanks for the link.

[HaliStreaks]

Video of Halifax from 1946: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP_mS5WDApY&feature=related

Interesting too see how busy the downtown looked, specially with all the trams.

That is a great find. I have to agree about how busy it looked with all the traffic and the trams.. and interesting to note that crossing the street at spring garden and grafton was just as annoying then as it is now lol :haha:

[Empire]

Here's an interesting photo from the NS archives. The title says that it shows the South Park gates of the Public Gardens:

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/images/Notman/200715179.jpg
(you can see it in more detail using a flash plugin at http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/notman/archives.asp?ID=693)

I never knew that this structure existed. Does anybody know anything about it, like the date of its construction or demolition? Is the title of the photo even correct?

This is something that should be rebuilt.

[cormiermax]

Why would they demolish that? Makes me very very angry.

[ScovaNotian]

Why would they demolish that? Makes me very very angry.
It was too tall.

[-Harlington-]

Yeah it probably caused traffic problems and cast dark shadows over the gardens, and if it got any taller it might start eating children or something
:sly:

[worldlyhaligonian]

There's a smilie for that: :babyeat:

[-Harlington-]

^^^

lol !

[Keith P.]

I wonder if it was damaged/destroyed in the Halifax Explosion.

[someone123]

Those old gates were in the middle of the South Park side of the fence. In 1907 the entrance was moved to its present location. It is possible they demolished the old gates at that time, but I don't really know.

I doubt they would have been damaged or destroyed in the Explosion. They look like they were built out of stone and they would have been on the opposite side of Citadel Hill from the blast.

[jslath]

Those old gates were in the middle of the South Park side of the fence. In 1907 the entrance was moved to its present location. It is possible they demolished the old gates at that time, but I don't really know.

I doubt they would have been damaged or destroyed in the Explosion. They look like they were built out of stone and they would have been on the opposite side of Citadel Hill from the blast.

My grandfather once told me about that gate. If I recall the story correctly, you would have to buy a ticket at the gate to use the tennis courts, for a seat for concerts at the band stand, or to go skating on the pond in winter.

[fenwick16]

Here's an interesting photo from the NS archives. The title says that it shows the South Park gates of the Public Gardens:

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/images/Notman/200715179.jpg
(you can see it in more detail using a flash plugin at http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/notman/archives.asp?ID=693)

I never knew that this structure existed. Does anybody know anything about it, like the date of its construction or demolition? Is the title of the photo even correct?


The screen capture below is from this link - http://ia700208.us.archive.org/2/items/cihm_13042/cihm_13042.pdf . The image is from a 1878 Atlas of Halifax that was posted by planarchy in another thread (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=5490297#post5490297). The image is from Plate P of the atlas.

Although it doesn't show fine details, it shows the Public Gardens Skating Rink in 1878 in the middle of the South Park Street side. I wonder if the large South Park Street Gate was associated with this skating rink? According to the following link - http://www.halifaxpublicgardens.ca/s_8.asp, it was the first skating rink in Canada. Based on the preceding link, the rink was removed to make way for the wrought Iron Gate (and I assume the large gate and wooden fence were removed at the same time).

PS: I just read jslath's post which seems to indicate that this might have been at the entrance to the skating rink.

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8928/publicgardensskatingrin.jpg

Here is some more interesting information (http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/Introduction.asp) - "Halifax would have the first covered skating rink in Canada, after one was constructed inside the Horticultural Gardens (later the Halifax Public Gardens) in 1867, to meet the rising interest in indoor skating." (I think the date might be wrong through, since elsewhere I read that both Halifax and Montreal opened skating rinks within days of each other in 1862 - http://www.birthplaceofhockey.com/origin/game-chron.html)

The drawing (below) of a 1880 skating carnival is probably from a skating rink set up the Exhibit Hall on Tower Road and Morris Street that opened in 1880. "Another local novelty was the skating rink at the Exhibition Building on Tower Road, officially opened in 1880. Ice carnivals were held there regularly, attracting upwards of 3000 spectators to watch hundreds of costumed skaters." (source: http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/results.asp?Search=&SearchList1=4) So it appears as though Halifax had at least two covered rinks at that time, including the one at the Halifax Public Gardens.

(source: http://www.old-print.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=M1210880375T)
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/1372/halifaxskatingrink1880.jpg


I think that it is rather interesting that back in the mid to late 1800's, Halifax was such as innovative city.

[worldlyhaligonian]

But guys, using any historical sites is totally against the fact that they were used historically. :)

[eastcoastal]

LOL - love that the gardens were historically used in the winter.

[planarchy]

Fantastic video of Halifax in the 40s. Lots of streetcar shots! Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/RP_mS5WDApY

[Jstaleness]

Fantastic video of Halifax in the 40s. Lots of streetcar shots! Enjoy!

RP_mS5WDApY

Is the building starting at 1:03 the old Nova Scotia Hotel? I have only ever seen a few pictures but it looked familiar.

Amazing how busy it was. What a time to have lived in Halifax.

[Empire]

My grandfather once told me about that gate. If I recall the story correctly, you would have to buy a ticket at the gate to use the tennis courts, for a seat for concerts at the band stand, or to go skating on the pond in winter.

WHAT! You could skate on Griffins Pond at one time. I suggested opening up the Gardens 365 days a year and more specifically promote skating on Griffins Pond to council about 5 years ago and I was nearly run out of town....................

[Empire]

Is the building starting at 1:03 the old Nova Scotia Hotel? I have only ever seen a few pictures but it looked familiar.

That is one bad ass video. I especially like the clip of a speeding bicycle splitting between two tram cars while a traffic cop oblivious to the scene directs unconcerned motorists......it looks like New York!

We need to get our Mojo back.............

[ZET]

I doubt that the gates were affected by the explosion. The house that Maclennan (Barometer Rising) lived in at the time of the explosion was only torn down a couple of decades ago, and it would have been directly across the street from the gates. Of course, I could be wrong

[fenwick16]

I found what I believe is a picture of the Public Gardens Skating Rink taken in 1880. The image below is a zoomed-in view of an image from the Nova Scotia Archives - http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/Notman/archives.asp?ID=406.

The skating rink was the first covered skating rink in Canada (3 sources) - http://www.halifaxpublicgardens.ca/s_8.asp, http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/Introduction.asp, and http://www.birthplaceofhockey.com/origin/game-chron.html

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/8928/publicgardensskatingrin.jpg

The skating rink location matches the one shown in the 1878 Halifax Atlas Plate P (page 162/220) - http://ia700208.us.archive.org/2/items/cihm_13042/cihm_13042.pdf (from a link posted previously by planarchy)

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8928/publicgardensskatingrin.jpg

[resetcbu1]

Great pic , great quality and just pretty cool view of an area that has certainly changed alot!

[JET]

Those three houses would have been where the CBC radio building is now?

[beyeas]

This is something that should be rebuilt.

I have a great picture of my grandfather in his naval uniform, taken in 1943 while he was here doing training before going overseas, standing by one of the small bridges in the gardens. In present day you can see the existing gate from that location. But based on the picture in 1943 the current iron gate wasn't there... it looks like it is just trees etc where the gate is now (the same trees that came down in the hurricane!).

It is cool though to see, as the bridge, the concrete flower pots etc all look identical to what they are now.

[fenwick16]

Those three houses would have been where the CBC radio building is now?

Yes, at the corner of South Park Street and Sackville Street. You can identify the three homes in this Halifax Atlas (i.e. survey) from 1878 - http://ia700208.us.archive.org/2/items/cihm_13042/cihm_13042.pdf. It is on page 91 of 220 of the pdf file. I took a screen-capture image and posted the image below.

The Atlas was from 1878, which was 2 years prior to the picture in 1880, so by comparing the two many of the buildings can be identified.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5606/3homeswherecbcradionowi.jpg

[someone123]

It's interesting how prosperous Halifax looks in photos from the mid-late 1800s period. The gate looks like something from a European city and the ice rink was the first in Canada. One of the institutional buildings in the background of that photo was an exhibition hall. I'm not sure what the other brick building farther off in the distance was -- maybe the poor house, but I thought it had burned down by then.

Back around 1870 Halifax was more like, say, Calgary is today. Atlantic Canada had about 1/4 of Canada's total population. By 1930 or so Halifax had fallen to the point where it was about the same size as places like London, Ontario. Since then it has been a medium-growth city. This sort of growth timeline is pretty unique in North America; the industrial cities did amazingly well during the 1880-1930 period. Had Halifax kept pace even with Montreal during that period it would have had about 300,000 people by 1930 and would probably be a city of well over 1,000,000 today.

To put things into perspective, in 1871 the City of Toronto had 46,000 people and by 1931 it had 631,000. During that period Halifax went from 30,000 people to 59,000. Saint John went from 29,000 to 47,000. That's the period when the Maritimes really fell behind.

I am getting these stats from this great site by the way: http://populstat.info/

[fenwick16]

It's interesting how prosperous Halifax looks in photos from the mid-late 1800s period. The gate looks like something from a European city and the ice rink was the first in Canada. One of the institutional buildings in the background of that photo was an exhibition hall. I'm not sure what the other brick building farther off in the distance was -- maybe the poor house, but I thought it had burned down by then.

Back around 1870 Halifax was more like, say, Calgary is today. Atlantic Canada had about 1/4 of Canada's total population. By 1930 or so Halifax had fallen to the point where it was about the same size as places like London, Ontario. Since then it has been a medium-growth city. This sort of growth timeline is pretty unique in North America; the industrial cities did amazingly well during the 1880-1930 period. Had Halifax kept pace even with Montreal during that period it would have had about 300,000 people by 1930 and would probably be a city of well over 1,000,000 today.

To put things into perspective, in 1871 the City of Toronto had 46,000 people and by 1931 it had 631,000. During that period Halifax went from 30,000 people to 59,000. Saint John went from 29,000 to 47,000. That's the period when the Maritimes really fell behind.

I am getting these stats from this great site by the way: http://populstat.info/

After reading your post I realized which building was the Royal Exhibition Building. I zoomed in to show both the Royal Exhibition Building, which was built in 1880 and it held skating carnivals during the winter, and the Public Gardens Rink (built around 1860 and was the first covered skating rink in Canada). I think the building of the Royal Exhibition Building probably led to the eventual demolition of the Public Gardens Rink, since the Royal Exhibition Building was a much more majestic structure.

(source: a screen-capture of this image - http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/Notman/archives.asp?ID=406)

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/488/royalexhibitionbuilding.jpg

Here are a few more of the Royal Exhibition Building:

(source: http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/Notman/archives.asp?ID=680 )
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/share.asp?url=/nsarm/images/Notman&path=200714808&title=Notman%20Studio%20NSARM%20accession%20no.%201983-310%20number%2069971%20%20%20%20%20www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/%20%20%20%20%20c%202011

(source: http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/Notman/archives.asp?ID=160 )
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/share.asp?url=/nsarm/images/Notman&path=200714270&title=Notman%20Studio%20NSARM%20accession%20no.%201983-310%20number%205115%20%20%20%20%20www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/%20%20%20%20%20c%202011

(source: http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/Notman/archives.asp?ID=653 )
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/share.asp?url=/nsarm/images/Notman&path=200714781&title=Notman%20Studio%20NSARM%20accession%20no.%201983-310%20number%2068862%20%20%20%20%20www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/%20%20%20%20%20c%202011