[Halifax] Press Block | ? m | 9 fl | U/C

[Aegon123]

Update on this one: the Dennis Building, other than the facade, is completely demolished now. I am excited to watch this one develop as I think it will really change a prominent intersection in the heart of the downtown. No more looking at that unsightly lot, made only slightly less unsightly by the mural.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Looking forward to this one progressing, now that we are past the uncomfortable gutting of the Dennis and Acadian Recorder buildings. It will be worth seeing those historic facades stuck to a new structure just to see that prominent corner lot be occupied again. Losing the mural won't be so much of a loss for me...

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

20220618_132926_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20220618_132931_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20220618_133042_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20220618_133325_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20220618_132945_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20220618_133403_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

[OldDartmouthMark]

Great shots, Arrdee! I was thinking how cool it would be to capture the ghostly facades on a foggy evening for effect.

I'm assuming that there will be an archaeological dig on those sites before further digging/blasting commences? Anybody know whether that's standard procedure now when historic buildings are removed? I thought I had read something to that effect, but you never seem to hear much/anything of the results of those digs.

I recall reading that when the CIBC building was built that quite a few historical artifacts from the 1700s were recovered from the dumping site, but unfortunately most were not in good shape due to the absence of care in extracting them from the ground.

I also recall the discovery of old walkways about 10 ft below grade at the 'new' library site. It would be interesting (to me) to see what they find below the Dennis and AR sites, as well as the parking lot areas, as they had historic buildings on them up until they were removed some 30 years ago.

[KnoxfordGuy]

Holy cow! They really took the guts out of 'er!

[someone123]

Nice pictures. I think Granville has a lot of potential. It has/had flaws like this site, the Skye site, and the dead end at Cogswell, but these are slowly getting fixed.

In the long run I wonder what can be done about the mini dead zones around buildings like CIBC and the former Royal Bank. I kind of like the retro style of the Royal Centre and its vertical lines but it's bad at street level and some nice buildings were torn down to make way for it.

[atbw]

Originally Posted by someone123

Nice pictures. I think Granville has a lot of potential. It has/had flaws like this site, the Skye site, and the dead end at Cogswell, but these are slowly getting fixed.

In the long run I wonder what can be done about the mini dead zones around buildings like CIBC and the former Royal Bank. I kind of like the retro style of the Royal Centre and its vertical lines but it's bad at street level and some nice buildings were torn down to make way for it.

I wonder if some of those office towers will see a street level refurb/addition of retail like the towers on Brunswick, or a conversion to residential? I imagine it would be pretty challenging on some, though.

I imagine filling in the 'missing teeth' will help Granville shake it's back street vibe. Right now it feels more like a street to get somewhere, than a street to be on or visit.

[Keith P.]

While this project will be a slight improvement I think anyone suggesting it will make Granville into a vibrant street is dreaming in technicolor. The street has far bigger challenges than simply the Dennis and the adjacent parking lot that will now be redeveloped. This will still be largely a government block so there will not be much vibrancy there. The block northbound has the back of the TD and CIBC towers which are essentially dead zones, with a few small offices and struggling retail shops in between and across the street. The southbound blocks have the Johnston and Joe Howe buildings, again govt facilities so no vibrancy there, then the back of The Roy and the Centennial across the street, neither of which offer much promise. The Skye lot in the next block is next to the parking garage. Across the street are the backsides of a number of buildings that are unused or underutilized on Barrington, and the apparent impending demise of MEC does not bode well. An entire carload of dominoes would need to fall into place to make Granville into something noteworthy.

[Jor D]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The block northbound has the back of the TD and CIBC towers which are essentially dead zones, with a few small offices and struggling retail shops in between and across the street. The southbound blocks have the Johnston and Joe Howe buildings, again govt facilities so no vibrancy there,

a very easy fix to that "block northbound" (TD, CIBC, ETC), would be to intergrate all these office towers with pedways (2nd and 3rd level pedways) and have a major downtown shopping mall, (an expanded scotia square) that rivals the halifax shopping center in both quantity of boutiques and higher end quality. this would ease help the rising downtown residential population and ease traffic crossing town to get to a decent shopping experience. this huge shopping district downtown would be a shelter from the winter winds and a sheltered throughway for people coming from the ferry(s) (yes many ferries are our future, like it or not. no trains. ferries.)

[OldDartmouthMark]

One thing I noticed from the pics is that the Acadian Recorder bldg is stripped right up to the streetside brick facade, with apparently nothing else remaining of the building (Dennis appears to be the same).

According to the city documents, though, from page 4 of the document dated May 28, 2020, this appears to not be in keeping with the requirements or intent of the requirements:

1724 Granville Street (Acadian Recorder Building)
This property has a lot area of approximately 240 sq. metres (2,580 sq. ft.) and features a three-storey
brick, stone and cast-iron façade constructed in the Beaux Arts, Neo-Classical and Art Nouveau styles. Its
heritage value is derived from it’s unique and prominent architectural style, as well as it’s connection with
the newspaper industry as the home of the Acadian Recorder, one of the oldest and longest-running
newspapers in Nova Scotia.
The proposed substantial alterations to this property include:
• Removal of the rear portion of the building, while retaining the façade and structure to a depth of
4.6m (15ft) from the building face, including all identified character defining elements (see
Attachment E)
Staff advise that this proposed alteration is acceptable given that all identified character defining elements
will be retained and restored. While a significant portion of the existing building is proposed to be removed,
the nature of historic downtown commercial buildings is that they were constructed with the intention that
only the façade would be visible. With a significant depth of the building proposed to be retained, its threedimensional
character will be preserved.

Perhaps something has changed since this was written (or maybe there were structural issues involved with keeping said 15 ft)... I haven't gone through the document in its entirety. I was just struck by the photo that the AR building looks very 2-dimensional now, having being stripped down so deeply.

As a silly side point, I found it amusingly ironic that a paragraph describing a former newspaper building has so blatantly misused the word "it's". Proofreaders from times past must be rolling in their graves...

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Jor D

a very easy fix to that "block northbound" (TD, CIBC, ETC), would be to intergrate all these office towers with pedways (2nd and 3rd level pedways) and have a major downtown shopping mall, (an expanded scotia square) that rivals the halifax shopping center in both quantity of boutiques and higher end quality. this would ease help the rising downtown residential population and ease traffic crossing town to get to a decent shopping experience. this huge shopping district downtown would be a shelter from the winter winds and a sheltered throughway for people coming from the ferry(s) (yes many ferries are our future, like it or not. no trains. ferries.)

You can go from the TD/CIBC to Scotia Square via indoor pedways and structures already. TD and CIBC connect directly, pedway across Duke St to Barrington Place, pedway across Barrington St to Scotia Square, pedway in the other direction connecting to Purdy's and the Casino. Despite that, the residential population DT has not yet resulted in a retail renaissance, however.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

You can go from the TD/CIBC to Scotia Square via indoor pedways and structures already. TD and CIBC connect directly, pedway across Duke St to Barrington Place, pedway across Barrington St to Scotia Square, pedway in the other direction connecting to Purdy's and the Casino. Despite that, the residential population DT has not yet resulted in a retail renaissance, however.

Yeah... I don't think pedways are the key to vibrant streets.

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

20220728_152200_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20220728_152216 by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20220728_152432_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20220728_152439_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20220728_152537_HDR~2 by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

[OldDartmouthMark]

Great shots of Halifax-style "heritage preservation".

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Great shots of Halifax-style "heritage preservation".

I'm sure the "Friends of Broom Closet Sized Elevators" must be outraged! Not to mention the Society for Preservation of External Emergency Stairways.

They are preserving the only thing that building had that was worthy of preservation.

[MonctonRad]

Now that's what I call façadism!!!

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I'm sure the "Friends of Broom Closet Sized Elevators" must be outraged! Not to mention the Society for Preservation of External Emergency Stairways.

They are preserving the only thing that building had that was worthy of preservation.

Nothing like throwing a little salt in the wound, eh Keith? Kick a guy in the ribs after he's fallen and then walk away laughing.

Seriously, though, these two "reasons for demolition" could have been solved easily by incorporating them into the new building that it would have joined up to, or some internal changes to the structure. It's called engineering, eh? It happens in other parts of the country.

Always a pleasure, Keith.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Nothing like throwing a little salt in the wound, eh Keith? Kick a guy in the ribs after he's fallen and then walk away laughing.

Seriously, though, these two "reasons for demolition" could have been solved easily by incorporating them into the new building that it would have joined up to, or some internal changes to the structure. It's called engineering, eh? It happens in other parts of the country.

Always a pleasure, Keith.

Likewise, Mark.

The interior had absolutely no redeeming qualities. No architectural details, low ceilings, a rabbit warren of various govt el-cheapo renos, nothing that anyone would want. I just do not understand what you think would have deserved preservation.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Likewise, Mark.

The interior had absolutely no redeeming qualities. No architectural details, low ceilings, a rabbit warren of various govt el-cheapo renos, nothing that anyone would want. I just do not understand what you think would have deserved preservation.

Well, I just think it's important to keep actual structures of historic buildings. One would expect that original details would have been lost during numerous renovations over the years, but you would also expect interior features to be completely redone in large projects like this, where some period-appearing features could have been reproduced and blended in with a modern re-do tailored to its future function. It could have been made into something really special, IMHO, whereas I expect the current direction will lead to nicely restored stone and brick walls enclosing a generic current interior.

I can't speak to the renovations that you observed, but I do wonder if the low ceilings were due to a hung ceiling which was popular in the seventies through nineties. I know that the average height of people in the 1800s was less than current, but the old building still had to fit people, and there were tall people back then as well.

I also realize that historic structures are often not kept in order to accommodate underground parking, but with parking being considered less important these days, I'm thinking that this wasn't the deciding factor, since there was already a surface parking lot that would have allowed excavation for u/g parking.

The Acadian Recorder building was also an interesting structure (although again, I had never been inside), and I think that a lot of character was lost with that one as well.

Having stayed in historic buildings converted to a hotel in Montreal, I have to say that an old building upgraded to a modern function really has an ambience that you don't get in a ground-up new building.

Regardless, my opinions are unimportant here, as the deed has been done. And I'm not saying that my opinion is the right one, it's just my opinion.

[someone123]

Interior aside a portion of the exterior was demolished as well. Another question is whether these will operate as real buildings or will just be decorations hanging from another building with its own arrangement of space, entrances, etc.

I think in a lot of cities it would have been a no-brainer to preserve at least the Dennis Building as a registered heritage building, though hopefully this development will turn out nicely.