Quote:
Originally Posted by beyeas
In this context Saint John has both benefitted and suffered from having gone through long dry spells with a very poor economy. The benefit is that while other cities in the 60s and 70s were knocking down old buildings to build towers, SJ was in the doldrums and largely did not do so. Add in the fact that much of this section of downtown (Prince William, Canterbury, Germain, etc) was burned to the ground in the great fire and then uniformly rebuilt as brick/stone, rather than the wood structures that were there before, and you have a large stock of well built edwardian structures that are all self-consistent. There really are some spectacular buildings in that section of downtown (I went to SJHS, which is right in the middle of all that). The south end of the city is mostly in terrible shape (falling down clapboard wood structures that have been poorly maintained), but this section of the downtown core really does have a large self-consistent set of buildings that deserved to be saved/renovated. Last I visited I was actually impressed by the new development that has taken place, the loft conversion done to some of the old buildings, and the renovations that have taken place in some other buildings (e.g. along King Street). It has been a while since I felt positive about SJ, but I have to say they look like they have turned a corner.
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Saint John must have one of the biggest disconnects in Canada in terms of the quality of its heritage and neighbourhoods and how well-known it is. Hamilton is a bit like this too. I don't know a lot about these cities, but I suspect that if they play their cards right they can capitalize hugely on this. Urban living is becoming more and more attractive, young people are willing to move around, and character neighbourhoods are in high demand. There's a limited stock in the bigger cities and it's becoming incredibly expensive.
When it comes to the Saint John/Halifax comparisons, I feel like they've become two different animals. They're not really in direct competition anymore and they're no longer built on the same scale. When it comes to a discussion like this it makes a big difference because the level of development pressure in downtown Halifax, as one example, is in a completely different ballpark from Uptown SJ. There's also a lot of stuff going on in Halifax that wouldn't exist in its present form without the modern buildings. It's hard to find cities in North America that have had a lot of economic vibrancy and have really well-preserved older neighbourhoods. I think a lot of people take the modern development for granted.
I also think people sell the heritage buildings in Halifax a little short sometimes. If you take a step back, there are many buildings that don't have analogues in the rest of the region. As far as I know, there's no Dominion Public Building, Bank of NS, Dingle, or Citadel anywhere else. I'm not even sure there's another Nova Scotian Hotel (Charlottetown has a mini one) or maybe even Dennis Building (Saint John might have a couple of those). It's mostly little stuff outside of Halifax. Actually it's mostly newer too; you don't find St. Paul's type buildings outside of NS either for the most part.
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