Old Halifax

[Keith P.]

At some point the B of M relocated up the street to whatever older building was on the corner of Hollis and Granville, before it was demolished to build their namesake tower that has been on that site since the late '60s/early '70s. I believe they are no longer occupying any of it and I don't remember if it has been renamed.

As for the Historic Properties, what is there now is what you get when a developer in the late '60s decides to build a Disney-like recreation of what might have been there, but misses the mark badly.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

At some point the B of M relocated up the street to whatever older building was on the corner of Hollis and Granville, before it was demolished to build their namesake tower that has been on that site since the late '60s/early '70s. I believe they are no longer occupying any of it and I don't remember if it has been renamed.

The old BMO tower still exists on the corner of Hollis and George, but the BMO branding has beem removed. I think the last I heard was that there was a plan to convert it to residential, but that could have changed as it was a while ago.

In the late 1800s, that corner was occupied by the W & C Silver Building:

Originally Posted by Keith P.

As for the Historic Properties, what is there now is what you get when a developer in the late '60s decides to build a Disney-like recreation of what might have been there, but misses the mark badly.

The best thing that came out of the Historic Properties deal was that a few of the old style stone warehouses were saved. Many more were demolished and nobody would have a clue of what used to be there had these ones not survived. The worst of the project were the faux-re-creations of buildings that never existed, as you described, that were probably built on a frugal budget... but at least they allowed Historic Properties to function.

If you want to use your imagination, you could look at those buildings as placeholders that could be replaced in the future with authentic facades based on old photos, such as the one I posted. Halifax is becoming a bigger city, and expectations for the quality of our historic neighbourhoods should be higher IMHO. Bringing back a few accurate replicas of some of our historic buildings would greatly improve the appearance and feel of the area, that would fit in nicely with a re-imagined Cogswell block.

[Keith P.]

The W. & C. Silver Building is interesting mostly for its top floor. I don't recall ever seeing a building of that era with so many windows on its top floor, if indeed that was a separate floor.The columns barely look substantial enough to support the roof. Interesting.

I have been a BMO customer forever and while I never had the DT branch as my regular one, when I worked up the street I would often go into their former main branch there to do business. It was always enjoyable because of the expansive space inside and tall ceilings. I also liked how the building itself had at-grade access from the Hollis St side with no need to climb stairs. Since I now avoid DT as much as possible I have no idea what their current location in the Convention Center is like.

[alps]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Also of interest are the separate entrances for girls and boys. I never really understood this, and thought of it as an extension of the Catholic school model, but my elementary school (Greenvale) carried on this practice right into the 1970s. Girls and boys entered through opposite sides of the school, and recess and lunch breaks were spent outside on separate sides of the school. If you tried to go to the other side, the on-duty teacher would stop you from doing so. Oddly enough, once you got back inside, boys and girls mixed as usual. I never really understood this practice, and thankfully it disappeared shortly afterwards.

The oldest section of Queen Elizabeth High School (opened 1942) had separate boys' and girls' entrances too.

[Keith P.]

Before my time, but I was told by an older relative that St. Pat’s High used to have stripes on the floors of the halls designating girls to walk on one side, boys on the other.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The W. & C. Silver Building is interesting mostly for its top floor. I don't recall ever seeing a building of that era with so many windows on its top floor, if indeed that was a separate floor.The columns barely look substantial enough to support the roof. Interesting.

I find the top of the building to be a curiosity as well. Here's another photo of it that's also undated, so it was changed at some point. The question in my mind is whether the tops of the buildings are both just ornamentation, or is the one in the post above the result of adding on a floor, in which case the window arrangement would be quite unusual for its time, and perhaps ahead of its time somewhat. It doesn't seem to have enough height to be an actual storey, though, so I'm guessing it's just ornamentation. They are both Notman Studio photos, which would be between 1869 and 1920, according to NS Archives, but that doesn't help to discern which came first.

Also, that building was replaced by another one, which was then replaced by the tower. I don't have timelines but I recall photos with a different building there.


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Originally Posted by Keith P.

I have been a BMO customer forever and while I never had the DT branch as my regular one, when I worked up the street I would often go into their former main branch there to do business. It was always enjoyable because of the expansive space inside and tall ceilings. I also liked how the building itself had at-grade access from the Hollis St side with no need to climb stairs. Since I now avoid DT as much as possible I have no idea what their current location in the Convention Center is like.

You're talking about the tower, presumably. I don't think I was ever inside that one.

I have been in the old B of NS building on Hollis and the old bank building on George and Granville, when it was Elephant and Castle, briefly. I was impressed with the business level in those banks for their ornate, high ceilings and attention to detail. A huge contrast to the very plain, functional bank interiors that are common now.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Pizza Corner, 1888.


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