Category Archives: Halifax thinks big

The Buildings of Africville

January 23, 2017 BuiltHalifax

Recently the former residents of Africville have re-launched a suit for compensation for lost property. This seemed like a good time to release a work in progress. I ran through minutes of council meetings from the 1960s and recorded the owners and compensation paid to each resident. I cannot claim to be an expert in…Read More

Centennial Project – Part 1

January 20, 2017 BuiltHalifax

Canada celebrated its 100th birthday 50 years ago, in 1967. To commemorate the event, the Federal government offered funding for civic projects across the country. The result was a legacy of centennial arenas, museums, and even a UFO landing pad built across the country to commemorate Canada’s birthday. In August 1964 the City of Halifax’s…Read More

Mulgrave Park

February 25, 2016 BuiltHalifax

Mulgrave Park was one of the direct results of the Central Redevelopment Area land clearance scheme. It was specifically developed to house the displaced people from this area. Mulgrave Park itself began as a large estate in the north end. It was destroyed in the Halifax Explosion and sat as vacant land, until it was…Read More

Gordon Stephenson and the 1957 Redevelopment Study of Halifax

August 6, 2015 BuiltHalifax

Gordon Stephenson was brought in by Halifax Council in 1957 to develop a plan for slum clearance. Stephenson was considered to be an expert in urban renewal and, as advocated by modernists like Corbusier, used scientific rigor to justify his findings. Stephenson was well educated, having studied at the School of Architecture, University of Liverpool,…Read More

Scotia Square – Centennial Square

April 28, 2015 BuiltHalifax

On April 30, 1965, the city announced another call for proposals for the Central Redevelopment Area. Things in Halifax had changed, and the Cornwallis Centre was no longer seen as the idea scheme. The city settled with Provinces and Central Properties for breaking the agreement. The April 1965 call for proposals brought 3 responses. Provinces…Read More

The National Housing Act and CMHC

January 28, 2015 BuiltHalifax

Besides architects and planners, the modernist town planning ideas also permeated to social welfare advocates, and politicians. In Nova Scotia, several town planning acts and municipal legislation were passed to allow towns to implement planning and zoning. This local legislation and support from prominent citizens and leaders was as much an enabler of these ideas…Read More

Scotia Square – Land’s Cleared, Now What?

January 20, 2015 BuiltHalifax

After Stephenson's 1957 report, the city of Halifax had defined a central redevelopment area. Between 1958 and 1962, the city focused on acquiring and clearing the land, clearing 17.3 acres by 1962. With the land acquired and cleared, it was now time to focus on what to do with it. The city's director of planning,…Read More

Harbour Drive

January 13, 2015 BuiltHalifax

Harbour Drive is one of the more interesting aspects of the city. Its proposal is responsible for the single most awkward urban artifact in Halifax - the Cogswell Interchange. Most people know Cogswell was meant to be the start of Harbour Drive. The roots of Harbour Drive come from the development community, and a desire…Read More

Modernity and Air Travel – Halifax International Air Terminal Building

September 3, 2013 BuiltHalifax

Air travel, which is now commonplace, used to be a new and very modern way of traveling. As such, it is not surprising that the post war growth in commercial aviation necessitated new terminals, and what better style to use for a modern mode of transportation then Modernism. The 1950s and 1960s saw an ambitious…Read More

The 1945 Master Plan

July 4, 2013 BuiltHalifax

The Master Plan for the City of Halifax was prepared by the Civic Planning Commission in 1945. The terms of reference for the Master Plan were issued in December 1943. The terms of reference were based on “assisting in effecting an orderly transition from wartime to peacetime conditions”. The commission was made up of 2…Read More