City Building and Architectural Renewal: A Historical Study of Five Buildings in Halifax, Nova Scotia Claire Renwick A Thesis in The Department of Art History Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Art History) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 2010 ©Claire Renwick, 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre r6terence ISBN: 978-0-494-80160-4 Our file Notre r6f4>rence ISBN: 978-0-494-80160-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada ABSTRACT City Building and Architectural Renewal: A Historical Study of Five Buildings in Halifax, Nova Scotia Claire Renwick Halifax is a small Canadian city that has gone through phases of city building and urban renewal that have most visibly affected its downtown area around the waterfront. While many buildings were cleared during the post-WWII period, growing heritage preservation and participatory planning movements in the city successfully saved many older buildings that contribute to the history of Halifax. This case study looks at five heritage buildings in the waterfront area known as the Peter Martin Liquors, Harrington MacDonald-Briggs, Fishwick & Co., Shaw, and Imperial Oil Buildings, and seeks to document their individual and collective histories by bringing together aspects of the social, political, and economic circumstances that have shaped these buildings from the eighteenth century to the present. Through investigating the buildings' histories and changing forms, a history of city building and urban renewal in Halifax can be uncovered along with the power structures that determine the shape and image of the city. The most recent project, the redevelopment of four of the above mentioned buildings into an office tower, has demonstrated the competitive city building initiatives of a new era in Halifax planning. in ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Jean Belisle, for his support and guidance during the writing of this thesis, as well as my reader, Dr. Cynthia Hammond, for her thoughts and suggestions. I would also like to thank Paul Erickson, Alan Ruffman, Philip Pacey, Bill Plaskett, and Nick Webb for sharing their knowledge and thoughts on Halifax history, architecture, and planning with me. iv Table of Contents List of Illustrations vi Introduction 1 Chapter 1 A Brief History: The Urbanization of Halifax and the Buildings in Question 7 Chapter 2 Post-War Redevelopment and the Creation of the Historic Properties 36 The Post-War Cityscape and Planned Downtown Renewal 36 The Battle of Habour Drive 59 The Rehabilitation Project: The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design & Historic Properties 74 Chapter 3 From Heritage Properties to Office Complex 84 Postmodern City Planning in the Global Era 84 The Waterside Centre and the Contemporary Struggle for Historic Properties 99 Conclusion 115 Bibliography 125 Appendices 119 Illustrations 136 v ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. "Aerial view of Halifax Harbour." {Natural Resources Canada Online.) 2. Map of landmarks in the Historic Properties area of downtown Halifax. (Parnass, Halifax Waterfront Urban Design Criteria, "Introduction".) 3. "Privateers Wharf." {Trip Advisor - Historic Properties Online.) 4. View of buildings on Hollis Street. (Photograph by Philip Pacey, August 15, 2008.) 5. View of buildings from the corner of Hollis and Duke Streets. (Photograph by author, October 15, 2009.) 6. View of buildings on Upper Water Street. (Photograph by author, October 15, 2009.) 7. On Upper Water Street. (Photograph by Philip Pacey, August 15, 2008.) 8. "Granville Mall." {Special Event Sites - Halifax Regional Municipality Online.) 9. First plan for the city of Halifax by engineer John Bruce, 1749. (E. Pacey, Georgian Halifax, 15.) 10. A plan of Halifax from 1831. (E. Pacey, Georgian Halifax, 20.) 11. Peter Martin Liquors Building. (Photograph by Philip Pacey, August 15, 2008.) 12. The Harrington MacDonald-Briggs Building, 1855 Upper Water Street. (Photograph by author, October 15, 2009.) 13. The Harrington MacDonald-Briggs Building, 1865 Hollis Street. (Photograph by author, October 15, 2009.) 14. The Fishwick & Company Building, 1861 & 1863 Hollis Street. (Photograph by author, October 15, 2009.) 15. Section of "The City of Halifax, 1879" (cartographic illustration). 16. Section of Insurance plan for the city of Halifax from 1889. (Goad, Map of Halifax city.) vi Shaw Building blueprint, first floor. (Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management.) Section of Insurance plan for the city of Halifax from 1914. (Goad, Insurance plan of Halifax, N.S.) The Imperial Oil Building blueprints, first floor. (Halifax Regional Municipality Archives.) Section of the Halifax Insurance Plan from 1964. {Insurance Plan of the City of Halifax Underwriters' Survey Board. Dated 1952, revised 1964.) An aerial photo of Halifax from the harbour, c. 1935. (Stephenson, Redevelopment Study of Halifax, 11.) Numbered blocks from Gordon Stephenson's Redevelopment Study. ("MAP 15," Redevelopment Study of Halifax.) An aerial photo outlining and the plot where the Scotia Square will be constructed. (Halifax Regional Municipality Community Development files.) Cogswell Street interchange with Scotia Square development. (A.D. Margison and Associates. "City of Halifax: Cogswell Street Interchange.") The towers of the Scotia Square development behind the Historic Properties. [Halifax Regional Municipality Community Development files.] Plan showing the Harbour Drive expressway. (De Leuw Cather & Company, "City of Halifax: Harbour Drive.") The originally proposed route of Harbour Drive. (A.M. Margison and Associates, Evaluation of Alternate Proposals.) The "compromised" route of Harbour Drive. (A.M. Margison and Associates, Evaluation of Alternate Proposals.) The completed Cogswell Street interchange. (Halifax Regional Municipality Community Development files). Shaw Building, corner of Hollis and Duke Streets. (NSCAD archives at NSARM.) Imperial Oil Building from Upper Water Street. (NSCAD archives at NSARM.) Map of the NSCAD Campus on Granville and Hollis Streets. (NSCAD archives at NSARM.) vn 33. Harrington, Fishwick and Imperial Oil Buildings converted into the "Lismer Building". (NSCAD archives at NSARM.) 34. Second floor of "Lismer Building". (Files of Fowler Bauld & Mitchell Architects, Halifax NS.) 35. Third floor of "Lismer Building". (Files of Fowler Bauld & Mitchell Architects, Halifax NS.) 36. Sites in Halifax with or awaiting historic designation. (Parnass, Halifax Waterfront Urban Design Criteria, "17 Retention.") 37. Architect's drawing of Waterside Centre. (Lydon Lynch Architects, Armour Group: Properties Online.) 38. Floor plan of the Waterside Centre. (Lydon Lynch Architects, Waterside Centre Building Online.) 39. The demolition of Peter Martin Liquors Building. (Photograph by Tiffany Naugler, November 2, 2008.) 40. Remaining walls of the Harrington, Fishwick, and Shaw Buildings. (Photograph by author, May 11,2010.) 41. The Harrington and Fishwick Buildings. (Photograph by author, June 14, 2010.) 42. The Shaw Building. (Photograph by author, April 16, 2010.) 43. The Imperial Oil Building. (Photograph by author, May 11, 2010.) 44. The Harrington MacDonald-Briggs Building. (Photograph by author, May 11, 2010.) vm INTRODUCTION On the northern end of Halifax's waterfront is a district of heritage buildings known collectively as the "Historic Properties" (Fig. 1 and 2). Contained in roughly three downtown city blocks, these rehabilitated buildings range from large wooden and stone warehouses on the waterfront to the finer stone commercial buildings on the streets behind them, representing Halifax's evolution from a British merchant port into a modem Canadian city. Although they are now acknowledged to be historically and architecturally