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 Master of Arts (Art History) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 2010 © Claire Renwick, 2010 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Claire Renwick Entitled: City Building and Architectural Renewal: A Historical Study of Five Buildings in Halifax, Nova Scotia and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Art History) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Supervisor: Jean Belisle Reader: Cynthia Hammond Approved by: Joanne Sloan, Graduate Program Director 2010 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 structures 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 through 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 image of the city. After allowing a brief period of citizen participation in the planning process in the 1970s that resulted in the preservation and adaptive re-use of these buildings, City officials have increasingly diminished the capacity of citizens and interest groups to affect change in the urban environment, and overruled the overwhelming citizen protest over a redevelopment plan that has recently destroyed these five buildings in order to create an office tower. iii 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 17. Shaw Building blueprint, first floor. (Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management.) 18. Section of Insurance plan for the city of Halifax from 1914. (Goad, Insurance plan of Halifax, N.S.) 19. The Imperial Oil Building blueprints, first floor. (Halifax Regional Municipality Archives.) 20. Section of the Halifax Insurance Plan from 1964. (Insurance Plan of the City of Halifax Underwriters' Survey Board. Dated 1952, revised 1964.) 21. An aerial photo of Halifax from the harbour, c. 1935. (Stephenson, Redevelopment Study of Halifax, 11.) 22. Numbered blocks from Gordon Stephenson's Redevelopment Study. (“MAP 15,” Redevelopment Study of Halifax.) 23. An aerial photo outlining and the plot where the Scotia Square will be constructed. (Halifax Regional Municipality Community Development files.) 24. Cogswell Street interchange with Scotia Square development. (A.D. Margison and Associates. "City of Halifax: Cogswell Street Interchange.") 25. The towers of the Scotia Square development behind the Historic Properties. [Halifax Regional Municipality Community Development files.] 26. Plan showing the Harbour Drive expressway. (De Leuw Cather & Company, "City of Halifax: Harbour Drive.") 27. The originally proposed route of Harbour Drive. (A.M. Margison and Associates, Evaluation of Alternate Proposals.) 28. The "compromised" route of Harbour Drive. (A.M. Margison and Associates, Evaluation of Alternate Proposals.) 29. The completed Cogswell Street interchange. (Halifax Regional Municipality Community Development files). 30. Shaw Building, corner of Hollis and Duke Streets. (NSCAD archives at NSARM.) 31. Imperial Oil Building from Upper Water Street. (NSCAD archives at NSARM.) 32. Map of the NSCAD Campus on Granville and Hollis Streets. (NSCAD archives at NSARM.) vii 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.) viii 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 stone commercial buildings on the streets behind them, representing Halifax's evolution from a British merchant port into a modern Canadian city. Although they are now acknowledged to be historically and architecturally