HALIFAX - What happens when you take a harder discipline like architecture out of context and cut it up to resemble something more soft, like a quilt? Photographer Diane Laundy's new exhibition, fabrications, now on display at ViewPoint Gallery on Barrington Street in Halifax, provides urban art enthusiasts with some pause for thought.

HALIFAX - Plans revealed at a public consultation last night promise a landmark change in the Halifax landscape. Fenwick tower is getting all dolled up. If all goes according to plan, the building will be turned into luxury apartments within the next couple of years.  The former Dalhousie residence will be cloaked in a lavish glass shell, shielding Haligonians from the building's grim, oppressive concrete appearance. The glass exoskeleton will add about 11 metres to the building's girth, flanked by an additional 8-storey and 10-storey building, with street-level restaurants and boutiques. Happy new ...

HALIFAX - On the southeast corner of Hollis Street and Morris Street, in the South End of Halifax, a historically-significant set of buildings characterize the area. During the 200+ years that it has stood on this storied site, it has housed a hotel, an all-boys private boarding school, a rooming house, a rumoured brothel, and in recent years, an affordable place to live downtown on a month-to-month lease. Although some people have referred to the dilapidated grey building as an eyesore, even an ‘urban blight’ - there are many who regard this landmark with fondness. Differences of opinion aside, the building itself is as unique as they come. Every apartment is different from the last, equipped with century-old sinks, clawfoot tubs, brick and marble fireplaces, loft spaces, weathered wooden floors, grandiose arched doorways and quirky crawl spaces. Not to mention its most recognizable feature; the wrap-around verandah which serves as the focal point of interaction between the street and the building. photographs by Scott Munn

Halifax's Grand Parade has long been seen as the heart of the city. It is one of the oldest places in Halifax, having been mapped out in 1749.

Excitement is building for a new central library for Halifax. The new central library will replace the Spring Garden Road Memorial Library, which was built in 1951 as a memorial to Halifax's WWI and WWII casualties.

HALIFAX - It's not uncommon to encounter contrasts of old versus new, bleak versus shiny, defensiveness versus forward-thinking-ness.  That is particularly the case in Halifax, which enjoys a vibrant present as well as a rich and not always happy history.  I was reminded of that on a single day last week. First, I tried to visit the World War II observation posts and gun batteries  at York Redoubt historic park near Fergusons Cove. Besides being a pleasant walk, this is usually a great spot to view the entrance to Halifax harbour -- which is also why antisubmarine nets were stretched from here to McNabs Island 65 or so years ago, protecting the harbour from the U-boats that plied Canada's east coast, torpedoing naval and merchant ships. You can't get to the WWII location now, though.  Parks Canada has cordoned it off because it is sufficiently decayed and unmaintained that it might be a risk to park visitors.

Before the Maritime Centre opened its doors in 1977, the corner of Barrington St. and Spring Garden Rd. was home to the Capitol Theatre, which was demolished in 1974 to make room for the office tower.