The Nova Scotia Archives is pleased to share photos showcasing the changing faces of urban centers in Nova Scotia. You can learn more about the archives and explore thousands of photos, textual records, maps, art, and more on their website. The Halifax Common was granted in 1763 by King George III "for the use of the inhabitants of the Town of Halifax forever." (Text from HRM) Map. ca. 1918

SAINT JOHN - Nostalgia is powerful in cities, especially old cities. Saint John is an old city, where the past is preserved in the original street grid and hundreds of old brick buildings, many of which were constructed in the 1870s. Physically, parts of Uptown Saint John – including the Trinity Royal Heritage District, Orange Street and the south side of King Street – have changed little over the last hundred years. Uptown contains some of Canada's greatest streetscapes. The heritage districts are a unique mixture of buildings: elegant stone and brick office buildings; narrow three-storey townhouses on tree-lined streets; many small churches and a few large cathedrals; flats, homes on small lots and walk up apartments. The blocks are short and the streets are narrow. Some buildings have stores, restaurants or offices on the ground floor and few buildings are taller than five stories. Garages and parking are mostly hidden in backyards. This is good urban form: compact, walkable, densely built, mixed use and human scaled. This looks like the places Jane Jacobs studied and championed in The Death and Life of Great American Cities. But it's not exactly that type of place, not anymore. The buildings and streets are the same but the city has changed, sometimes dramatically. The south side of King Street is lined with historic storefronts and brick and stone mid-rise office buildings, but the north side of the street is composed of modernist office towers and a hulking concrete shopping mall. Other changes are less obvious. Factories and workshops, once the base of Saint John's prosperous industrial economy, have left the City centre. The streetcars that ran up King Street are also gone. Some buildings have been torn down and replaced by other buildings or parking lots.

The Nova Scotia Archives is pleased to share photos showcasing the changing faces of urban centers in Nova Scotia. You can learn more about the archives and explore thousands of photos, textual records, maps, art, and more on their website. From Halifax Street Names: An Illustrated Guide edited by Shelagh Mackenzie with Scott Robson: "The original British plan for Halifax divided the colony into a fortified central town flanked by North and South suburbs. The North Suburbs began in the vicinity of what is now Scotia Square and, over the years, expanded north. Initial settlement took place from 1750 to 1752, with the arrival of hundreds of "foreign Protestant" immigrants. Many were German, and, owing to an anglicization of the German word "Deutsch", the North Suburbs where they settled became known as Dutch Town. In 1753, most of the Germany relocated to Lunenburg, but a small nucleus remained behind in Halifax. In 1764, some of them petitioned the government in council to name their area Gottingen, commemorating the district of Germany. The council granted their petition, but the name Gottingen became less appropriate when Brunswick Street, named after another Germany district, emerged as the major artery north. The parallel street one block west remained Gottingen Street." Countess Clans William's group, relaxing by the tennis courts on the lawn east of Admiralty House, Gottingen Street, ca. 1885

The Nova Scotia Archives is pleased to share photos showcasing the changing faces of urban centers in Nova Scotia. You can learn more about the archives and explore thousands of photos, textual records, maps, art, and more on their website. A look back at the shops and businesses that made up the Water Street area in Halifax. Halifax, Looking North from the Grain Elevators, ca. 1886

The Nova Scotia Archives is pleased to share photos showcasing the changing faces of urban centers in Nova Scotia. You can learn more about the archives and explore thousands of photos, textual records, maps, art, and more on their website. Last week, we at NSARM ended a year-long digitization project. Some of the films features were produced by the Nova Scotia Film Bureau (later Nova Scotia Information Service) under the supervisor of filmmaker Margaret Perry. These films highlight Nova Scotia as a tourist destination and as a center of industry. An example of the later is the view of Sydney provided in the1956 film IDENTITY at the 8 minute mark: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcVYLS8qHD4[/youtube]

The [Re]Presenting Halifax series revisits historical and contemporary maps, diagrams and other interpretive readings of the Halifax region. See my first post for the full aims of this project and more information about contributing to the series. HALIFAX - The previous [Re]Presenting Halifax installment explored the morphology of the city through its most basic and anemic form: street pattern. Yet, despite this skeletal representation, relatively little of the city’s structural form — as experienced on the ground — is visible through the street network alone. For this reason, it is useful to look elsewhere — to what not only defines large scale spatial patterns in central Halifax, but that also impacts its social and economic structure. The form and scale of public land holdings and other mono-functional, amassed plots located on the peninsula demonstrate an alternate network, albeit a simple and fragmented one. Large swaths of peninsular Halifax have been claimed by public and pseudo-public entities — universities, schools, federal agencies (i.e. the Department of National Defense and Parks Canada), the Waterfront Development Corporation, and other provincial and municipal bodies. While the City can leverage their own properties, it often has little control or influence — or even communication — with these other "public" land owners. Yet, the use or mis-use of these parcels — specifically on the peninsula — can drastically impact the flow, permeability and vitality of the city itself. In this sense, the question arises: What is the morphological impact of public lands and other large mono-functional zones held within the tight confines of a peninsula? Do they act as connective tissue uniting otherwise separate communities through common ground? Or a cancer that fragments, segregates and adversely affects the health of Halifax? [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Figure ground; the built fabric of peninsular Halifax (most urbanized portion only). The Common and Citadel lands appears as a significant urban "void". "][/caption]

HALIFAX - Last week HRM Council appeared to approve two high-rise developments on Barrington Street – a 17 storey building on the site of the Roy Building and a 20 storey tower to be built on top of the Discovery Centre. Sound familiar? Confusingly, Council seems to have approved the same two towers in April of 2009. Adding to the confusion, both towers are within the Barrington Street Heritage Conservation District, and appear to violate the new downtown plan approved through HRMbyDesign. What exactly is happening with these two proposals? First, neither project has been granted final approval. Although the Roy Centre project was announced in the summer of 2008, and the Discovery Centre proposal submitted in February 2009, Council has to date only decided what rules the projects will be reviewed under. In March 2009 Council voted to review these projects under the existing Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) instead of the new downtown plan, which was still being developed through HRMbyDesign. Both proposals are taller than the height limits for Barrington Street that were ultimately set by HRMbyDesign. Consequently, Council felt it would be unfair to review (and ultimately reject) these developments based on the HRMbyDesign standards, which had not been finalized when the tower applications were submitted to the Municipality. The Council vote, which happened last week, was needed to amend the Heritage By-law — a step that was missed in 2009.

The Nova Scotia Archives is pleased to share photos showcasing the changing faces of urban centers in Nova Scotia. You can learn more about the archives and explore thousands of photos, textual records, maps, art, and more on their website. HALIFAX - In July 1750, the early settlers of Halifax were ordered to clear the streets in front of their respective lots. However, as T.B. Akins noted in his History of Halifax City, as late as 1780 the main thoroughfares were still in rough condition, while less-travelled streets were impassable to carriages, due to protruding tree stumps and rocks. Between 1820 and 1824, street commissioners were appointed for the city and they began gradually to macadamize ('pave') the streets. "Manager James Adams and most of conductors, drivers, etc., with two open (summer) Horse Cars, Halifax Street Railway Co., in front of the Company's Car Barn, Halifax, NS", ca. 1894