You have got to be kidding. They tore down that beautiful old church to replace it with what????? F*ck this city is uglier by the minute.
This article appears in Oct 23-29, 2008.
Trinity Church gone?
You have got to be kidding. They tore down that beautiful old church to replace it with what????? F*ck this city is uglier by the minute.
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I just came back from Europe and they really know how to preserve their old buildings. Halifax is such a backwater little shit on a shingle town (and small minded to boot), it’s pathetic. Look at downtown – this should be a priority for revitalization but noooooo….all the morons in other parts of HRM refuse to clue in that a revitalized downtown will benefit them as well. All they care about is their own area, forget HRM as a whole (or hole).
The one on Cogswell ? I went there when I was a child, it was really neat (then) there were tunnels in the walls you could walk thru – out the whole building, and an old office in the tower that they had left just the way it was years ago. That church had been destroyed in the HFX explosion and rebuilt. What a shame.
I’m torn on this issue, yes the old buildings are nice, but at what cost? I don;t know why the church was torn down; Whats it worth to the taxpayer? Of course they are probably just going to put another ugly ass condo there anyway.
I cried a little when they tore it down. I asked the minister outside if they were planning on keeping any of the two hundred year old trees on the property. He told me that he thought that the contractors would move them to the Public Gardens. I asked him what was going to happen to the huge ancient apple tree behind the church and he said “There’s an apple tree here?”. *rollseyes*.I went over there today and saw that they had razed most of the trees after they bulldozed the rest of the building. I begged the guy with the chainsaw (nice guy) not to cut down the apple tree, he said he wouldn’t but there are a lot of other workers with chainsaws…
TTFN is right, this really is a shitty little backwater town. The only nice buildings in Halifax are the old ones. I like new buildings too, when they’e designed with taste and quality materials..which almost never happens it Halifax since it’s too poor! I’d like to see a Halifax architect design something as beautiful to look at as most of those old buildings on Barrington. Fat chance!! It’s really pathetic and embarassing that the most beautiful street in the city is so neglected.
TTFN is right, this really is a shitty little backwater town. The only nice buildings in Halifax are the old ones. I like new buildings too, when they’e designed with taste and quality materials..which almost never happens it Halifax since it’s too poor! I’d like to see a Halifax architect design something as beautiful to look at as most of those old buildings on Barrington. Fat chance!! It’s really pathetic and embarassing that the most beautiful street in the city is so neglected.
I too am unimpressed with this decision. And I agree wholeheartedly with most of you and the OP. I have watched this city continually tear down old buildings/heritage buildings my whole life. And everytime they tear another down I cry a little inside. (although I don’t believe the Trinity was a heritage building, it would have been some day) It’s really a shame to see these beautiful structures torn down for any reason. Especially more ugly, uninteresting condos. A lot of times, I have noticed, it’s not the fact that there is no money for quality materials, A, but that people are too cheap to buy them. Especially the people building these giant condos. I work in the construction industry and 90% of the time I have found everyone simply wants more for less. But in regards to the downtown, and other old buildings in Halifax and the surrounding HRM, I think they should be preserved. We could easily preserve the heritage downtown and that look, and still have a modern city. It just takes a little creativity and some good planning. I myself am extremely interested in history, especially our own of course. Namely Halifax, and would love to see that history revitalized and expressed to everyone who visits. Regardless of the fact we’re a port city, lots of military and bars, and that Halifax has always been a pretty seedy little city, it is a very beautiful one as well, or at least has extreme potential to be. And A is right, Barrington is one of the most beautiful streets in downtown, and so neglected. It just doesn’t seem right. Look at the work Parks Canada does to restore and maintain the fortresses and other historical areas. We’ve got the Citadel, Georges Island, and Point Pleasant Park(although PC only actullay tends to the Martello Tower), McNabs and over Furgusons Cove, York Redoubt. The LEAST the city can do is preserve the little bit of heritage, and the few old churches and and other beautiful old buildings that we’re fortunate enough to still have.Sheila Fougere made a comment during one of the Downtown Business meetings before the municipal election about Halifax being not only the hub city in NS but in the whole Maritimes. And the downtown is the heart of HRM. If we feed the heart and keep it healthy, it in turn feeds the the other arteries(communities) with life. (well that’s a summary anyway, not a quote.)When people come to Halifax, they most always come into the downtown first. Even when you land at the airport, most times people head right into Halifax. First impressions mean a great deal. And right now we’re not giving people much to work with…
Holy Shit! Sry there, I didn’t realize I had gone on for so long!! Oops!
I can understand wanting to preserve some of the past but sometimes a building is just not worth saving. There are citizens living in Halifax who work very hard to try to preserve our heritage, but they can’t save them all. In order for a city to survive it has to have growth and condos, as ugly as you might think those buildings are, bring people to live in the downtown core in numbers. This makes for a living, breathing core. The downtown core of Halifax has died a few times. Barrington Street was very much dead at one time then resurrected and now it is kind of looking run down due to those old facades they have propped up with all the faces in each window, that looks like crap. Is it worth saving? Not if it sits there for 10 years looking like hell. AND I wish everyone would stop calling Halifax a hole, if you don’t like it here MOOOOOOVE.
The church was abandoned, the congregation had moved out, and the owners sold it. Don’t blame the developer.
Lola: good point, I understand what you are saying, and I must retract my earlier statement about ugly and uniteresting condos. Alot of them are quite beautiful and very interesting to look at. And I agree that we need the growth of condos for those to live and work, right downtown, I just think they can continue to build out and up, without taking away the heritage look the buildings have. And the actual historical ‘downtown’ goes from Duke to Sackville, and Brunswick to the water. I’d like to see that area somewhat restored, and to keep that Historical Halifax. Even the buildings that are occupied, are not getting the care they should to maintain that look. I don’t even care if all the buildings are kept to look as they did inside, but to have the outer shell, at least, to look as it did back in the early days of Halifax would be neat. And I agree too Lola, if they think it’s such a hole than live somewhere else.