Besides the ferry issue, Halifax council had an unusually mundane meeting Tuesday. But council did discuss the potential demolition of the former Tip Top Tailor building at 1592 Barrington Street—the cubist-inspired structure sandwiched between the Tramway building (hosting Venus Envy and Obladee Wine Bar) and the Khyber. The building is in horrible condition, but is part of the Barrington Street Historic District, so its demolition must go through a public hearing process.
There is a development proposal for a new six-storey building at the site, designed by Lydon Lynch Architects. Members of Heritage Trust oppose demolition of the Tip Top, and so does Morris Strug, owner of the Tramway next door.
“First, there used to be a right-of-way down there, a big hallway. Secondly, it’s putting an office [building], covering all the windows in *my* office building,” says Strug. “They want to put a building right against my walls; if they want to leave the right-of-way out, it wouldn’t be so bad. But they’re going to cover up my building. It’s terrible.”
Strug owns considerable property in Halifax—he says he has “1,000 units for seniors,” has been in the business for 62 years and has built in Newfoundland, Montreal and Florida. “I’ve never had the problems I’ve had here,” he says. “Somebody has to have a little consideration; I had consideration when I was building my buildings—my next door neighbour was something I had to take into consideration. Here they just don’t care. They just get a permit and try to push it through—it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. That’s the way it works. It’s terrible.”
Council set a date of May 22 for the public hearing.
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 2, 2012.
What do you mean by “it’s unclear if heritage groups will oppose…”
Did you not read the committee report or presentations? Heritage groups already opposed the demolition, at the committee level. Details here: http://halifax.openfile.ca/blog/curator-bl…
Bethany– that was a first draft that I posted indadvertedly. You’re correct. Will fix.
Excuse me if I don’t feel sorry.
A building! Right against your walls! In the city! *pearlclutch*
So what, they’re going to wrap a giant fucking brick wall ALL the way around the Tramway building? Funny, I don’t see that in the design. Right now I see a decaying piece of shit that fills up with garbage, piss and vomit which I bet Venus Envy and Obladee and their customers just love to put up with.
No sympathy for this guy at all.
1. The Tip Top building really is falling apart, and the building that is to replace it seems well-designed, and suits the character of the neighbourhood. (Four floors with a two-floor setback)
2. if you look at the side of the Tramway Building from a birds eye view, you’ll see that all of the windows look onto a small atrium. His windows aren’t being blocked. His atrium is being enclosed. He doesn’t care about the health of the surrounding neighbourhood. He just cares about his own damn property. Moron.
If Heritage Trust is against it, this must be a good project.
We’d have a beautiful city if people didn’t have to jump through so many hoops just to build even a fence, let alone an actual building!
I think it’s great that Mr. Bousquet seems to be promoting new development in Halifax. After disagreeing with him for so long, I can finally get behind him during this campaign!
If the Tramway building wasn’t so full of cracks and ugly, I’d think he’d have an argument. I think he just wants to not be the ugliest building on the block.