Dalhousie University is growing. Enrolment numbers for Atlantic Canada’s largest university totalled nearly 22,000 students at the end of 2021, and have been increasing by at least 500 students annually for the past five years. Dalhousie is also expanding as a real estate developer, particularly around its Studley campus in south end Halifax. Last year, […]
Heritage
Posted inNews + Opinion
Original bronze bells are coming back to Halifax City Hall after a silent century
Bells will be ringing again from City Hall this weekend, after roughly 100 years of silence. Two bronze bells are scheduled to be installed tomorrow (Saturday, October 30) in the bell tower on top of Halifax City Hall, and their chimes will be heard for the first time downtown at Grand Parade Square in the […]
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Viola Desmond and Alexander Keith’s graveyard clears heritage hurdle
Halifax’s Camp Hill Cemetery got almost perfect marks in its evaluation at a special meeting of the HRM heritage advisory committee. Among the thousands of marked and unmarked graves at the 177-year-old burial ground are the final resting place of both civil rights activist Viola Desmond and brewer-politician Alexander Keith. In a virtual meeting last […]
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Heritage status granted to Dennis Building

After months of debate, consultation and meetings, the Dennis Building has been granted heritage status. Regional council approved the designation this week after a short public hearing, making the Dennis one of the city’s only successful third-party heritage applications. Paul Armstrong, on behalf of the Maritime Institute of Civil Society, appeared before HRM’s Heritage Advisory […]
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Heritage status sought for Dennis Building
Halifax’s Heritage Advisory Committee voted this week to move forward with a third-party application for preserving the historic Dennis Building, going against the wishes of the property’s owner—the province. Paul Armstrong, on behalf of the Maritime Institute for Civil Society, has applied for HRM to include the location at 1740 Granville Street as a municipal […]
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Dump trucks and social dumping
The large dump trucks of construction waste thunder by my Schmidtville window with a downshifting growl on the grade outside my house. One every six minutes, by my count. It’s not warm outside so my windows are closed. But just wait for the warm days when I have to open them. When this round of […]
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Elmwood saved from the wrecking ball
One of the oldest buildings in Halifax without official heritage status is getting another shot at life thanks to its new owners. Galaxy Properties is working with HRM’s heritage team to try and save the Elmwood, and it looks like it might actually happen. “I think the odds are very good,” says municipal planner Aaron […]
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Marc Denhez on the future of heritage
If there’s an expert on heritage planning in Canada, it’s Marc Denhez. The author and adjudicator has over 30 years experience dealing with historic preservation and planning issues all across the world. He chaired a government-renovation industry task force, and has been honoured by the Canadian Institute of Planners, Ontario’s Ministry of Culture and received a […]
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The fall of the house of Elmwood
“So much of mankind’s varied experience had passed there—so much had been suffered, and something, too, enjoyed—that the very timbers were oozy, as with the moisture of a heart. It was itself like a great human heart, with a life of its own, and full of rich and sombre reminiscences.” —Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of […]
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Carry on Khyber (for six more months)
[Image-1] Khyber team…ASSEMBLE! Halifax city council has passed a motion opening the books and allowing the Khyber Arts Society, Friends of the Khyber and Neptune Theatre to create a plan for future use of the historic Halifax building. The group will now have access to building schematics, engineering reports and CAD drawings (documents they couldn’t […]
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Ghosts of Barrington
Silhouettes flicker on the pale white of St. Paul’s Church, shadows lit by the floodlights of Grand Parade. On a foggy Friday night, they’ve paid $10 each to gather for a dramatic tour of Halifax’s spookiest haunts. Yarns are spun of shipwrecked sailors and vengeful spirits. Here, overlooking Barrington Street, the tour guide turns to […]
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Khyber may go up for sale
[Image-1] After 126 years on Barrington, the Khyber Centre for the Arts building could be at its end. City staff is recommending Halifax Regional Council declare 1588 Barrington St. surplus and put it up for sale. Officials assessing the Victoria-era building listed poor conditions and hazardous materials (including a failing floor system and asbestos in […]