Destroyed Halifax heritage building will be replaced by nearby historic home
Building that originally stood in lot collapsed when it was being moved by a crane
A Halifax developer will move a historic building into the empty lot where a heritage home was destroyed last year, but one advocate says the incident shows stronger protections are needed for the province's oldest and most storied properties.
On Tuesday, Halifax regional council approved alterations to the protected Carlton Street Streetscape that will allow a Victorian-era building on Robie Street to be moved to the corner of Carlton and College streets.
The corner has been empty since March 2023 when 1452 Carlton St., known as the Mary Ann Noble Building, collapsed as it was being lifted by a crane. The home dated back to 1861.
"This was completely unexpected and we were pretty horrified," Emma Lang, executive director of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, said Thursday.
"Buildings of all shapes and sizes and ages get moved pretty regularly, and they rarely wind up in a pile on the ground."
The Noble building and its neighbour, the Crosskill Building at 1456 Carlton St., were both meant to be part of the Promenade Robie South development. That project aimed to preserve the Noble, Crosskill and two other buildings on the block while others would be demolished to make way for two high-rise residential towers.
Crews were lifting the Noble to make way for a new foundation when it slipped from the crane. Lang said she's seen multiple heritage homes moved successfully, including the Morris House a decade ago, and the recent Elmwood building where soap was used to slide the building back.
"This is a way I had never seen being moved," Lang said. "We know that this is a very unusual outcome, and probably one that was preventable and also one that put people at risk."
To address the hole in the heritage streetscape and keep the development moving forward, city staff negotiated with Promenade Robie South developer Peter Rouvalis to preserve the Mary Belcher Building at 1377 Robie St. — which would have been demolished — and move it to fill the empty lot.
There were no fines issued by the municipality for breaking heritage bylaws when the Noble building was destroyed.
Lang said this case is yet another example that highlights the need for stricter consequences at all three levels of government for those who fail to protect historically significant buildings.
She pointed to the destruction of Reid House in Avonport, N.S., in 2020 as an example. In that case, a development company was fined $86,000 for demolishing the farmhouse that dated back to the 1760s and was granted heritage status in 1993.
"At the root is that our province has incredibly weak penalties for destruction of heritage properties," Lang said.
Halifax planner Seamus McGreal told the city's heritage advisory committee in June that a new development agreement will "insist" on a safer approach to move the Belcher building than a crane.
"That method is obviously not the right one," McGreal said.
Committee member David Jones said he was worried about the precedent this new plan would set. He said some developers could see it as a green light to demolish and replace heritage buildings, rather than preserve them.
"If you keep dropping buildings, you're gonna run out of buildings to replace them with," Jones said.
McGreal said in this case, the replacement building is from the same era, as it was constructed in 1896, and has historical connections to the one that was destroyed. Halifax's standards also don't recommend creating a new building to mimic the lost heritage.
"This is seen as the next best thing," McGreal said.
A staff report said another "notable and unauthorized action" happened to the Crosskill building beside the empty lot. Many character-defining elements were removed without permission, including cladding and its front porch.
Lang said it seems "silly and short-sighted" for the developer to break heritage rules with the Crosskill building when they're actually fairly lenient.
"The idea of going against that, I feel, is really disrespectful to our heritage, to our culture, to our communities, as well as to people who have put a lot of time and effort into thinking about what's fair," Lang said.
No fines were issued about the changes to the Crosskill building either.
A new development agreement is expected to come back to councillors next spring. It will include requirements to move the Belcher building safely, and restore the Crosskill building to its original condition.
The development is on hold until then.
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