Historic Halifax Inn To Be Altered With Nine-Storey Highrise
HALIFAX—Halifax Regional Council appears poised to usher along a developer’s plan to add a nine-storey highrise to a historic Halifax inn.
On May 25, the city’s Heritage Advisory Committee gave its support to Galaxy Properties Limited, which wants to make major changes to the South End building known as “The Elmwood.”
The developers are asking for permission to pick up and physically move the centuries-old building to a new spot on its property and tear down a rear wing of the building.
That will give Galaxy space to build a nine-story residential tower on the property, which will attach to the Elmwood.
As part of the project, the developer says it will also restore the aging building and replace missing historical elements.
A Facelift And A Physical Lift
Galaxy Properties plans to use historic photos to restore missing architectural features and preserve, repair, or replace other “character-defining” elements of the building.
The most ambitious part of the plan, however, will see the Elmwood lifted from its foundation and moved about 5 metres closer to the corner of the lot.
The developers also plan to tear down the rear wing of the building (the wing was added later on and has no heritage value).
Together, those steps will allow Galaxy to build a nine-storey tower on the property, attached to the Inn. The addition will expand the capacity of the building from 12 to about 79 residential units.
The new tower will attach to the back wall of the Elmwood and be set back from South Street and Barrington Street. It will also include commercial space on the ground floor facing Barrington Street, as well as two storeys of underground parking, with an entrance accessed via Hollis Street
The developer says it has designed the tower to be plainer than the Elmwood, so the “visual interest” of the historic Inn will remain the focus. The new tower’s windows and masonry will also take inspiration from the Elmwood.
In a report to the Heritage Advisory Committee, city staff said the plan “has little impact on the district’s heritage value and character-defining elements.”
The report says those “character-defining elements” will be maintained through the preservation and rehabilitation of the Elmwood structure.
“Further, the proposed addition includes massing and design elements to limit impacts on the District’s character-defining elements,” it says.
The Latest HRM Development Trend: Highrises Attached To Historic Properties
The Elmwood was built as early as 1826 as a one-and-a-half-storey home. The sea captain James Farquhar bought the property in 1896 and converted the building into a larger, Victorian-style hotel.
The building itself isn’t technically a heritage property but the city considers it a “contributing heritage resource” to the overall heritage value of the historic Old South Suburb.
If Galaxy Properties’ plan makes it through council, the Elmwood will join a growing list of historic Halifax buildings now attached to large highrise towers.
Already, the Waverley Inn on Barrington Street and Victoria Hall on Gottingen Street are being similarly altered.
In each case, developers agreed to pour money (in some cases millions of dollars) into the decaying heritage buildings in exchange for the privilege of plunking massive towers on the same property.
The project won’t even be the first time a heritage building is picked up and moved from its foundation. However, it’s almost certainly the largest heritage building to ever be moved this way in the HRM.
Despite that, the plan made it through the Heritage Advisory Committee easily.
Patrick Connor, who chaired the May 25 meeting, appeared somewhat surprised when members of the committee had few questions about the project.
He reminded the committee that the Elmwood is a “significant building in a significant district” and asked several times if anyone had questions or concerns.
No one did, and the committee voted unanimously to support the project.
The committee’s recommendation shuffles the plan along to Halifax Regional Council, which will decide whether to move the project along the development process by sending it to a public hearing, which will be the project’s next major hurdle.
Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].