Abstract

The five buildings examined in this thesis were part of a district of heritage buildings known as Historic Properties in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Now known as the Peter Martin Liquors Building, the Harrington MacDonald Briggs Building, the Fishwick & Company Building, the Shaw Building, and the Imperial Oil Building, they constituted almost an entire block in the downtown business district, next to the waterfront area. Their different construction dates, methods, and architectural styles have made them representative of different stages in the urbanization of Halifax, from an early British settlement to a modern Canadian city. Preserved from urban renewal in the 1960s and 70s by the protests of citizens and interest groups, the buildings were converted into a campus for the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and these five buildings served as the Art Education complex. By 2009, after lengthy battles in City Hall with citizens and a heritage interest group, a developer was successful in removing their heritage status so that they could be developed into an office tower with the exterior walls of the old buildings preserved as a decorative façade. This thesis follows the historical development of the buildings, from their initial construction through their preservation and their final deconstruction, while also following the development of the city itself in terms of the municipal governance and planning initiatives that have directed their remodellings.