More than any other city we visited, Halifax struck me as a contrast between heritage architecture and modern design. Everywhere we went this juxtaposition of old and new intrigued me.
I have to wonder how much the terrible 1917 blast that flattened much of the city had to do with this unique overlapping of historic brick and contemporary glass? Almost from the moment we stepped out of the Rialta I couldn’t help noticing way old and new overlap.
Could it be that, as the only Canadian city to have been devastated during the Great War, Halifax has a unique architectural aspect similar in some ways to European cities?
We were fortunate to maneuver the Rialta into a parking spot right downtown, just a couple of blocks from the Nova Scotia Art Gallery, the main cultural destination of our visit.
Before heading indoors to see the exhibits on that balmy summer day, though, we decided to do the waterfront walk, a truly fantastic feature of Canada’s eastern gateway port. From the ferry terminal, we looped round to Casino Nova Scotia, then back through the city toward The Grand Parade and finally, the gallery.
In the midst of all this was a project that demonstrated just how far Haligonians will go to preserve their architectural heritage. The seven-story facade of a heritage building, supported by a structure of metal beams, was being preserved while the demolished innards were under reconstruction.
I’ve seen the same in other cities, but those stoic walls seemed a sort of memorial to what had been. Soon they will be backfilled with a future that will last, perhaps another century.