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Originally Posted by yaletown_fella
It still blows my mind that Middlesex College, a neo gothic design, was completed in 1961, an era when planners were enthusiastic about tearing down anything pre-war for concrete bunkers.
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Dalhousie has some really nice historically-themed buildings dating up to 1960 or so, and there were a few others around Halifax like the old Maritime Life building (stupidly demolished for a generic midrise building with a slightly higher FAR). There were 3 large old high schools like this on the peninsula, all demolished.
Conversely there were some modernist buildings going back to the early 1900's including for their time avant-garde ones like the Tramway Building. Sometimes the more traditional and modern buildings were designed by the same architects.
In the 60's and 70's, it became ~100% modern with sometimes ambitious designs. By the 90's the architecture was modern but unambitious, with some Home Depot Revival mixed in. Dalhousie has plenty of large buildings from the 90's up into the 2020's and I'm pretty sure they are all mediocre. Dal really wrecked Howe Hall with an ugly addition in the early 2000's.
Dunn building is on the left in the background, opened 1960 at the end of the era of neoclassical masonry public buildings:
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Old Howe Hall (not many good pictures; this is behind the Dunn in the photo above and not really visible):
Addition built in early 2000's (lawn became parking lot)
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