Historic/heritage properties you didn't know much about until they were gone

[Good Baklava]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

That said, I think the Mills Brothers block fits in perfectly, actually, and applies to my experience as well. I know less about the Casino theatre, though I have a murky memory of going there once back in the 1980s. I had never paid attention to the bay window over arch configuration before, but now I will be looking for it whenever I'm browsing old pics.

The Mills Brothers block is an interesting case. For me, it was 'always there', a staple of Spring Garden Road, and I never paid huge attention to the building, but also in some naive way I never considered that it would disappear some day (in the same way that I never thought the Maritime Life building on the opposite corner would continue to be there). As with anything, nothing lasts forever, even businesses or structures that you considered 'iconic' in some way.

Your post prompted me to look into the history a little more, and I found this site revealing the military history of the site (which I hadn't been aware of): https://hmhps.ca/sites/mills-brothers-block

In terms of the bay window over arch, I found this photo from the Halifax Municipal Archives:



...which shows that the bay window did not exist in 1970. Hmmm... interesting.

There was another post in Noticed in Nova Scotia which included the following statement:


So the bay window over arch was added at some point, maybe in the 1970s, but I don't personally remember to be honest. Most likely it was inspired by another (or more than one?) building that the designer had seen and thought it would fit the theme of this building perfectly.

Now did that idea come from another building in Halifax? The Casino Theatre maybe? It would be neat to find out.

Interesting, all I can really say is that the renovators did a very convincing job! It goes back to the conversation about rebuilding heritage structures. Now I’m wondering if this feature is really Haligonian and was instead borrowed from somewhere in Europe.

I was not around to experience the Casino Theatre, and the architect (Andrew Cobb) is from a whole other era so his thoughts are lost to history. The best thing to do would be to look at where he was schooled, where he travelled, in order to discern his influences. He was born in Brooklyn and studied at “l’école des beauc arts” in Paris. He also travelled to Italy and England, so a bay window hanging over a centre arch could have been taken from any of the aforementioned places.

Losing that house in the valley so abruptly is a real shame. Usually these histories are well known by locals but published in too few places until it’s too late. I know of a large house in NE Margaree also used as a stagecoach station. Informally known as “big pink” (even though it has been repainted purple) a young carpenter bought it as his first house and is making its rehabilitation a personal project.