1801 Hollis Street

1801 Hollis Street
1801 Hollis Street as viewed from Halifax Harbour in 2022
General information
Status	Completed
Type	Office building
Location	1801 Hollis Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 3N4
Coordinates	44°38′58.1″N63°34′23.5″W / 44.649472°N 63.573194°W / 44.649472; -63.573194
Opened	19 June 1985 (1985-06-19)
Client	Central Trust
Owner	Groupe Mach
Height	86.6 m (284 ft)
Technical details
Material	Reinforced concrete
Floor count	22
Floor area	223,213 sq ft (20,737.2 m2)
Lifts/elevators	5
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Clifford Lawrie Bolton Ritchie
Developer	Manuduke Limited
Structural engineer	Read Jones Christoffersen
Main contractor	Thomas Fuller Construction
Other information
Parking	67 spaces
Public transit access	Water Street Terminal

1801 Hollis Street is an office building in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Completed in 1985, it is one of the tallest buildings in Halifax, at 87 metres, with 22 floors. It was built as the corporate headquarters of Central Trust, one of the largest trust companies in Canada in the 1980s, and was originally known as Central Trust Tower.

History

1801 Hollis Street (left) and RBC Waterside Centre (right) as viewed from Upper Water St.

Site background

The site of 1801 Hollis Street was part of a bustling section of the original Halifax townsite (founded in 1749) known as Foreman's Division. The site, nearer the harbour shoreline prior to land reclamation, was used for a variety of commercial and residential purposes. There is archival evidence that two banks were located there in the 19th century. ^[1]

By the 1980s, the site was home to several smaller buildings housing restaurants and offices.

Development

Demolition permits for the existing buildings on the site were issued by the City of Halifax on 2 March 1983, the same day the project was announced, and demolition work began the same week. ^{[2] [3]} The Bluenose Restaurant and the Boy Scouts of Canada had already vacated the site, while Sanford's Second Storey Restaurant, at Hollis and Duke, had not yet been evicted. ^[2] The wood-frame Boy Scouts building was torn down on 5 March 1983, along with an office building at 1806 Upper Water Street (once home to the Black United Front) as well as the former home of the Bluenose Restaurant. ^[4]

The new office tower was designed by architecture firm Clifford Lawrie Bolton Ritchie and structural engineering consultant Read Jones Christoffersen, both of Toronto. It was developed by Manuduke Limited, a joint venture of Manufacturers Life (Manulife) and Clarence Investment Corporation, and built by Fuller Construction. ^{[5] [6]} The development was approved by Halifax council in April 1983. ^[7] It was built as the corporate headquarters of the Central Trust company, which was the main tenant.

Archaeological investigation

Excavation of the site commenced without an archaeological survey. After a NSCAD student, who had observed objects of historical significance in the construction pit, contacted the Nova Scotia Museum in January 1984, archaeologists from Parks Canada and Saint Mary's University were called in. ^[8] By this time, the site was already badly damaged, with most material having been trucked away to a landfill and the archaeological context destroyed. ^[9] Thanks to intervention by Halifax mayor Ron Wallace, the contractor, Fuller Construction, agreed to shift work away from the comparatively undisturbed northwestern corner of the site to permit a "rescue recovery" operation carried out by Saint Mary's archeology staff and student volunteers. Around 1,000 artifacts were collected there, including "ceramics, clay pipes, bricks, leather and an assortment of miscellaneous items". ^[8]

A separate salvage operation was carried out at the landfill. In total, around 25,000 artifacts were collected, mostly ceramics (18,673 items). ^[10] The findings of these efforts were documented in a report, Artifacts from Eighteenth Century Halifax: The Central Trust Archaeological Project, produced with support from the City of Halifax and Parks Canada staff, and published by the Saint Mary's University Archaeology Laboratory in 1987. The Manufacturers Life company donated $2,000 to Saint Mary's for the purchase of a chemical to aid in the preservation of leather items recovered from the site. At the official opening ceremony of the new building, the insurance company presented a further cheque of $20,000 to Saint Mary's, which was put toward the purchase of a freeze drying unit needed for leather preservation. ^[8]

Some of the artifacts recovered from the Central Trust site were put on permanent display at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History. ^[11]

Opening and renaming

Originally known as the Central Trust Tower and built at a cost of around C$25 million, the building was officially opened by Nova Scotia premier John Buchanan on 19 June 1985. ^{[12] [13]} Also in attendance were senior officials of Manulife and Central Trust, Halifax mayor Ron Wallace, and around 200 businesspeople. ^[14]

Before opening, Central Trust's branch at the corner of Granville and Duke streets – once the head office of the Eastern Canada Savings and Loan Company – was relocated to the ground floor of the new tower, which involved the transfer of safety deposit boxes by a team of armed guards. Aside from the ground floor, Central Trust also occupied the 18th, 19th, and 20th floors. ^[12] Other initial tenants included Barrow Nicoll; Dominion Securities Pitfield; Edgecombe Investment Services; Elliott and Page Atlantic; Manufacturers Real Estate; Mathers Travel; and MacInnes, Wilson, Flinn and Wickwire. ^[14]

The building was also known as the Central Guaranty Trust Tower following the merger of Central Trust and Guaranty Trust Co. Central Guaranty was acquired by the Toronto Dominion Bank in late 1992. ^[15] The tower was subsequently renamed 1801 Hollis Street.

Design

Top portion of the tower

The Toronto architecture firm that designed the building, Clifford Lawrie Bolton Ritchie, had completed several other high-rise projects for Manulife including Manulife Centre, Toronto (1974); Manulife Place, Edmonton (1983); and the North Tower extension of Manulife's head office on Bloor Street in Toronto (1983). For the Central Trust project, the company partnered with Halifax architecture firm Duffus, Romans, Kundzins, Rounsefell Limited. ^[16]

Building details

Constructed of reinforced concrete, the building has 22 floors and around 223,213 square feet (20,737.2 m²) of floor space. ^{[17] [5]} Each floor is around 10,350 square feet (962 m²). The tower is served by five elevators. ^[17] The tower is built over a two-floor underground parking garage, above which there are 21 leasable floors (including the ground level) while the 22nd storey is a mechanical penthouse level. At the very top there is a smaller penthouse for the freight elevator machinery (this arrangement allows the freight elevator to serve the 22nd-storey mechanical floor). ^[16]

The building height is approximately 284 feet (87 m) above Upper Water Street (including the freight elevator penthouse). ^[16]

The majority of the building is office space, but there is also an HSBC branch on Hollis St. in the space originally home to a Central Trust branch. The underground car park, accessed from Upper Water Street, has 67 parking spaces. ^[17] The uppermost of the two basement levels is also home to a coffee shop accessed from Upper Water. ^[16]

Exterior and urban design

Building entrance on Hollis Street

The exterior enamel cladding and reflective curtain wall are coloured white and blue respectively, the corporate colours of the Central Trust company. ^[18] In a presentation to Halifax council, architect Michael Clifford explained that the cantilevered and indented elements of the building are designed to echo the medium-rise scale of the surrounding buildings. ^[19] The floor areas of the ground, second, and eighth storeys are reduced due to the street-level overhang and the indentation at the eighth floor. ^[16]

The site area is around 18,069 square feet (1,678.7 m²). ^[16] The building has frontage on three streets: Upper Water, Duke, and Hollis. The building is set back from Duke Street, making space for a small plaza with seating. The development also includes a mid-block pedestrian shortcut, next to 5151 George St., connecting Upper Water and Hollis streets. ^[16]

Ownership

1801 Hollis Street was purchased by Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (CREIT) on 30 April 2001 for C$25 million. ^[20] Ownership of the building passed to Choice Properties REIT, controlled by Loblaw Companies, when that company purchased CREIT in 2018.

In 2022, the building was sold by Choice Properties to Montreal-based Groupe Mach for C$40 million. ^{[21] [22]}

Transportation

1801 Hollis Street is located across the street from the Water Street Terminal, a hub for Halifax Transit buses, as well as the Halifax Ferry Terminal.

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Further reading

• Davis, Stephen A.; Cottreau, Catherine; Niven, Laird (1987). Artifacts from Eighteenth Century Halifax: The Central Trust Archaeological Project. Halifax: Saint Mary's University Archaeology Laboratory.

References

1. Davis, Stephen A.; Cottreau, Catherine; Niven, Laird (1987). "The Central Trust Site History". Artifacts from Eighteenth Century Halifax: The Central Trust Archaeological Project. Halifax: Saint Mary's University Archeology Laboratory. pp. 7–12.
2. Jobb, Dean; Mason, J.P. (3 March 1983). "Central Trust wants new 21-storey downtown HQ". Daily News . p. 4.
3. "Real estate prospects generate optimism". The Globe and Mail. 28 March 1983. p. R10.
4. Mason, J.P. (7 March 1983). "Buildings torn down at trust tower site". Daily News. p. 6.
5. Jenkins, Alex, ed. (18 April 1983). "Concrete selected for Halifax high-rise". Heavy Construction News. Toronto: Maclean Hunter Ltd. 27 (7): 2.
6. "Congratulations Manulife and Central Trust on the opening of the Central Trust Tower [advertisement]". The Chronicle Herald. Thomas Fuller Construction Co., (1958) Limited. 20 June 1985. p. 12.
7. "City Council Minutes" (PDF). Halifax City Council. 28 April 1983. p. 186.
8. Davis, Stephen A.; Cottreau, Catherine; Niven, Laird (1987). "Introduction". Artifacts from Eighteenth Century Halifax: The Central Trust Archaeological Project. Halifax: Saint Mary's University Archeology Laboratory. pp. 1–7.
9. Cottreau, Katie (Spring 1986). "The Halifax Central Trust Site" (PDF). Teaching Anthropology Newsletter (8): 16–17.
10. "Central Trust Site, Halifax". Nova Scotia Museum. Archived from the original on 2 February 2006.
11. MacIntyre, April D.; Davis, Stephen A. (2005). "The Central Trust Affair and Lessons Learned". In Erickson, Paul A. (ed.). Underground Halifax: Stories of Archaeology in the City. Halifax: Nimbus Publishing. pp. 18–24. ISBN   1551095270.
12. Schneidereit, Paul (20 June 1985). "Central Trust has a brand new home". The Chronicle-Herald. p. 11.
13. Mason, John (29 July 1985). "Halifax office boom raised oversupply worry". Financial Times . p. 15.
14. "Gala opening for Central Trust Tower". The Chronicle Herald. 20 June 1985. p. 14.
15. Dalglish, Brenda (26 July 1993). "Survival of the biggest". Maclean's.
16. Calda, Paul (12 April 1983). Contract Development and Lot Consolidation, Site Bounded by Hollis, Duke and Water Streets, South of Duke. Development Department, City of Halifax.
17. "1801 Hollis Street, Halifax". Our Properties. Groupe Mach. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
18. Bruce, Harry (1987). A Century at Central Trust. Halifax: Nimbus Publishing. p. 98. ISBN   0920852912. Sheathed entirely in Central Trust's colors [sic] of blue and white, the tower overlooks the harbor's [sic] traffic and the city's downtown.
19. "Contract Development – 5150 Duke Street" (PDF). Halifax City Council. 20 April 1983. p. 178.
20. "2001 Annual Report" (PDF). Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust. 2001. p. 32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2006. On April 30, 2001, 1801 Hollis Street, an office building located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was acquired at a price of $25 million, paid partially with an assumption of a mortgage in the amount of $13.9 million.
21. "MACH expands to the Maritimes". Groupe Mach Inc. 29 December 2022. MACH is ending the year on a high note with the announcement of its first transaction in the Maritimes, its 46th acquisition in 2022. After a major breakthrough in Ontario over the past few months, MACH is expanding into Atlantic Canada with the addition of 1801 Hollis Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
22. Kucharsky, Danny (12 January 2023). "Groupe Mach acquiring 2 premiere Halifax office buildings". Real Estate News Exchange. Squall Inc.