List of oldest buildings and structures in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Last updated December 01, 2024

This is a list of oldest buildings and structures in Halifax , Nova Scotia, Canada that were constructed before 1935.

1750-1799

Place	Address	Description	Date
St. Paul's Anglican Church	Grand Parade, 1749 Argyle Street	Oldest building in Halifax (1750); Early Palladian church; second and oldest surviving Protestant church in Canada	1750
Little Dutch (Deutsch) Church	2393 Brunswick Street	Second oldest building in Halifax – Oldest known surviving church in Canada associated with the German-Canadian community, 1756–60	1756
Sambro Island Light	Sambro Island, off Highway 349, Sambro	Oldest lighthouse in North America	1758
The Carleton	1685 Argyle Street	Oldest commercial building in municipality; built as residence of colonial administrator Richard Bulkeley	1760
Morris House (Halifax)	2500 Creighton Street	Oldest wooden home in Halifax, moved from its original location at 1273 Hollis Street to avoid demolition.	1764
Scott Manor House	15 Fort Sackville Drive, Bedford	Built on the land of Captain George Scott adjacent to Fort Sackville	1770
Quaker Whaler House	57 Ochterloney Street, Dartmouth	Nantucket architecture	1785
Privateer's Warehouse, Historic Properties	1869 Upper Water Street	Commercial grouping reflecting Halifax's 19th century development	1790
The Bower (Halifax, Nova Scotia)^[1]	5918 Rogers Drive	Brenton Halliburton’s home. Two story house with a distinctive mansard roof	1790
York Redoubt	300 Fergusons Cove Rd, Fergusons Cove	Major seaward defences of Halifax Harbour until World War II	1793
Prince of Wales Tower	Point Pleasant Park, 5530 Point Pleasant Drive	Oldest Martello Tower in North America	1796
Alexander McLean House	1328-1332 Hollis Street	Georgian-style house, built by a prominent Halifax businessman	1799

1800-1849

Place	Address	Coordinates	Description	Date
St. George's Anglican Church / Round Church	2222 Brunswick Street	44°39′12″N63°34′57″W / 44.65333°N 63.58250°W / 44.65333; -63.58250	Unique Palladian style round church, 1800–12	1800
Halifax Town Clock	1766 Brunswick Street	44°38′51″N63°34′49″W / 44.64750°N 63.58028°W / 44.64750; -63.58028 (Fort George (Halifax Citadel))	Three storey, octagonal clock tower, atop clapboard podium of classic Palladian style; commissioned by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent	1803
Prince's Lodge Rotunda	Bedford Highway	44°41′26″N63°39′34″W / 44.69056°N 63.65944°W / 44.69056; -63.65944 (Prince's Lodge, Nova Scotia)	Round summer house, commissioned by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent	1794
Government House	1451 Barrington Street		Excellent early Palladian style vice-regal residence	1805
Royal Artillery Park Officers' Mess	1575 Queen Street		Oldest active military mess in Canada	1816
Akins House ^[2]	2151 Brunswick Street	44°39′12″N63°34′55″W / 44.65333°N 63.58194°W / 44.65333; -63.58194 (Akins House)	A one-and-a-half-storey wood-shingled house originally built for Thomas Beamish Akins, surviving virtually in its original condition; one of the few remaining early 19th-century houses in Halifax and one of the oldest houses in the city	1815
Acacia Cottage	6080 South Street		Built in 1816 on Coburg road across from the Waegwoltic Club, within a grove of acacia trees (hence the name). It was later moved up the hill in 1950 (facing demolition) to South street where it now remains.^[3]^[4]	1816
Province House	1726 Hollis Street		Oldest legislative seat in Canada and site of the country's first responsible government	1819
Admiralty House ^[5]	2725 Gottingen Street	44°39′34″N63°35′34″W / 44.65944°N 63.59278°W / 44.65944; -63.59278 (Admiralty House)	An austere two-storey stone mansion set within the Stadacona site of CFB Halifax which served as the home of Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy’s North American station from 1819 until 1904	1819
Black-Binney House ^[6]	1472 Hollis Street	44°38′38″N63°34′17″W / 44.64389°N 63.57139°W / 44.64389; -63.57139 (Black-Binney House)	A house reflective of the Palladian-inspired residences common during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Eastern Canada; notable residents include John Black, James Boyle Uniacke and Hibbert Binney	1819
St. Mary's Basilica, Halifax	1531 Spring Garden Road		Central role in the religious history of Nova Scotia.	1820–29
Henry House	1222 Barrington Street		Common 19th century urban type in local ironstone; residence of Father of Confederation, William A. Henry	1834
St. George's Anglican Church Rectory (Trinity House)	5435 Cornwallis Street	44°39′10″N63°34′59″W / 44.65278°N 63.58306°W / 44.65278; -63.58306	The rectory was built 1838—1840 for the Rev'd Robert F. Uniacke. The truncated pitched roof and central dormer were typical features of late Georgian houses in Halifax.	1838

1850-1899

Place	Address	Coordinates	Description	Date
Halifax Citadel	5425 Sackville Street	44°38′51″N63°34′49″W / 44.64750°N 63.58028°W / 44.64750; -63.58028 (Fort George (Halifax Citadel))	Restored British masonry fort, constructed between 1828 and 1856.	1856 (completed)
Jonathan McCully House	2507 Brunswick Street		Italianate urban residence of politician and Father of Confederation, Jonathan McCully	1857
Halifax Provincial Court	5250 Spring Garden Road		Italianate court house.	1858
Cast Iron Façade / Coomb's Old English Shoe Store ^[7]	1883-1885 Granville Street	44°38′59″N63°34′29″W / 44.64972°N 63.57472°W / 44.64972; -63.57472	A mid-19th-century commercial building with a cast-iron facade; one of the first cast-iron-front structures in Canada and the only building in Halifax known to have a facade composed entirely of cast iron	1860
Sandford Fleming House	2549 - 2553 Brunswick Street	44°39′28″N63°35′19″W / 44.657811°N 63.588725°W / 44.657811; -63.588725	One-and-a-half Gothic Revival style house, named after the prominent Scottish-Canadian engineer Sir Sanford Fleming who resided in the house from 1866 to 1873.	1860
Welsford-Parker Monument	1541 Barrington Street		Sandstone triumphal arch; only Crimean War monument in North America; frames entry to Old Burying Ground, Halifax's oldest cemetery (1750)	1860
Fernwood ^[8]	6039 Fernwood Lane	44°37′37″N63°34′55″W / 44.62694°N 63.58194°W / 44.62694; -63.58194 (Fernwood)	A house on a large landscaped property; a noted example of a Gothic Revival villa in Canada	1860
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia	1723 Hollis Street		Built to house Nova Scotia's pre-Confederation Post Office, Customs House and Railway Department.	1869 (completed)
Fort Charlotte	Halifax Harbour		Fort Charlotte, together with associated caponiers and outbuildings, form part of original Halifax Defence Complex; access to Georges Island is restricted	1869 (completed)
Halifax Public Gardens bandstand	Spring Garden Road at South Park Street		Henry Busch-designed bandstand centres extensive Victorian-era public gardens, established 1867	1874-1879
Robertson's Hardware & Warehouse	1675 Lower Water Street		Victorian-style brick commercial complex built in three sections; housed hardware and ship’s chandlery; part of Maritime Museum of the Atlantic	1860-1880
Queen Street fire house	1252 Queen Street		Oldest fire station building remaining in Halifax; now a private residence	1877
Halifax Academy	1649 Brunswick Street		Two-and-a-half storey structure built as all-male high school; excellent example of Second Empire style. It was designed by Henry Busch, a proponent of the style, and prominent Halifax architect. Andrew Cobb designed an extension in 1917.	1878
Sir Sandford Fleming Cottage	Sir Sandford Fleming Park, 3 Dingle Road		Rustic, one-and-a-half storey, late nineteenth-century wood framed dwelling. Summer residence and the place of death of Sandford Fleming	1886
Cambridge Military Library	Royal Artillery Park, 1575 Queen Street		Built to house garrison library collection; oldest library collection in Atlantic Canada	1886
Halifax City Hall	1841 Argyle Street		Civic symbol on Grand Parade; second Empire style; built of red and cream sandstone with granite construction on ground floor and seven-storey tower	1887
Khyber Building (originally Church of England Institute Building)	1588 Barrington Street		Victorian-Gothic building designed by Henry Busch, as overseen by Bishop Hibbert Binning. Name "Khyber" began to be used in the 1970s after the Khyber Cafe that ran on the 1st floor. This building has been utilized for social activities since its construction when it housed a gym, library, lecture hall, and billiards.	1888
St. George's Parish Hall	2221 Maitland Street, Halifax		Built in 1889, and extended in 1910	1889 (original structure); 1910 (annex)
Fort McNab ^[9]	Halifax Harbour	44°36′0″N63°31′0″W / 44.60000°N 63.51667°W / 44.60000; -63.51667 (Fort McNab)	The remnants of defensive works constructed to defend Halifax when it was one of the principal naval stations of the British Empire; reflective of significant changes in defence technology in the late 19th century	1892 (completed)
G.M. Smith Building	1715-1719 Barrington Street		Four-storey, stone Art Nouveau building to house GM Smith dry goods store. Building restored after deadly fire killed 10 in Kay's Department Store in November, 1950.	1893
Halifax Armoury	2667 North Park Street		Large, urban, Romanesque Revival drill hall for the active militia, 1895–99	1899

1900-1935

Place	Address	Coordinates	Description	Date
Acadian Recorder Building	1724 Granville Street		Three-storey building of brick, stone and cast iron; eclectic architectural style; final home of one of the province's oldest weekly newspapers (1813-1930)	1900
French Village Railway Station	5401 St Margarets Bay Rd, Upper Tantallon		Built by Halifax and South Western Railway; now houses a cafe	1901
Power House	1606 Bell Road		Rare brick-built home in Queen Anne Revival and Neoclassical styles; housed superintendent of Halifax Public Gardens	1903
Churchfield Barracks	2046 - 2068 Brunswick Street		12-unit row house in Gothic style built by British Army	1903
Shaw Building	1855-1859 Hollis Street		Early 20th-Century Classical-style building; facade only remains	1903
Fire Station 4	1680 Bedford Row		Chicago style fire house with ornamentation, pilasters and Romanesque arches that served originally as equipment doors. Now houses McKelvie's restaurant.	1906
Halifax Bengal Lancers stables	1690 Bell Road		Concrete two-storey main building with stables, paddock, and riding rings	1908
Cathedral Church of All Saints	1330 Martello Street		Largest Anglican Cathedral in Canada. Perpendicular NeoGothic Structure, Ralf Adams Cram Architect	1910
Chebucto School	6199 Chebucto Road		20th century Neoclassical style brick schoolhouse; pressed into service as clinic and morgue following Halifax Explosion of 1917	1910
W.M. Brown Building	1549-51 Barrington Street		Victorian-style, three-storey commercial structure	1910-11
Pacific Building	1537 Barrington Street		Built in Neoclassical style to house YMCA; later offices of Canadian Pacific Railway	1911
Memorial Tower (The Dingle)	Sir Sandford Fleming Park, Armdale		Building led by Sir Sandford Fleming to commemorate 150 years of representative government in Nova Scotia	1912
Tramway Building	5212 Sackville Street		Five-storey Neo-Gothic style building housed offices of the Halifax Electric Tramway Company	1916
Hydrostone District	Bordered by Novalea Drive, Duffus, Young, and Isleville Streets		Public housing in Garden Suburb style; part of reconstruction of city's North End following Halifax Explosion of 1917	1917-20
Musquodoboit Harbour Railway Station	7895 Highway 7, Musquodoboit Harbour		Built by Canadian National Railway; excellent example of 20th-century railway station design; now a museum	1918
Halifax Relief Commission Building	5555 Young Street		2.5-storey Tudor style building housed agency providing relief to victims of 1917 Halifax Explosion	1920
Halifax Forum	2901 Windsor Street		Sports arena featured first artificial ice surface east of Montreal	1927
Pier 21	1055 Marginal Road		Highly specialized building type related to early 20th-century Canadian immigration and post war immigration	1928
Halifax Station and hotel complex	1161 Hollis Street	44°38′23″N63°34′09″W / 44.6398°N 63.569113°W / 44.6398; -63.569113	Beaux-Art sandstone head house built by Canadian National Railway with adjoining hotel; Bush-style train shed was demolished before 1990.	1928
The Bank of Nova Scotia Building	1709 Hollis Street		Built as bank's main branch; one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in Canada	1931
Dominion Public Building	1713 Bedford Row		At 13-stories, Art Deco structure was highest in the city prior to 1960; built as Depression-era relief project	1935

Related Research Articles

Nova Scotia is a province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and most populous province in Atlantic Canada, with an estimated population of over 1 million as of 2024; it is also the second-most densely populated province in Canada, and second-smallest province by area. The province comprises the Nova Scotia peninsula and Cape Breton Island, as well as 3,800 other coastal islands. The province is connected to the rest of Canada by the Isthmus of Chignecto, on which the province's land border with New Brunswick is located.

Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2023, it is estimated that the population of the Halifax CMA was 518,711, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County.

Province House in Halifax is where the Nova Scotia legislative assembly, known officially as the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, has met every year since 1819, making it the longest serving legislative building in Canada. The building is Canada's oldest house of government. Standing three storeys tall, the structure is considered one of the finest examples of Palladian architecture in North America.

Annapolis Royal is a town in and the county seat of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The community, known as Port Royal before 1710, is recognised as having one of the longest histories in North America, preceding the settlements at Plymouth, Jamestown and Quebec. For nearly 150 years, it served as the capital of Acadia and subsequently Nova Scotia until the establishment of Halifax in 1749.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Halifax, Nova Scotia</span> Overview of the culture of Halifax (Canada)

Hosting the region's largest urban population, Halifax, Nova Scotia is an important cultural centre in Atlantic Canada. Halifax is home to a vibrant arts and culture community that enjoys considerable support and participation from the general population. As the largest community and the administrative centre of the Atlantic region since its founding in 1749, Halifax has long-standing tradition of being a cultural generator. While provincial arts and culture policies have tended to distribute investment and support of the arts throughout the province, sometimes to the detriment of more populous Halifax, cultural production in the region is increasingly being recognized for its economic benefits, as well as its purely cultural aspects.

Government House of Nova Scotia is the official residence of the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia, and is located in Halifax. It stands in the provincial capital at 1451 Barrington Street; unlike other provincial Government Houses in Canada, this gives Nova Scotia's vice-regal residence a prominent urban setting, though it is still surrounded by gardens.

Georges Island is a glacial drumlin and the largest island entirely within the harbour limits of Halifax Harbour located in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality. The Island is the location of Fort Charlotte - named after King George's wife Charlotte. Fort Charlotte was built during Father Le Loutre's War, a year after Citadel Hill. The island is now a National Historic Site of Canada. As of August 6, 2020, the island is open to the public on the weekends, from June until Thanksgiving weekend.

Halifax City Hall is the home of municipal government in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Designed by architect Edward Elliot, and constructed for the City of Halifax between 1887 and 1890, it is one of the oldest and largest public buildings in Nova Scotia. The property was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1997.

The RBC Waterside Centre is a commercial development in the downtown core of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada built by local real estate developer Armour Group. The project involves demolishing six heritage buildings and replacing them with a nine storey retail and office building, clad at ground level with the reconstructed facades of most of the former heritage buildings.

The Grand Parade is a historic military parade square dating from the founding of Halifax in 1749. At the north end of the Grand Parade, is the Halifax City Hall, the seat of municipal government in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality. At the south end is St. Paul's Church. In the middle of Grand Parade is the cenotaph built originally to commemorate the soldiers who served in World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historic Properties</span>

The Historic Properties are warehouses on the Halifax Boardwalk in Halifax, Nova Scotia that began to be constructed during the Napoleonic Wars by Nova Scotian businessmen such as Enos Collins, a privateer, smuggler and shipper whose vessels defied Napoleon's blockade to bring American supplies to the British commander Duke of Wellington. These properties helped make Halifax prosperous in Canada's early days by aiding trade and commerce, but they were also frequently used as vehicles for smuggling and privateering. During the War of 1812, two of the most successful Nova Scotian privateer ships during this time period were the Liverpool Packet and the Sir John Sherbrooke.

The Prince of Wales Tower is the oldest martello tower in North America and is located in Point Pleasant Park, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was built in 1796 by Captain James Straton and was used as a redoubt and a powder magazine. Restored, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1943.

Henry House is a two-and-a-half-storey stone house located on Barrington Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The house is designated a National Historic Site, and is both a Provincially Registered Property and a Municipally Registered Property under the provincial Heritage Property Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Manor House</span>

Scott Manor House was built sometime between 1769 and 1772 and is now a museum in Bedford, Nova Scotia. It is the second oldest house in the Halifax Regional Municipality, after the Morris House, and was built by Joseph Scott on the land once owned by his brother Captain George Scott. The house was built next to Fort Sackville, which was under the command of Joseph Scott (1760).

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Nova Scotia:

St. Patrick's Church is an historic Roman Catholic parish church on Brunswick Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The parish was founded in 1843 and the Gothic brick and granite church was opened in 1885. It is registered as a Provincial Heritage Building (2010), a Halifax Regional Municipality Registered Heritage Property (1989) and has been listed by Canada's Historic Places since 2008. St. Patrick’s Church is also listed at the National Trust for Canada in their Top 10 Endangered Places List: 2008. It is currently served by the Society of Jesus.

The Black-Binney House was a former residence built in 1819 in Halifax, Nova Scotia which is now a National Historic Site of Canada. The house was built by John Black (merchant) and is reflective of the Palladian-inspired residences common during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Eastern Canada. In 1857, Hibbert Binney subdivided the property to build the St. Matthew's United Church (Halifax). In 1965 Sidney Culverwell Oland purchased and renovated the building to house the Nova Scotia Division of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires.

The Alexander McLean House or Alex McLean House is a heritage property in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and one of the oldest residences in the city.

References

↑ "HistoricPlaces.ca - HistoricPlaces.ca".
↑ Akins House . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 25 August 2012.
↑ "The Outside In of 6080 - Spacing Atlantic". Spacing Atlantic. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 2015-11-27.
↑ "Halifax Urban Greenway: Natural History Introduction". halifaxurbangreenway.org. Retrieved 2015-11-27.
↑ Admiralty House . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 22 August 2012.
↑ Black-Binney House . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 26 August 2012.
↑ Cast Iron Façade / Coomb's Old English Shoe Store . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 26 August 2012.
↑ Fernwood . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 30 September 2012.
↑ Fort McNab . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 2 February 2013.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "HistoricPlaces.ca - HistoricPlaces.ca".

[2] Akins House . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 25 August 2012.

[3] "The Outside In of 6080 - Spacing Atlantic". Spacing Atlantic. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 2015-11-27.

[4] "Halifax Urban Greenway: Natural History Introduction". halifaxurbangreenway.org. Retrieved 2015-11-27.

[5] Admiralty House . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 22 August 2012.

[6] Black-Binney House . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 26 August 2012.

[7] Cast Iron Façade / Coomb's Old English Shoe Store . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 26 August 2012.

[8] Fernwood . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 30 September 2012.

[9] Fort McNab . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 2 February 2013.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]