HTNS Expresses Deep Concern to HRM Council Over a Recommendation to Potentially Demolish the Halifax Memorial Library.
Dear Mayor Savage and Members of Council,
We understand that Council will be considering the future of the Halifax Memorial Library site at today’s meeting.
We fully support the recommendation to recognize and interpret the importance of the site’s culture and heritage attributes and preserve the site for public use. However, we are very concerned that the recommendation assumes “substantial and/ or full removal of the building.”
Designed by Nova Scotia architect Leslie Fairn in the modern classical style, and built in 1951, the library was the first post-war public building to be constructed in Halifax. This distinction alone makes the building architecturally significant. It is also one of the few buildings dating from this period still present in the immediate area. Council agreed with this assessment when you unanimously voted to convey municipal heritage status to the building and site in 2020. Substantial and/ or full removal of the building would be a violation of the very protections Council conveyed to the Library just a few years ago. What kind of message would this send if Council recommends the demolition of a heritage building you yourselves only recently designated?
The Halifax Memorial Library was built during a time of rapid population growth and change in our city. Civic leaders at the time acknowledged the existing public library (located in City Hall) was too small to serve the community. The solution was the building of the Memorial Library, which would not only meet the needs of a burgeoning population, but would also serve as a monument to those who had served in the World Wars and the conflict in Korea. Today we find ourselves in a situation not unlike post-war Halifax, where we are undergoing rapid growth and experiencing increasing demand for public amenities. As such, we would urge you to demonstrate the same vision and creativity that your predecessors did and find a new use for the library the meets the needs of our community today.
We understand that there are some concerns about the current condition of the building. However, up until the day it closed, the building continued to function as a library, safely hosting members of the public. If the HRM has allowed the condition has deteriorate to such an extent that it is no longer safe for public use, that should not be used to justify demolition of the building.
Rather than demolish the library, we would urge you to fully explore possible alternative public uses for the building. We are aware of a number of organizations that have expressed interest in the building that could give it new life as a public asset. As such, we respectfully suggest that rather than allocating $300,000 solely to exploring how the site can be turned into a park, the scope of work should also include exploration of possible alternative public uses for the building.
Halifax Regional Municipality has a plethora of wonderful examples of how government and other public buildings can be transformed through adaptive reuse, and we strongly encourage you to exhaust all such possibilities for the Memorial Library before making the drastic and irreversible decision to demolish this important building.
Thank you for your consideration
Respectfully Submitted,
Andrea Arbic, Board President
Emma Lang, Executive Director
