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Developer proposing 10-storey addition to Waverley Inn

JEN TAPLIN THE CHRONICLE HERALD jtaplin@herald.ca @chronicleherald

A developer is asking for the municipality’s permission to build a 10-storey addition around the historic Waverley Inn on Barrington Street in downtown Halifax.

Shuttered since the beginning of the pandemic, its owner Grafton Developments has submitted a consultant’s report and application to add on to the building. It would take the 14-room inn and create an addition with 80 or so rooms, plus amenities.

“I’m personally excited about this project because it’s really hard to emulate heritage and it’s something that’s special, that’s very difficult to recreate,” said Jason Ghosn with Grafton Developments Inc.

The Waverley isn’t a heritage building but it is in the Old South Suburb Heritage Conservation District, which protects Halifax’s first suburb. The neighbourhood sprung up in the 18th century and the Waverley Inn is considered by the city as a “contributing heritage resource” and therefore subject to a review when new work is proposed.

The proposal will land at the heritage advisory committee on Wednesday where city staff will ask for the plan’s initial approval, as well as the go ahead to schedule a public hearing.

PRESERVING AND RESTORING THE OLD

Over the decades, a number of elements were added and taken from the old Waverley: a rear wing was added and a cupola was removed. Ghosn said he plans to restore the old building to its original state, removing the rear wing and reconstructing the cupola on top. Historic photos will be used as a guide. Even the exterior paint will be restored to its original salmon colour, Ghosn said.

It was built as a private residence in the Italianate architectural style in 1865. Sisters Sarah and Jane Romans bought it and opened it as a hotel in 1876, adding on the back wing to add more rooms.

“The focus of the project is primarily preserving and restoring the original Waverley Inn that was built in 1865 and that will mean adding back the cupola lantern that was at the top of the building, restoring the lintels, reinstating the copper roof, preserving the decorative medallions and restoring the existing 20 columns,” Ghosn said in a phone interview. “Really bringing that back to its former grandeur and building a structure that is set back away from it and not take away from that original Waverley building.

In a report, staff wrote that they don’t consider the removal of the addition on the back as a issue since it wasn’t original to the building.

As for the interior, it will stay almost exactly the same, Ghosn said.

“We may add back the breakfast room that was there when it was originally built and do some minor things that were on the inside of that structure,” Ghosn said.

When they purchased the property about six years ago, Ghosn said they knew they wanted to save it because was so well kept over so many years.

“For a building that was built in 1865, there’s such a high level of detail and character in there that we wanted to be able to work with the existing structure.”

If and when they secure the permits, Ghosn said construction would be finished in about two years.

ADDING ON THE NEWS

In its current state, the inn is “insufficient to generate the income required for the running of the inn,” wrote consultants Zzap Consulting Inc.

The inn’s current business model also wouldn’t allow for other projects like the removal of rooms from the original dining room and the reinstatement of the original breakfast room.

The 10-storey addition would tower over the 2.5-storey Waverley Inn. It would be set back about six metres from the street and would also feature indoor parking.

Andrew Murphy, president of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, said the proposal is another example of an inappropriate addition to a heritage building. In a phone interview Monday, Murphy said the addition wouldn’t fit the context of the old architecture and is far too big.

The city’s standards say the new addition must be subordinate to the heritage building.

“Subordinate in my mind means less than, but that’s not how they’re interpreting it,” Murphy said.

In the report, staff say the new addition won’t displace the character-defining elements of the Waverley. The addition’s uniform materials and appearance of the addition sitting behind the Waverley achieve subordination, they wrote.

Murphy said it’s good that the developer is retaining the original building but there’s a cost to that. Cities that have been well preserved like Quebec City or Paris are huge tourist destinations.

“But Halifax everyday is beginning to look more and more like Mississauga, (Ont.),” he said.

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2022-01-25T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-25T08:00:00.0000000Z

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