Demolition of Vintage Row buildings underway in downtown Halifax

The demolition of a colourful row of buildings on Queen and Birmingham streets in Halifax has begun. 

The downtown properties housed a number of local businesses over the years, including Woozles Children's Bookstore, the Neighbourhood Witch General Store, and Elsie's Consignment Clothing.

On Tuesday, construction workers were still on-site, cleaning up after the structures were torn down. A fence has been erected blocking access to the property.

For Maureen Elsie Court, the owner of Elsie's, which operated on Queen Street for 25 years, it's been an emotional week. 

"I kept telling myself that if nobody's ever going to be in them again that it's probably better that they're just gone. But when I actually saw them gone … it felt very sad," she said. 

The row of houses on Queen Street that included Elsie's was known colloquially as Vintage Row.

"I saw it every day, people coming to our downtown and taking pictures of our buildings," said Court. "They were old and they weren't anything fancy … [but] just because they weren't full of beautiful stained glass windows or fancy architecture didn't mean that they didn't have a historical importance to the city."

Court's business moved to nearby Grafton Street after being forced to vacate last year. 

The writing had been on the wall since 2019, when Halifax regional council voted against naming several of the buildings heritage properties after owners raised concerns the designation would reduce their value and restrict possibilities for the properties.

According to a 2018 report by Halifax's heritage advisory committee, nearly all the buildings were built before Confederation, with the newest constructed between 1879 and 1889.

In 2020, a 10,778-square-foot parcel of land between Birmingham Street and Queen Street advertised as a mixed-use development site was put up for sale.

It's now owned by a numbered company controlled by John Ghosn, owner of Enqore Developments, but it's unclear what will be built on the site.

In an email, Coun. Laura White, who represents the Halifax South Downtown district, said she doesn't know what's planned there. 

Ghosn did not respond to a request for comment before publication.