Former Church of England Institute - Halifax, Nova Scotia
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Weathervane
N 44° 38.755 W 063° 34.410
20T E 454521 N 4943777
The Church of England Institute is a three storey, brick building designed in an eclectic Victorian style. The Institute is valued for its association with Bishop Hibbert Binney and architect Henry Busch.
Waymark Code: WM12G37
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Date Posted: 05/20/2020
Views: 2
Description of Historic Place
"The Church of England Institute is a three storey, brick building designed in an eclectic Victorian style with a strong Gothic Revival influence. The building is set among other former institutional buildings of the same era on the south-west side of Barrington Street, Halifax, NS. The designation applies to the building and the land it occupies.
Heritage Value:
The Church of England Institute is valued for its association with Bishop Hibbert Binney and architect Henry Busch. Bishop Binney was an active proponent of the use of the Gothic Style for use on Church buildings in the late 1800's, and he left a legacy which enabled the construction of this building that had an original purpose to "diffuse a knowledge of the Church's work." Busch was well versed in traditional European styles, and for this Institute he designed a highly decorative Gothic composition with an eye-catching, suspended side spire. Other buildings designed by Busch in Halifax include the Halifax Academy, and the Halifax Public Gardens Bandstand.
The Church of England Institute, one of several church-related institutional buildings on Barrington Street, is recognized architecturally because of its ornate, eclectic Victorian style and Gothic Revival features that include window arches, trims and roof dormers. The building's most prominent feature is an ornate corner oriel window connected to a single engaged column below and a turreted spire above. The building is a part of a trio of adjacent buildings constructed in the late nineteenth century in the same scale and proportion, and contributes to the High Victorian architectural ambience of the area.
Source: HRM Planning and Development Services.
Character Defining Elements:
Key character-defining elements of the Church of England Institute include:
- Victorian Eclectic and Gothic Revival features such as the asymmetrically, highly ornate façade with arched windows, Gothic roof dormers and a projecting centre bay that is topped with a steeply pitched, hooded gabled dormers;
- horizontal articulation provided by a solid sandstone foundation, dentilled stringcourse on the first floor and a bracketed cornice at the eaves;
- prominent oriel window connected to a single engaged Corinthian column below and a turretted spire above with a weather vane at the top of the spire;
- mansard roof with steeply pitched, Gothic dormers on the front sides of the roof;
- materials: granite foundation, red brick structure and sandstone details;
- variety of window styles including arched forms and elaborate sandstone caps and prominent keystones."
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