Thread by @MiningNS

Mining built #NovaScotia!
#Halifax was founded in 1749 and its first court house is reported to have been built by 1754 on the northeastern corner of Buckingham + Argyle streets. After the building burned in 1789, the courts were temporarily housed in various buildings.
#nspoli

In April 1851 a bill to provide Halifax with a county court house was passed. Mr. H.G. Hill, a prominent #Halifax architect, prepared a plan for a wooden building.
However, since the records of the county, wills, deeds and other papers of public office were...
#nspoli #novascotia

...to be stored in the court house, it was important that the building be fire-proof. Also, a number of serious fires in #Halifax in 1857 led to the passage of a bylaw that required large buildings be made of stone or brick, so Hill's plans for a wooden building were abandoned.

New plans for a stone building were prepared by Architects W. Thomas & Sons of Toronto and George Laing, a prominent builder in #Halifax during the late 1850s and 1860s, was chosen to build it.
#nspoli #novascotia

Laing was born in Scotland and immigrated to Halifax in 1858 after spending some time living in both Newfoundland and New Brunswick. He operated the Albert Freestone Quarries in New Brunswick.
His #Halifax buildings include...
#nspoli #novascotia

the #Halifax Club and Keith Hall for brewer and politician, Alexander Keith. Laing also made the monument in St. Paul’s Cemetery (aka the Old Burying Ground) which commemorated the fallen of the Crimean War (pictured below with its distinctive lion statue on top).
#nspoli

The #Halifax County Court House (aka the Halifax Provincial Court at 5250 Spring Garden Road), was made of sandstone from #Wallace, Nova Scotia, and was completed in 1862.
#nspoli #novascotia

The same sandstone was used in the construction of many prominent buildings in #Halifax and elsewhere in the first half of the 19th century including Nova Scotia’s legislature, Dalhousie College, various bank buildings, insurance offices and mercantile houses.
#nspoli #novascotia

There were 33 quarries operating in #Wallace as early as the 1820s and the area still produces sandstone.
Today the court houses six courtrooms, judges chambers, court administration offices and the Provincial Crown.
#nspoli #novascotia

The historic character of the Courthouse remains and ongoing renovations and upgrades are designed ensure they honour the original architecture design while at the same time providing efficient modern-day court functions.
#nspoli #novascotia