Sir Sandford Fleming Park
Sir Sandford Fleming Park | |
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Halifax, Nova Scotia | |
Area | 95 acres (38 ha) |
Created | 1908 - 1912 |
Operated by | City of Halifax |
Sir Sandford Fleming Park is a 95-
History
History of Halifax, Nova Scotia |
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During the 1880s Sir Sandford Fleming, famous for introducing standard time to North America, established a summer retreat on property fronting Halifax's Northwest Arm, after he finished constructing the Intercolonial Railway. He called his retreat The Dingle, the name that is still used today.
The park contains two walking trails passing through forests,
Dingle Tower
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Dingle_Tower_2018.jpg/220px-Dingle_Tower_2018.jpg)
In 1908, Fleming donated the property to the citizens of Halifax for use as a park and proposed the construction of a tower within it to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the establishment of representative government in Nova Scotia, the province having held on 2 October 1758 the first elected assembly in what is now Canada.[4]
An ardent imperialist, Fleming also intended the proposed tower to serve as a memorial to the development of parliamentary institutions in the British Empire, now the Commonwealth. Designed by the architects Sidney Dumaresq and
It was formally dedicated in an impressive ceremony in August 1912 by Canada's
In 1913, two large
Restoration
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2013) |
The Memorial Tower was restored between 2010 and 2013. It was partially reopened at the beginning of August 2012 when the 100th Anniversary was celebrated at the opening ceremony. The bulk of the restoration was done by Coastal Restoration and Masonry with the involvement of a number of other specialist firms. The restoration included repointing the entire tower interior and exterior, rebuilding the copper roof, installing new stainless steel grilles on the Observation Deck to keep birds out and people in, reinforcing and refinishing the internal stairs, installing new interior and exterior lighting, refurbishing the window openings and installing new windows, and refurbishing the 35 plaques on the interior walls and the two bronze lions guarding the entrance. The total cost was approximately $2.3 million. The Dingle Memorial Tower is open to the public in the summer months and has views of the city and Northwest Arm.
Dingle Tower Gallery
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Stone fromBrouage, France(1574)
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Dingle Memorial Tower
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View From Dingle Tower
Sir Sandford Fleming Cottage
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Fleming_cottage.jpg/220px-Fleming_cottage.jpg)
This rustic cottage on Dingle Road in the park was built in 1886 on land purchased in 1871 by Sandford Fleming. He spent summers at the cottage until his death in the cottage in 1915. The cottage was noted for its large stone fireplace studded with Nova Scotia amethyst The cottage was purchased by the city in 1948 and designated a municipal heritage building in 1985.[9] It was used for rental accommodation as well as by park maintenance workers until the 1990s.[10] Concerns have been raised about its fate as it currently remains vacant and boarded up, although the Halifax Regional Municipality is studying restoration and adaptive reuse.[11]
References
- ^ https://www.novascotia.com/see-do/attractions/sir-sandford-fleming-park-the-dingle/1521
- ^ Brian Cuthbertson. "Symbolizing in Stone"an event of "Imperishable Importance:" Halifax's Memorial and Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of Representative Government. Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 12, 2009. p. 28
- Halifax Regional Municipality. Archived from the originalon 2010-12-02. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
- ^ Catherine Buckie, Parliamentary Democracy in Nova Scotia: How it Began, How it Evolved, Province of Nova Scotia, 2009
- ^ dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/architects/view/1650 Sidney Perry Dumaresq (architect)
- ^ Janet Kitz, Andrew Cobb: Architect and Artist, Nimbus Publishing, 2014, pp. v-vii, 29-30
- ^ Cutherbertson, p. 20
- ISBN 978-1-55109-261-4.
- ^ Sir Sandford Fleming Park and the Memorial Tower: A Brief and Not at All Definitive History", Halifax Regional Library
- ^ "Sir Sandford Fleming Cottage", The Canadian Register of Historic Places
- ^ Nina Corfu, "Cottage belonging to 'father of standard time' must be saved, locals say", CBC News, April 12, 2017