Developer aims to restore old Dartmouth post office, add 26-storey tower

Major changes to the landmark heritage building require Halifax regional council’s OK

DARTMOUTH, N.S. — Vacant for years, the old sandstone Dartmouth post office could soon see new life — with a tower on top.

RHAD Architects, on behalf of property owner James Lawley, is appearing in front of Halifax Regional Municipality’s heritage advisory committee next week to get permission to make significant alterations to the building for the massive residential development. Its plans are to build The Post, a mixed-use, 26-storey residential tower with townhomes and commercial spaces. It would have 142 residential units.

The 1914-era, two-storey building designed in the Edwardian baroque style was added to HRM’s heritage registry in 2020 before it was sold to the developer in 2021.

Historic Dartmouth landmark

Long before it was a post office, that land was the site for a Quaker meeting house from 1785-1822. The site was also home to Dartmouth’s first school (where the parking lot is now) and fire station and the Halifax Explosion-demolished Central School.

And between 1880 and the early 1900s, six townhomes built there were known officially as Rudolf’s Terrace after the property owner, but commonly referred to as “the Coloured Terrace” because of the African Nova Scotian residents.

In 1913, the land was expropriated for a new post office, which was built in the next year. …[Continue Reading]