Halifax Explosion - Reconstruction

Reconstruction

The North End Halifax neighbourhood of Richmond bore the brunt of the explosion. In 1917, Richmond was considered a working-class neighbourhood and was excluded from basic city services such as weekly garbage pick-up or paved roads After the explosion, the Halifax Relief Commission approached the reconstruction of Richmond as an opportunity to improve and modernize the city’s North End. English town planner, Thomas Adams, and Montreal architect, George Ross were recruited to design a new housing plan for Richmond. Adams, inspired by the Victorian Garden City Movement, aimed to provide public access to green spaces and to create a low rise, low density and multifunctional urban neighbourhood. The planners designed 324 large homes that each faced a tree-lined, paved boulevard. Ross and Adams specified that the homes be built with a new and innovative fireproof material, blocks of compressed cement called Hydro-stone. The two planners designed the construction of over 300 new homes using Hydro-stone for the hundreds of North End residents who had been rendered homeless after the explosion.

Once finished, the Hydrostone neighbourhood consisted of homes, businesses and parks, which helped create a new sense of community in the North End of Halifax. Adams and Ross were revolutionary in their enlightened approach to the reconstruction of the working-class, poor neighbourhood. The construction of this new and cutting-edge urban neighbourhood was criticized by many upper-class Haligonians who thought the Hydrostone was too extravagant for its working class residents. Nevertheless, the Hydrostone remains a unique neighbourhood and continues to serve as a valuable example of a modern urban-planning concept.