Fenwick Place
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Fenwick Place is a Dalhousie University student residence in the south end of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Completed in 1971, it is the tallest building in Halifax at 98 metres and 33 stories, and also the tallest residential structure built east of Montreal. Fenwick Place occupies a property between Fenwick Street and South Street; it takes its name from Fenwick Street which honours former Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, Sir William Fenwick Williams.
At the time the building was being built the developer meant it to be much taller and even touted it to become the largest residential project east of Toronto. Once financial problems set in, the goal seemed unreachable and Fenwick Place was sold off to Dalhousie University for $5.25 million CAD as a student residence and was never "fully" completed on its interior. In fact, the four-bedroom apartments are really three-bedroom apartments; the largest bedrooms are divided in half by a flimsy wall comprised of chipboard and foam insulation, as can be seen in the photograph at the bottom right of this page. Local lore suggests that the top two floors of the building were designed to contain a swimming pool, however the pool was never completed; again local lore suggests that engineers and architects never took into account the weight of water in the pool, so it was unable to be filled. During construction, Hurricane Beth filled the elevator shafts with seventeen feet of water. When the first residents began to move in, complaints were made of apartments missing heat, windows, and other furnishings or amenities.
The top-floor swimming pool is one of the more popular myths about Fenwick Place. In fact, after taking over the project, Dalhousie decided that the cost of installing repeater pumps throughout the building to pump the water to the top would be prohibitively expensive, and scrapped the idea of the pool before construction reached that phase. Other common myths about Fenwick Place include:
- Not all the bedrooms have windows (still)
- The building sways so dramatically in the wind that water in the toilets sloshes (in truth, the building sways 5 inches in eighty mile-per-hour winds, 3 inches under the building code regulations in Halifax)
- The developer committed suicide
Fenwick Place houses approximately 500 students, mostly senior undergraduates, graduate students and families. Most of these are not from Atlantic Canada.
On the night of September 28, 2003, Hurricane Juan hit Halifax, forcing all Fenwick residents to the building's basement overnight. Windows in several apartments were broken and the contents of these apartments were blown out onto the ground below, and walls in some apartments collapsed. Residents were evacuated from approximately one week up to four months, depending on the damage and repair time to their individual apartments.
Since the dire condition of the building is known throughout the Maritimes, it is very difficult to recruit Atlantic Canadian tenants. Thusly, Fenwick place is advertised to International and Upper Canadian students without mention of the current state of the building: http://www.ancillaries.dal.ca/default.asp?id=190&sfield=content.id&search=788&mn=1.8.569.716.739.1076
The Dalhousie Library website, however, accurately desrcibes the tumultuous history and reputation of Fenwick Tower. http://www.library.dal.ca/duasc/buildings/Fenwick.htm
In April 2007, several exchange students contacted CTV, due to the level of disrepair on their floors. CTV aired a report, explaining the students position and allowing management to explain themselves.
On January 25, 2008, CTV Atlantic aired a report that said Dalhousie is putting the building up for sale. Given the problems with the building, it has been suggested that the buyer may tear down the building and re-build.
[edit] Floors
Fenwick Place consists of 33 stories, and the top of the building has an additional elevator control room, containing a community webcam, and secured roof access.
The 32nd and 33rd floors are used for international students. As well, they contain hearing speech clinics associated with the School of Human Communication Disorders, which also occupies the "PR" floor (the first underground floor).
The 31st floor contains a mechanical room. There is no direct elevator access to this floor.
The 30th floor contains storage areas which juts down to the floor in some places.
The 29th floor, down to the 16th floor are apartment-style living.
There is an unmarked floor between the 15th and 16th floors which contains boilers and the like. There is no direct elevator access to this floor. Like many buildings, there is no official or marked 13th floor. Hence, the only floors whose marked number does not match the actual story of the building are the 14th and 15th floors. They are actually the 13th and 14th stories, respectively.
The 15th floor, down to the 2nd floor, are apartment-style living.
The main floor consists of the front desk, and various offices.
The basement contains the aforementioned "PR" level, as well as three parking levels: "P1" (nearest to ground), "P2", and "P3" (deepest).
[edit] Elevators
The elevators use the old style thermally-activated buttons.
There are four elevators. One of these has a front and back door, and is routinely used as a service elevator.
There is an express elevator, used to access the Main, "PR", and top two floors.
There are two other elevators which are used for normal transportation.
There is no "up" button on most floors. To go up to another floor, users must catch an elevator on its way down, or walk up flights of stairs. This is to facilitate more important traffic to and from one's own apartment from the main floor.
[edit] External links
