Designed by renowned Nova Scotian architect Leslie R. Fairn in a modern classical style, the Halifax Memorial Library on Spring Garden Road opened in November of 1951. 

The Memorial Library building and site are historically important for a number of reasons:

• the Library was first post-war public building to be built in Halifax.
• the Library was built as a memorial to those who served in World I, World War II and Korea.
•  the building and Grafton Park were constructed directly on top of thousands of graves dating from the 1760s to the mid-1800s, many of which remain under the site.

In 2014, after 60 years of welcoming untold numbers of users through its doors, the Halifax Memorial Library closed and was replaced by the new Halifax Central Library, built just blocks from the old location. Since that time, the Memorial Library has remained empty.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR THE FORMER MEMORIAL LIBRARY BUILDING?

In 2024, Halifax Regional Council directed staff to explore options for the Memorial Library, including significant or full removal of the building. In the 2025 municipal budget, $100,000 was set aside to hire a consultant to determine how to move forward. The draft 2026/27 budget includes a line item for “The development of a park plan” for the former memorial library site. This clearly suggests that HRM’s preferred course of action is  “significant or full demolition” of the library building.

We the undersigned do not believe that HRM staff and Council have given meaningful and unbiased consideration to the possibility that the Memorial library could be repurposed, while at the same time continuing to honour the thousands of marginalized individuals whose remains were buried on the site. Instead, it appears to be a foregone conclusion on the part of HRM staff and Council that the former Memorial Library will be torn down.

WHAT DO WE WANT?

 Instead of spending $100,000 to study how to demolish the Memorial Library and turn the site into a park, we request that HRM use those funds to contract a team of experts who are tasked with exploring possible alternative uses for the former Memorial Library and for determining the feasibility of retaining the building  to serve another purpose that would benefit residents of HRM, while respecting the historical importance of the site.