The Intersection of George and Hollis Streets, 1759.
Richard Short's (active 1759-1761) engraving of downtown Halifax a decade after its founding illustrates the extent to which government initiative shaped community life. Public buildings dominate the scene: St. Paul's to the right; St. Mathew's, the Protestant meeting house, to the left and in the centre foreground, the official residence of the governor. The governor's mansion was built of wood but, to add prestige, the walls had been painted to simulate stone construction. Hollis Street, which runs in front of Government House, became the most prestigious area of early Halifax. Wealthy government officials and military contractors located here in order to become neighbours of the governor. Below Hollis Street, toward the waterfront, lay the commercial heart of Halifax, consisting of wharves, warehouses, shops and taverns. The poor congregated above Hollis Street in a jumble of generally small and decrepit buildings. At the upper fringe of civilian settlement, just below the brow of Citadel Hill, sat two army barracks. The street running between these barracks eventually became lined on its east side with a collection of grog shops and brothels. It went by the name "Knock `Em Down Row", a label suggestive of the life style which prevailed there. No garrison community would ever completely submit to the planners' ambition to create a rational and disciplined social order.
