KHYBER BUILDING BEFORE

WINDOW RESTORATION PROJECT

The Church of England Institute is a three storey, brick building designed by architect Henry Busch in an eclectic Victorian style with strong Gothic Revival influences. The building was commissioned by Bishop Hibbert Binney who intended to use the building to 'diffuse a knowledge of the Church's work'.  Busch was well versed in traditional European styles, and he designed this building as a highly decorative Gothic composition with an eye-catching, suspended side spire.  Other buildings designed by Busch in Halifax include the Halifax Academy and the Halifax Public Gardens Bandstand.

The Church of England Institute is one of several church-related institutional buildings on Barrington Street, and is recognized architecturally because of its ornate Victorian style and Gothic Revival features including window arches, gothic windows with delicate tracery, decorative trims and roof dormers.  The building's most prominent feature is an ornate corner oriel window connected to a single engaged column below and a turreted spire above.

KHYBER BUILDING DURING

WINDOW RESTORATION PROJECT

The deteriorated condition of the gothic windows in the Khyber building was recently brought to the attention of HRM staff.  Leading by example is the best way to illustrate good heritage conservation, and therefore HRM opted to restore these windows rather than replace them.  To do so, it was necessary to remove 27 window sashes and transport them to a workshop in Annapolis Royal for restoration.  It is anticipated that the restored windows will be re-installed in the summer of 2009.

In the meantime, the Khyber Arts Society and HRM commissioned Halifax artist Garry Neill Kennedy to make make an artwork of the 27 plywood inserts in the windows. 

As his artwork, And Still Counting, Kennedy has simply counted the plywood inserts and numbered them sequentially in brightly coloured paints. The numbers begin at the ground level (left) with number one and continue to the top floor with the final count, number 27. 

Using everyday household paint Kennedy selected his colours for their names - names that are related to the Khyber building itself (Turret Brown, Archeological Treasure, Restoration Rose); or to its neighbour, the Neptune Theatre (Stage Fright or Playhouse Plum); or to Barrington Street (Party Place or Have no Fear); or to the City of Halifax (City Song or Council Bluff); or to the Province (Provincial Majestry or Ships at Sea) and so on. The colours were selected from the paint fan of ICI Paints which offers a range of over 2000 colours, each with its own name.  The background colour forms the foreground of the panel/painting that follows.

The font for the numbers is Superstar Shadow, a typeface that Kennedy has used in many of his textual artworks, the original idea for whichy was derived from the bold black and white numbers painted on the bows of the navy ships that enter Halifax harbour. 

After they have been replaced with the restored windows, Kennedy's plywood window paintings will be exhibited in the Khyber's Ballroom Gallery.