Francis Rattenbury moved to Victoria in 1892. The 25-year-old had beat out 60 other architects to win the design competition for BC’s Parliament Buildings. Although massively over budget, the commission propelled the young architect’s career, and before long he had a slew of buildings after his name including the Empress Hotel, The Crystal Gardens, the CPR Steamship Building, the Bank of Montreal on Government (Irish Times Pub), and the Law Courts (Vancouver Art Gallery), as well as his own Oak Bay Mansion–Iechinihl, now a private school.
October is Women’s History Month in Canada. This gives me a great excuse to write about Elsie MacGill, the Queen of the Hurricanes.
Elsie Gregory MacGill grew up on Harwood Street in Vancouver’s West End in the early years of the twentieth century. While other little girls in her dance class dreamed of performing on stage, Elsie wanted to know how things worked.
On September 10, 1969, 26-year-old nurse Myrna Louise Inglis finished her shift at St. Paul’s Hospital. It was shortly after midnight, the end of a long day, and she was tired. She changed out of her nurse’s uniform and into her street clothes. Because it was chilly, she draped her nurse’s cape around her shoulders.
Opening Night:
North Vancouver’s Lonsdale Theatre opened on December 11, 1911, to a packed house and an eclectic line-up. The Orchestra kicked off with Titania, followed by two animated films. The Ernest Fisher Players followed with a performance of “The Devil” and opera singer Grace Maynard sang an aria. The finale was the Graham Miniature Circus starring crowd pleasing live cats and rats.
I was riding my bike along Point Grey Road this week and snapped a few photos of the Peace House. It’s an interesting looking place, and as it turns out, has quite the past.
3148 Point Grey Road:
It was built in 1908 by R.D. Rorison who was an early real estate agent and developer.
Il Giardino: The last time we were here, the server was so overcome by the beauty of a group of women sitting near us that he broke into an aria. Turns out that when he wasn’t waiting tables he was singing in an opera. Just one of the pleasant surprises at this downtown restaurant, which doesn’t have a view but does have a fabulous outdoor garden terrace in the summer and, in winter, a cozy villa atmosphere….” Eve Lazarus, Frommer’s with Kids Vancouver, 2001 “Get a Babysitter.”
Hornby Street:
Umberto Menghi turned Leslie House into an Italian restaurant in 1973.
I first came across the O Canada house when I was writing At Home with History around 2005. In those days, there were only hard copies of the city directories at Vancouver Archives and Google Maps was still in the future. Research meant walking neighbourhoods, standing in the hedgerows and staring up at gorgeous old heritage houses.
Frits Jacobsen arrived in Vancouver in 1968. He was a prolific artist and captured some of Vancouver’s iconic and long-gone buildings such as Birks, the Englesea Lodge, and the Orillia on Robson Street. He also drew some that have survived. Two that I’ve seen are the Manhattan Apartments on Thurlow and Main Street’s Heritage Hall.