Heritage Buildings

This is an excerpt from Sensational Vancouver. Eleanor Lum Wayne Avery knew nothing about the history of his house until one day he saw an elderly Chinese woman peering through his front room window. He invited her inside and discovered that she was Eleanor (Yip) Lum, and that she had been born in one of… Continue reading Meet Nellie Yip Quong

The second Doors Open Vancouver is coming up this Saturday October 3, and will give you a behind-the-scenes look at 18 city-owned buildings. Since you won’t have time to see all of them – here’s my top six:  1. Vancouver Fire and Rescue Training Centre: Go see the city’s only burn building (meaning one that’s lit… Continue reading Doors Open Vancouver

Dan Rickard photography A couple of weeks ago, Judy Graves, Tom Carter and I took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Orpheum Theatre. The “new” Orpheum was designed in 1927 by Marcus Priteca, a Seattle-based architect who fashioned the theatre in a Spanish renaissance style and gave it an opulent air with some sleight of hand… Continue reading The Orpheum Theatre and a conversation with Paul Merrick

Mayor Gerry McGeer lived at 4812 Belmont Avenue in Point Grey between 1927 and his death there in 1947. At around 10:00 pm on June 17, 2022 the house burned to the ground. It was unoccupied and apparently under renovation after not getting a demolition permit.  Sixth most expensive listing: As of August 2014, the… Continue reading Mayor Gerry McGeer’s $20 Million Tear-Down

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Before Vancouver settled on its current City Hall on West 12th, it had been housed in a number of really interesting buildings. The first council started out in a tent shortly after the Great Fire wiped out most of the city in 1886. The tent was… Continue reading A brief history of Vancouver’s City Halls

Last week I wrote about Darren Bernaerdt who teaches Photoshop at Langara College. Each year Darren sends his students to the Vancouver Archives to look at old photographs, choose one that resonates with them, research it and then go out and photograph the same scene from the same angle and merge them together. The results… Continue reading Then and Now: Images of Vancouver

Four years ago Darren Bernaerdt decided to give photography students at Langara College a different kind of assignment. He sent them to Vancouver Archives to research 100-year-old photographs of the city, and then he put them on the streets to capture those same images, matching the exact perspective and angle of view. While it could… Continue reading Merging Time: A photographic essay of Vancouver

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Bryan Adams has collected a ton of hardware over the years, but the one I find the most interesting is the City of Vancouver Heritage Award he was given in 1998 for transforming a derelict Gastown warehouse into a world class recording studio. When Adams bought… Continue reading From Vancouver City Hall to Bryan Adams’ Recording Studio: repurposing old buildings

Casa Mia is on this year’s Vancouver Heritage House Tour. I finally got to tour it with my partner in crime Aaron Chapman  Casa Mia is featured in Sensational Vancouver: Built on Rum Owned by Rum Runners:  Casa Mia must be one of Vancouver’s most storied old mansions, and at the moment, one of the… Continue reading Casa Mia on this year’s Vancouver heritage house tour

I was standing on the 7th floor of the Regent Hotel a few weeks back when a rat the size of my miniature schnauzer blew past. I just managed to stop myself from vaulting on top of John Atkin’s shoulders (the tallest structure in the hallway). John, it turns out, doesn’t just know buildings and… Continue reading Vancouver’s Regent Hotel

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to get in on a tour exploring several DTES buildings with Judy Graves, Tom Carter and John Atkin. Judy spent decades advocating for the homeless, and this is her stamping ground. Tom lives and paints from his downtown loft, and John lives in Strathcona, so I’m… Continue reading Exploring the DTES – Main Street Barber Shop

It was Anzac Day in Australia yesterday, an important national holiday back home that honours those who fought and were slaughtered at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. I was thinking of this when John Mackie’s story in the Vancouver Sun today caught my eye. A 12-page letter written by Victor Odlum and dated May 1,… Continue reading Vancouver’s Odlum Family and their Fabulous Houses

You would think that if a couple of young entrepreneurs wanted to bring business to the Downtown east side, one that offered a safe haven from the streets, served healthy, affordable food, and breathed life back into an old icon, the City and the myriad of agencies that have made an industry out of the… Continue reading Repurposing Vancouver’s Icons–The Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret

Vancouver Hobbit House has $2.5 million price tag. It’s one of three in Metro Vancouver designed by Ross Lort It feels a bit like whack a mole. One hobbit house gets a reprieve from the bulldozer and the next one comes up for sale. Fortunately the Lea Residence has a heritage designation, which means it… Continue reading Vancouver Hobbit House has $2.5 million price tag

A couple of weeks ago my friend Tom Carter and I climbed to the top of the Sun Tower, one of my favourite buildings in Vancouver. It’s also one of our most familiar landmarks, and at one time the tallest building in the British Empire when mayor, L.D. Taylor had it built over a century… Continue reading The Sun Tower: On Top of the World

Steveston’s Finn Slough. Shanty slum or quaint fishing village? Finn Slough: We biked to Finn Slough last Thursday. It’s located at the end of No. 4 Road about six clicks from Steveston. Depending on what you read or who you talk to, it’s either a quaint little fishing village or a bunch of degenerates squatting… Continue reading Steveston’s Finn Slough

I thought the Marine Building was built by the Guinness family until I started doing some research on this Art Deco icon—one of my favourite buildings in Vancouver.  And while the Guinness family did eventually own it, the developer was a local guy who made a fortune during Prohibition. From Sensational Vancouver Joe Hobbs: Joe… Continue reading The Marine Building – Built on Rum

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History It turns out that standing in line to buy real estate isn`t some recent Vancouver phenomena—we`ve always done it. Philip T. Timms took this picture in 1909 as hundreds of Vancouver`s wealthiest citizens lined up to buy lots in Shaughnessy Heights from the CPR offices all… Continue reading Shopping for Vancouver Real Estate in 1909

I got a call from Bobbi Spark yesterday. Bobbi is a former Hospice boss and runs a research and reporting company in Abbotsford. The Southlands Community Association hired her to look at the issues flying around Casa Mia, the former Reifel-owned mansion on South West Marine Drive. These days the Reifel’s are best known as… Continue reading From Casa Mia to Lynn Valley: Development is coming

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Every year Ross Dyck, general manager of the Sylvia Hotel opens about 600 handwritten letters from fans of Mister Got to Go, mostly kids in Grades one and two. And every year he personally answers every one of them. Dyck has worked in the hotel industry… Continue reading The Sylvia Hotel turns 100