Missing heritage

Crystal Pool (1929-1974)

by Eve Lazarus on March 26, 2022

Before we had the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, there was the Crystal Pool.

The story is from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History.

Crystal Pool:

Joe Fortes taught hundreds of children how to swim in English Bay, If the much-loved life guard were still alive when Crystal Pool opened in July 1929, it’s hard to imagine that the parks board would have got away with separate swim days—six days for whites, one day for “coloureds and Orientals”*—segregating their mostly young customers for the next 17 years.

View all 16 comments

Tags Connaught Beach Club, Crystal Pool, George Burrows, Gordon Ross, Harry McPhee, Joe Fortes, Percy Norman, Sunset Beach, Vivian Jung, West End

The Second CPR Station

by Eve Lazarus on February 26, 2022

The second CPR station at the foot of Granville Street didn’t make it until its 15th birthday. It was replaced in 1914.

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

Even if you don’t love the architecture—and I am a fan of anything that’s gothic and grim and wears a turret—you’ve got to admit that the former Canadian Pacific station would be an amazing addition to our current landscape.

View all 9 comments

Tags Kelly O'Bryans Restaurant, Vancouver Exposed; Edward Maxwell

BC Binning’s Missing Murals

by Eve Lazarus on February 5, 2022

BC Binning wasn’t just an important artist; as a teacher, he influenced architects such as Arthur Erickson, Ron Thom and Fred Hollingsworth. Where are his missing murals?

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

Artist and teacher:

BC Binning wasn’t just an important artist; as a teacher, he influenced architects such as Arthur Erickson, Ron Thom and Fred Hollingsworth.

View all 7 comments

Tags Andrew Todd, Arthur Erickson, BC Binning, BC Hydro building, Electra, Fred Hollingsworth, Ron Thom, Selwyn Pullen; CKWX, Vancouver Exposed

Henry Switzer and his Shocking Pink House

by Eve Lazarus on January 29, 2022

Henry Switzer’s shocking pink house sat at Mathers and Taylor Way in West Vancouver. It was designed one Sunday and received attention from all over the world.

Local Landmark:

A few years ago, I wrote a story about a West Vancouver house that became a local landmark. Readers told me that they fondly remembered the pink house on the hill as the “airplane house,” the “Jetsons House,” the “windmill house,” and the “helicopter house,” because it appeared to have wings.

View all 31 comments

Tags 840 Mathers Avenue, Curly Switzer, Curly Switzer and the Red Mountain Boys, Eleanor Switzer, Garth Switzer, Harbour Navigation, Henry Switzer, Peter Cowan, The Red Mountain Boys, Wigwam Inn

Barr and Anderson: Established 1898

by Eve Lazarus on January 22, 2022

Barr and Anderson, was a Vancouver company founded in 1898 and the name behind the mechanical work in some of our oldest buildings – a few of which still stand.

Founded in 1898:

Back in the 1960s, Doug Archer was an apprentice plumber with Barr and Anderson, a Vancouver company founded in 1898 and the name behind the mechanical work in some of our oldest buildings – a few of which still stand.

View all 15 comments

Tags 112 West Hastings Street, 142 West Hastings Street, 510 West Hastings Street, 915 West Hastings Street, Barr and Anderson, Birks Building, Doug Archer, Fred Townley, Great Northern Railway, Manhattan Apartments, Pacific Central Station, Parr and Fee, Province, Second Hotel Vancouver, Standard Bank Building, Union Station, Vancouver Club

Victory Square: What was there before?

by Eve Lazarus on January 15, 2022

Heritage Vancouver released their annual top 10 watch list last month (for 2021), and rather than look at endangered buildings, they have focused on space. I was interested to find Victory Square on the list—or rather not the square itself, but the buildings that surround it, some of which date back to the 1800s.

View all 18 comments

Tags Badminton Hotel, Cenotaph, Dominion Building, Evangelistic Tabernacle, Flack Block, G.L. Sharp, Heritage Vancouver, Thomas Flack, William Blackmore

Vancouver’s Missing Buildings

by Eve Lazarus on January 8, 2022

Janet Stewart was going through her mother Edna’s things after she passed away recently and came across four sketches by Frits Jacobsen. They showed various Vancouver buildings in the late 1960s. Janet googled his name, came across a story by Jason Vanderhill on my blog, and kindly sent me photos.

Hornby and Nelson:

I posted Jacobsen’s drawing of the corner of Hornby and Nelson Streets from 1969 on my Facebook page Every Place has a Story.

View all 15 comments

Tags Edna Stewart, Frits Jacobsen, James Findlay, Jason Vanderhill, Matt Virtue

Behind the Wall at the Hotel Vancouver

by Eve Lazarus on November 27, 2021

Beatrice Lennie created a mural for the Hotel Vancouver’s lobby in 1939. It’s been hidden behind a wall since 1967. This story is from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History .

Beatrice Lennie:

When Beatrice Lennie graduated from the first class at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design) in 1929, it took four piano movers to shift her diploma piece.

View all 9 comments

Tags Alvo von Alvensleben, Ascension, Asclepius, Beatrice Lennie, Charles Marega, Clydemont Centre, College of Physicans and Surgeons, Fred Varley, Hotel Vancouver, Hycroft, JWG Macdonald, Robert Lennie, Shaughnessy Hospital, Vancouver Labour Temple

Support

Click to read posts about:

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Support

Click to read posts about:

Subscribe to Our Newsletter