Eve Lazarus
Long before the Vancouver Film School occupied the building at East Pender and Columbia Streets, there was a railway station that was later repurposed into the legendary Marco Polo restaurant.
Story from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Train Station:
If you’re walking around Chinatown, you’ll likely notice the four-storey brick building at the corner of East Pender and Columbia Streets, now home to the Vancouver Film School.
If you lived in Vancouver in the late 1960s, you’ll likely remember the four bizarre red Georgia Street pylons. The pylons ran from Granville to Howe Streets between July 1967 and December 1969.
According to a news media release at the time: “The 60-foot towers, symbolic of giant torches, a traditional heraldic device, are a fitting expression for Canada’s 100th birthday.”
Reaction:
Not surprisingly, the pylons which ran between Granville and Howe Streets, brought out intense emotions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
