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.
Frits also sketched modest family residences, and it’s always a thrill when one of these drawings lands in my inbox.
Frits Jacobsen studio, 522 Shanghai Alley. Harold H Johnston photo, 1974
1117 East 10th:
Sean Johnston sent me Frits’s 1974 drawing of his grandparent’s house on East 10th Avenue. Francois and Denise Coulombe, a couple of francophones, moved to Vancouver via Edmonton in the 1950s. Coulombe is first listed in the city directories as the owner of the house in 1953. The house had surprisingly few owners over the years. Margaret Mills lived there from 1910 until 1920, after which Mary Clancy and her son Walter – a bartender at the Castle Hotel – owned the house until 1939. It changed hands a few more times before the Coulombe’s took up residence.
1117 East 10th Avenue, Harold H Johnston photo, 1950s
Sean, who is Emeritus Professor at the University of Glasgow, says his parents bought the house from his grandparents in the 1970s.
East 10th Avenue, 1974. Harold H Johnston photo
“My dad and mom began renovating the house in August 1974,” says Sean. “He was a plasterer by trade, and they did extensive repairs, plastering and converting the house to separate flats at that time. I was only peripherally involved but remember us collecting and using a 1910s console gramophone that had been in the basement.”
1117 East 10th after a renovation in the 1970s. Harold H Johnston photo
Sean’s dad, Harold, was a talented photographer and documented quite a bit of Vancouver and Burnaby in the 1960s and ‘70s. He became good friends with Frits, and often took Sean to visit the artist in his Chinatown studio.
1117 East 10th, 2023
Sean doesn’t think his parents ever lived in the house, and says it was likely sold after his father’s death in 1985. Amazingly, the house is still there and assessed at just under $2 million dollars.
Frits Jacobsen illustration for the Alcuin Society book, ca. 1970
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.
Vancouver Club, 915 West Hastings Street, 1914
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.
Vancouver Sun, May 26, 1928
Recently, Doug sent me photos of eight of the buildings they had worked on. He told me: “One day I was given the job of straightening up the storeroom and I found these old commercial pictures of buildings that they had worked on. I took them home and photographed them onto 35mm slides, then I recently re did them to digital.”
Doug figures the photos were promotional photos taken for the architectural firms that employed Barr and Anderson.
The Vancouver Club opened on January 1, 1914 and is still at 915 West Hastings Street. Designed by Sharp and Thompson, it replaced the first Vancouver Club located on the next lot over.
Union Station, 1917-1965
Union Station was designed by Fred Townley for the Great Northern Railway. It sat next door to our current Pacific Central Station. By the end of the Second World War rail travel was on the decline and the GNR offered the station to the City of Vancouver for use as a museum and library. The city declined and the station was demolished in 1965. It’s been a parking lot ever since.
Manhattan Apartments at Robson and Thurlow, 1908
The Manhattan apartment building at Robson and Thurlow is a familiar site to anyone who spends time in the West End. Designed by Parr and Fee in 1908, the building managed to survive a demolition threat in 1979.
Second Hotel Vancouver, designed by Francis Swale 1916-1949
The secondHotel Vancouver stood at Granville and Georgia Streets, and is the most elegant and ornate building that we ever destroyed. It was pulled down and replaced with a parking lot for a quarter-of-a-century, and it’s now home to the TD Bank Tower and the building that now houses Nordstroms.
Standard Bank Building, 510 West Hastings Street
The regal 15-storey Standard Bank Building has sat at the corner of West Hastings and Richards Streets since it was designed in 1914 by Russell and Babcock architects.
Hudson’s Bay, 674 Granville Street
The Hudson’s Bay building has also managed to survive at the corner of Granville and Georgia Streets. The building was designed by Burke, Horwood and White in 1913.
Birks Building, 1912-1974
The Birks Buildingwent up around the same time as the Bay on the opposite side of Granville and Georgia, but sadly only managed to survive for just over 60 years. Designed by Somervell & Putnam, it was so beloved, that the people of Vancouver held a mock funeral in 1974.
Province Building, 140-142 West Hastings Street
According to Andy Coupland, of the excellent Changing Vancouver blog, the six-storey building in the photo (above) was called the Stock Exchange building, and the Province had offices there for a time. Today, it’s an SRO called Regal Place. The two-storey building next door (140 west Hastings) was the Province’s home from 1903 to 1925, and Andy thinks is most likely the building where Barr and Anderson did their work.
Barr and Anderson also had their own connection to Hastings Street. They had architects Parr and Fee design their building at 112 West Hastings Street in 1902.
Barr and Anderson’s office is still at 112 West Hastings Street. Photo: Historic Places
Sources:
Building the West: Early Architects of British Columbia, Donald Luxton, 2007
The Stuart Building was a landmark that sat at the southeast corner of Georgia and Chilco Streets, marking the border between the city and Stanley Park from 1909 until its demise in 1982.
View from the tower of the Stuart Building, July 1982. Angus McIntyre photo
Stuart Building shown in 1974 sitting behind a 1948 Brill trolleybus. Angus McIntyre photo.
There was a store that rented bikes and a craft shop on the ground floor and accommodation above, and I imagine it was this simplicity that appealed to the many people who petitioned so hard to try and save it.
Angus McIntyre checks out the turret of the Stuart Building in July 1982. Jim McPherson photo.
Bought by Billionaire:
Macau billionaire Stanley Ho, aka “the King of Gambling” bought the Stuart building and its lot in 1974 for $275,000. Ho offered to upgrade the building and give the city a 30-year lease in exchange for zoning incentives on another property. But in 1982, council members Don Bellamy, Harry Rankin, Bruce Eriksen and Bruce Yorke decided to follow George Puil’s suggestion to “get rid of it once and for all” (Mayor Mike Harcourt, Marguerite Ford and May Brown voted to save it).
Stuart Building is demolished at dawn in July 1982. Angus McIntyre photo
Bulldozed:
Angus photographed the building in the 1970s, and he was there to record its untimely end at dawn one July morning, the earliness of the hour chosen presumably to get there before the protestors. Angus says that, at the time, Chilco was a through Street from Beach Avenue. “The West End had no diverters or barriers or stop signs for that matter. There was a stop sign at Georgia, and it was a legal but dicey left turn to head to the Lion’s Gate Bridge. The cars on Chilco would back up all the way to Beach but were kept moving by a policeman. He also stopped all the traffic to let the trolleybuses turn into and out of Chilco and Georgia.”
The Stuart Building sat at the entrance to Stanley Park. It was demolished in 1982. Photo Courtesy Angus McIntyre
Barb Wood painted the Stuart Building on the cover of a Vancouver centennial engagement calendar in 1986. After witnessing the demolition, she told Jason Vanderhill: “We were told it was too frail to stand, so it should come down. When they drove the first bulldozer through it, the results were like a Bugs Bunny cartoon—the structure was so sound, that the machine left a bulldozer shaped hole, side to side.”
The Stuart Building’s replacement in 2020. Eve Lazarus photo (from Vancouver Exposed)
Angus McIntyre got this shot in 1974 by leaning out of a window on the top floor of the Birks Building. The Granville Mall was under construction, and Eaton’s had just opened.
The Great White Urinal:
When I moved to Vancouver from Australia in the mid-1980s, locals had already had a dozen years to get used to Pacific Centre and the “Great White Urinal”—the name they’d not so affectionately dubbed the Eaton’s department store building. But it wasn’t until several years ago when I saw a 1924 photo showing the Strand Theatre, the Birks Building and the second Hotel Vancouver lined up along Georgia at Granville, that I realized how much we had lost.
In the 1970s, the Scotia Tower and Vancouver Centre took out the Strand Theatre and the Birks Building. CVA Str N201.1 1924
In the 1960s, city council wanted a redevelopment of downtown Vancouver with Georgia and Granville Streets as the epicentre. The fear was that the downtown core would lose business to suburban malls and the hope was that a new, modern shopping centre would attract people and breathe life back into that intersection. The thought was that this retail vibrancy would come through a superblock and underground parking that spread across several blocks.
In this photo taken by Angus McIntyre at a similar angle to top photo in 2020, you can still see the BC Electric building and part of St. Paul’s Hospital. Missing includes King George High School and Dawson Elementary
Superblock:
The superblock was made up of Block 52—bounded by Granville, Georgia, Howe and Robson; and Block 42—bounded by Granville, Georgia, Howe, and Dunsmuir. The problem was that the T. Eaton Company, which owned all of Block 52, wasn’t in a hurry to move from West Hastings (now SFU Harbour Centre) and a new department store was essential to anchor the proposed shopping mall.
Newly bulldozed Block 42 in 1973 and the 30-storey TD tower that replaced the parking lot that replaced the second Hotel Vancouver. CVA 23-24
The other problem was 18 individual landowners owned Block 42 and none of them wanted to sell. By the fifth redevelopment report in July 1964, a frustrated city council led by Mayor William Rathie were figuring out ways to expropriate their land.
An aerial view early 1960s showing the future site of the Pacific Centre and Robson Square. CVA 516-32
Vancouver’s Greatest Day:
In May 1968, the city held a plebiscite to allow them to buy up all the properties in Block 42 and 70 percent of voters agreed. The next mayor, Tom Campbell, told the press: “We’ve got a united city which wants a heart. Vancouver had only a past—today it has a future. This is Vancouver’s greatest day.”
The Eaton’s Marine Room had an outdoor patio that looked out onto Howe Street. Angus McIntyre took this photo in 1979 – you can still see the part of the Devonshire Hotel and the Georgia Medical Dental Building on West Georgia in the background.
By 1974, we had the Pacific Centre and Vancouver Centre shopping malls, much of it as an underground bunker. We’d rid the streets of gorgeous brick buildings and gained the IBM tower, the former Four Seasons Hotel, the Scotia Tower and a 30-storey black glass monument to capitalism in the TD Tower. Rather than revitalize the Granville and Georgia intersection, we sucked the life right out of it.
At 2:00 pm on Sunday March 24, 1974, a group of about a 100 people, many of them students and professors from the UBC School of Architecture, came together in a mock funeral for the Birks Building, an eleven storey Edwardian masterpiece at Georgia and Granville with a terracotta façade and a curved front corner.
Angus McIntyre climbed up on the bed of a dump truck to capture this photo of protestors outside the Birks Building in 1974
Program for the memorial service, courtesy Angus McIntyre
And the band played:
They marched from the old Vancouver Art Gallery at Georgia and Thurlow, led by a police escort and accompanied by a New Orleans funeral band playing a sombre dirge. The mourners assembled under the “meet me at the Birk’s clock,” an ornate iron timepiece that stood more than 20 feet tall and for decades had been a local landmark and familiar meeting place. For generations of Vancouverites, “Meet you at the Birks clock” was a common phrase.
The stunning Interior of the Birks Building. Angus McIntyre photo, 1974
An act of architectural vanalism:
On this day, it was too late to stop the demolition—it had already begun—but not too late to protest what author and artist Michael Kluckner and others have called an egregious act of architectural vandalism.
The crew working on the new building across the road shut off the air compressors and laid down their tools. Reverend Jack Kent, chaplain of the Vancouver Mariners Club officiated. He was accompanied by a choir.
“North Van bus on West Georgia Street is visible through the window. Conductor is standing on two Canada Dry wood boxes. It was the era of checks and flared pants,” Angus McIntyre, 1974
Angus McIntyre then 26, grabbed his Konica Autoreflex T2 35mm camera and rode his bike downtown to record the event.
Ceremony:
“There was a Gathering, a Sharing of Ideas, a Choir performance and a Laying of the Wreaths,” Angus told me. “A small group of people wearing recycled videotape clothing put hexes on new buildings nearby. As soon as it came time to return to the Art Gallery, the band switched to Dixieland jazz, and the mood became slightly more upbeat.”
Some protestors wore Video Armour crocheted out of used videotapes by Evelyn Roth. Angus McIntyre photo, 1974
And just like that, the beautiful old Birks Building—well not that old really—only 61 in 1974—was killed off to make way for the Scotia Tower and Vancouver Centre mall.
For a long time after the funeral, this R.I.P. banner hung in a second storey office window at the Sam Kee building on Pender Street. Angus McIntyre photo, 1974
The only positive thing to come out of the loss of this much-loved building was that it mobilized the heritage preservation community in Vancouver and saved many of our other fine old buildings such as the Orpheum Theatre, Hudson’s Bay, Waterfront Station, the Hotel Vancouver and the Marine Building—from a similar fate.
Inside Birks Building and the model of the Scotia Tower that will replace it. Angus McIntyre photo, 1974
An Interview with Jazmin Welch, book designer about working on Vancouver Exposed
I’m excited to tell you that Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden Historyis now in bookstores. And, while the saying goes “don’t judge a book by its cover,” I have to disagree. A great cover not only helps to sell the book, but it shows the reader what they can expect to find inside its pages. I reckon Arsenal Pulp Press designer Jazmin Welch has nailed it with the cover of Vancouver Exposed, and for this week’s blog, I’ve asked Jaz to tell me how she came up with the idea.
Jazmin Welch, production manager and insanely talented designer at Arsenal Pulp Press. Her care and attention can be seen on every page in the book. Rebecca Blissett photo.
What is your process when it comes to designing a cover?
Jazmin Welch: I always start by reading the manuscript or book proposal before diving into the design. From there, I will chat with the Arsenal team and the author about ideas and concepts before hitting the drawing board. Then I will sketch out many very rough ideas, decide which ones would make the most compelling visuals, and begin to digitize the concepts. Once the ideas are formed enough to present, I share them with the Arsenal team. It’s important to get editorial feedback as well as notes from marketing and publicity about the saleability of the concepts. From there, the favourites are revised and sent to the author for feedback.
Birks Building ca.1920 CVA Bu P726
What were the challenges with Vancouver Exposed?
Jazmin Welch: With a book like Vancouver Exposed, if you choose one image it has to be representative of the whole book. Although the cover ended up depicting just one story within the book, the concept of uncovering hidden history applies to all of the stories. The Birks Building is a classic example of a beautiful building that was demolished, only to be eventually replaced by a boring, ugly, concrete structure. The fact that there was a funeral for the building before it was torn down, demonstrates the connection that people felt to the building, its beauty and its history.
In 1974 we replaced the fabulous Edwardian Birks Building with this. Eve Lazarus photo, March 2020
The cover is a great mix of archival photos from the 1920s and the site’s current evolution. The torn effect really gives me a feeling of destruction and the importance of remembering our missing history:
Jazmin Welch: It marks the way in which some societies do not protect their heritage and begs the reader to notice it and confront the history that was lost. Due to Vancouver’s notoriously grey skies it was hard to get a clear photo of the site where the Birk’s building used to be. It was also nearly impossible to get the shot from the same angle as the original image of the Birk’s building, but we ended up being happy with the two different vantage points.
A page from the downtown section
How did you choose the type?
Jazmin Welch: Some of the stories are quite shocking and eye-opening and I really wanted the type to convey a sense of newsworthiness. The heading typography was chosen to mimic “BREAKING NEWS” headlines in newspapers and the body font was also inspired by readable fonts that were created in the 90’s for newspaper use to fit comfortably in narrow columns and read well in small sizes. But because this is a 2020 book, I didn’t want it to seem outdated, so I used a mix of the wide font and a more narrow font within the headlines to create a contemporary, unique look.
Early proofs, courtesy Jazmin Welch
What were some of the earlier attempts – and why did you reject them?
One concept showed a decades-old ghost sign that had been covered over by new buildings, but the image wasn’t hitting a chord because it wasn’t indicative of the whole concept of the book and was a bit too specific of an example of “hidden history.” Other examples were shots by Vancouver street photographers, but although the covers were compelling and conveyed a strong feeling about the city, they were a bit too abstract for this kind of historical non-fiction book. We had to find a balance between abstract and specific.
Early cover concepts and titles
Pick up your copy of Vancouver Exposed at indie bookstores or order a signed copy through Arsenal Pulp Press.
Frits Jacobsen arrived in Vancouver in 1968 and drew many of Vancouver’s long since demolished heritage houses.
By Jason Vanderhill
I first heard about Frits Jacobsen, and saw his beautiful drawings in a post by Jason Vanderhill on his Illustrated Vancouver blog. Jason kindly allowed me to repost it here.
522 Shanghai Alley:
Frits Jacobsen studied at the Free Academy of Fine Arts in the Hague before arriving in Canada in 1959. He moved to Vancouver in 1968. I met him in East Vancouver a few years before his death in 2015 and was able to show him a photograph of the door to his studio at 522 Shanghai Alley taken in 1974. His studio was next door, just above the Sam Kee Building. Both buildings are still there.
Courtesy Harold Henry (Hal) Johnston, 1974
The photo reminded Frits of his hostility towards the postal code movement, though when I showed it to him, he shrugged it off as rather comical.
In December 1979, Vancouver Magazine ran a feature titled “Now you see them” by Ian Bateson and featuring some of Vancouver’s threatened heritage buildings. The drawings that accompanied the article were not credited but I was able to confirm with Frits that he drew them.
Englesea Lodge:
The Englesea Lodge, at the entrance to Stanley Park was the first to go, destroyed by fire in 1981.
Manhattan Apartments:
In 1979, the Manhattan Apartments at 784 Thurlow Street was also under threat, but fortunately has managed to survive.
Built in 1908 for industrialist W.L. Tait, the Manhattan was one of the city’s first apartment blocks and served as a model for many that came after. The building contains attractive stained-glass windows designed by A.P. Bogardus and made in Vancouver. Three of the windows overlook the ornate, pilastered main entrance to the building, although the two smaller ones that sat above both the main and Robson Street entrances are missing. Hopefully, they have been stored somewhere and not destroyed by vandals.
Orillia:
The VanMag article included Jacobsen’s drawing of the Orillia on Robson and Seymour—demolished in 1985 to make way for a new tower.
Heritage Hall:
Heritage Hall on Main Street rounds out the article. At the time, it had stood empty and neglected for two years and was in serious jeopardy. Thankfully, this was one battle that the heritage advocates won, and the hall survives to this day.
Frits was a remarkable artist and a true Vancouver character. If you happen to be going through the MCC thrift store in Surrey, you might just find his drawing of the missing Birks Building.
Originally from Edmonton, Raymond Biesinger is a Montreal-based illustrator whose work regularly appears in the New Yorker, Le Monde and the Guardian. In his spare time, he likes to draw lost buildings.
In his down-time, Biesinger is drawing his way through nine of Canada’s largest cities. He’s just finished Vancouver, the sixth city in his Lost Buildings series, and his print depicts 18 important heritage buildings that we’ve either bulldozed, burned down or neglected out of existence.
Biesinger uses geometric shapes to ‘build’ his building illustrations
Biesinger spent loads of hours researching photos from different online archival sources, as well as local journalists and blogs such as mine.
The Short List:
Unfortunately, there is no shortage of amazing buildings missing from our landscape for Biesinger to choose from. Narrowing down his list was a challenge. He looked for buildings that were socially, architecturally or historically important.
Union Station designed by Fred Townley in 1916. and demolished in 1965. Illustration by Raymond Biesinger
“I tried to get a selection of buildings that had a variety of social purposes—so residences, towers, commercial spaces, athletic spaces, transportation spaces, entertainment and that kind of thing,” he says. “At one point my Vancouver list had mostly theatres on it, because there were so many gorgeous old Vancouver theatres.”
Two of the biggest losses for Vancouver, in Biesinger’s opinion, was the Vancouver Art Gallery’s art deco building on West Georgia and the David Graham House in West Vancouver designed by Arthur Erickson in 1963.
West Coast Modern:
“It just blew my mind that this west coast modern house was demolished in 2007. Someone bought it for the lot and knocked it down so they could put up a McMansion,” he says. “The VAG building from 1931 is incredible. When I found that it was love at first sight. The supreme irony that it was knocked down and is currently a Trump Tower is insane.”
Biesinger has a degree in history from the University of Alberta, and between 2012 and 2016 was at work on a series that showed 10 different Canadian cities during specific points in their history—for example—Montreal at the opening of Expo ’67 and Vancouver during the opening of the Trans-Canada Highway in 1962.
Vancouver in 1962. Courtesy Raymond Biesinger
“What really fascinated me was the buildings that weren’t standing any more, and that people were surprised that existed,” he says.
So how does Vancouver stack up against heritage losses in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary?
”The worse a city’s record for preserving old buildings, the more enthusiastic people are about these prints,” he said. “Vancouver has done a poor job. I think the economic currents running through Vancouver are just insane and not in favour of preserving the old.”
The Stuart Building sat at the entrance to Stanley Park. It was demolished in 1982. Photo Courtesy Angus McIntyre
