The 2400 Motel on Kingsway opened in 1946. It still has an old fashioned, retro feel and its huge red and blue neon sign.
I discovered the 2400 Motel on Kingsway when I wrote Frommer’s With Kids Vancouver about a decade or so ago. Loved the old fashioned, retro feel of the place and its huge red and blue neon sign. The freshly painted green and white bungalows had the feel of a country cabin. Kids could play on the lawn outside, the rooms were clean and functional, and staying there was inexpensive.
Endangered List:
The 18 bungalows and the office have made Heritage Vancouver’s Top 10 Endangered hit list for 2011. “It’s really hard to isolate 10 sites in the city that are in danger—there are hundreds and hundreds that we could put on our list,” says Don Luxton, president of Heritage Vancouver.
People, says Luxton, are always surprised to find that a 1946 building is considered heritage. “Our city is only 125 years old,” he says. “Why would it not be a heritage site?”
Post-war car culture:
The heritage case for the 2400 Motel is that as an auto court, it is one of the last and best examples of post-war car culture. The 2007 Statement of Significance by Birmingham & Wood Architects for the City of Vancouver describes it as “a rare place of shared memories.”
“Not only did the 2400 function as a home-away-from-home for many travelers…but it has entered Vancouverite’s collective imagination as a seemingly immutable part of the city—a whole, miniature world from an earlier simpler time.”
The City of Vancouver bought the 2400 its three-acre site in 1989 as part of the proposed Norquay Village neighbourhood centre. But the plan, released earlier this year, lacks any heritage retention. Luxton says that while it’s unrealistic to expect the entire site be preserved, he’d like to see certain elements such as the neon sign and maybe one or two of the bungalows remain.
“Will that happen or will this turn into a high-rise? We don’t know, but we’re sounding the alarm,” he says.
The other sites on the list in order of most endangered are: Carleton, Kitchener and Sexsmith Schools, Shannon Estate, Strathcona North of Hastings, Gordon T. Legg Residence, Collingwood Library, Lower Mount Pleasant and several Granville Street buildings from the 1880s.
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