The Devonshire (1924-1981)
April 3, 2021
The Devonshire Hotel on West Georgia was demolished July 5, 1981 to make way for the head office tower of the Bank of BC. Story from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Devonshire Apartment Hotel: The Devonshire originally opened as an apartment building, but within a few years was operating as the Devonshire… Continue reading The Devonshire (1924-1981)
Our Missing Heritage: 18 Lost Buildings of Vancouver
April 14, 2018
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. Biesinger uses geometric shapes to ‘build’ his building illustrations In his down-time, Biesinger is drawing his way through nine of Canada’s largest cities.… Continue reading Our Missing Heritage: 18 Lost Buildings of Vancouver
Finding the Rhea Sisters
March 17, 2018
From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History I was driving along Hastings the other day when I saw a huge statue in the yard of Ital Decor in Burnaby. It looked suspiciously like one of the WW1 nurses that guarded the 10th floor of the Georgia Medical-Dental Building before it was imploded in… Continue reading Finding the Rhea Sisters
The Georgia Medical-Dental Building
May 27, 2017
On May 28, 1989, we blew up the Georgia Medical-Dental Centre, a building on West Georgia designed by McCarter & Nairne, the same architects behind the Marine and the Devonshire Apartments.* What were we thinking? The Devonshire was first, designed as an apartment building in 1924. Next came the 15-storey art deco medical building. The… Continue reading The Georgia Medical-Dental Building
Our Missing Hotel Heritage: What were we thinking?
August 8, 2015
The much lamented—and never should have come down–second Hotel Vancouver should have the number one spot on any much missed heritage building list, but I’d argue that the Devonshire should be a close second. When it comes to hotels, we’ve pulled down a lot of them. Here’s my Top 7 list of downtown hotels missing from… Continue reading Our Missing Hotel Heritage: What were we thinking?
Heritage Streeters (with John Atkin, Aaron Chapman, Jeremy Hood and Will Woods)
February 28, 2015
One of the things I loved most about being a contributor to Vancouver Confidential was working with reporters, bloggers, artists, tour guides, actors, musicians and academics that cut across both decades and demographics. The experience made me realize what a truly diverse group we have working in the local history and heritage space. So just… Continue reading Heritage Streeters (with John Atkin, Aaron Chapman, Jeremy Hood and Will Woods)