Heritage Vancouver

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. The challenge, according to Heritage Vancouver, is to find the sweet spot between heritage retention and the need for low income housing.

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

The Arcade was a wooden building containing 13 shops (right of frame). It was replaced by the Dominion Building in 1909. Vancouver Archives, 1898

What a lot of people don’t know is that before Victory Square was Victory Square and home to the cenotaph, it was a happening part of the city known as Government Square, because it was the site of the first provincial courthouse.

Victory Square and the Flack Block, 1900. Vancouver Archives photo

The Original Vancouver Court House:

The impressive domed building was operational by 1890 and was the first major building outside of Gastown. It was quickly apparent that it was too small for our growing city, and within a few years it was given a large addition with a grand staircase and portico facing Hastings Street.

Vancouver’s original courthouse ca.1893. Vancouver Archives

Other buildings started to spring up around the Courthouse. In 1898, architect William Blackmore (Badminton Hotel, Strathcona Elementary) designed a building for Thomas Flack who had made his fortune in the Klondike and wanted to see an impressive building bear his name.

Military and Religion:

The original courthouse lasted just 20 years. It was demolished when the new law courts opened on West Georgia Street in 1912. The square, which is actually a triangle, is bounded by Hastings, Cambie, Pender and Hamilton Streets. It didn’t remain empty for long. By 1914, it was filled with a military tent, used to recruit soldiers to fight in the First World War. Then, in 1917, up went the Evangelistic Tabernacle.

The Evangelistic Tabernacle under construction, 1917. Vancouver Archives

The Cenotaph:

The church too was short lived. The Southams, owners of the Province Newspaper, which was housed across the street, donated funds to develop a park, which was then renamed Victory Square. By 1924, enough public money had been raised to build the cenotaph designed by G.L. Sharp. Sharp had the 30-foot cenotaph constructed from granite from Nelson Island.

The inscription facing Hastings Street reads: “Their name liveth for evermore. Facing Hamilton it says “Is it nothing to you.” And Facing Pender Street: “All ye that pass by.”

Heritage Vancouver Top 10 2021

Pandemic spaces
Food Hub near Joyce Station
False Creek South
Reconciliation and the Fairmont Building
Mount Pleasant
800 Block on Granville Street
Kingsway
555 West Cordova Street
Victory Square
Neighbourhood Businesses

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

Heritage Vancouver’s Top 10 Most Endangered Heritage Resources of 2016

by Eve Lazarus on May 7, 2016

Bayview Community School (1913-1914) tops the 2016 list

Heritage Vancouver hosted its 16th annual bus tour today, taking people to the buildings, streets and landscapes that the Society believes have the most perilous survival rate. And, it’s not just the mansions—but also schools, churches, streets, and areas—all the things that make a community rich.
Not all the buildings are that old either. There’s the 1978 Crown Life Plaza, St. Stephen’s United Church built in 1964, and the 65-year-old art deco Salvation Army Temple.
HV townley

The 63 remaining Townley & Matheson homes claim a spot—represented by 1550 West 29th, built in 1922 to showcase the use of electricity and which Heritage Vancouver calls “demolition derby.”
Chinatown and Commercial Drive also make the list, as does the Red Light District of Alexander Street, one of the most interesting of all, and an area I studied extensively for Sensational Vancouver.
HV 500 alexander

In 1913, Chief Rufus Chamberlin wrote in a report called “Social Evil” that “there is no restricted district in the City of Vancouver at this time.”
Clearly no one had told the dozen or so madams who had either renovated existing buildings or built luxurious and expensive brothels along Alexander Street. In 1912, a time when there were few opportunities for women, brothel keeping was an attractive proposition. Dolly Darlington bought a sturdy brick building at the corner of Alexander and Jackson. The one at #504 was designed for Kathryn Maynard by William T. Whiteway, the same architect who designed the Sun Tower, while Alice Bernard hired Woolridge and McMullen architects to design and build a two-storey brick rooming house.
These three buildings still exist, as do three others in the 600-block.
HV marie

Others, such as the ones owned by Fay Packard and Marie Gomez’s House of Nations, named for her multi-cultural employees, are long gone.
The lists and the tours are certainly raising awareness, but I was curious whether they are actually working. Heritage Vancouver’s Patrick Gunn says past wins include Carleton Hall Arthur Erickson’s 1980 Evergreen building, but otherwise it’s hit and miss.
He sent me this list from the first tour in 2001 as an illustration:
1.Firehall 13 & 15: one lost, one saved
2. James Shaw House (1894): saved and restored
3. Alexandra Park Cottages: lost
4. VGH Heather Pavilion: ongoing
5. Opsal Steel (1918): saved
6. BC Electric Showroom (1928): saved
7. Pantages Theatre (1907): lost
8. Stanley Park structures: various stages
9. 100-block West Hastings, Ralph Block (1899): saved
10. Ridley House (1911): lost, illegal demolition

Tags Alice Bernard, Arthur Erickson, Crown Life Plaza, Dolly Darlington, Fay Packard, Heritage Vancouver, Kathryn Maynard, Marie Gomez, Patrick Gunn, Rufus Chamberin, Salvation Army Temple, St. Stephen's United Church, Sun Tower, Townley & Matheson, William T. Whiteway, Woolridge and McMullen

Arthur Erickson’s House and Garden are on the Endangered List

by Eve Lazarus on January 10, 2015

Arthur Erickson is one of Canada’s most famous architects, yet his own house and garden ranks #8 on Heritage Vancouver’s top 10 endangered sites for 2014.

Erickson's house on West 14th. Selwyn Pullan Photo, 1959 — Erickson’s house on West 14th. Selwyn Pullan Photo, 1959

Arthur Erickson’s fingerprints are all over some of Metro Vancouver’s most iconic buildings—the Museum of Anthropology, Simon Fraser University and dozens of residential houses.

Unusual for an architect, Erickson chose not to design his own house, but bought a large corner lot in Point Grey with a 1924 cottage and garage for $11,000 out of which he created the 900-square-foot home where he lived for the next 52 years.

“Architecturally this house is terrible, but it serves as a refuge, a kind of decompression chamber,” he told author Edith Iglauer*.

Museum of Anthropology — Margaret Trudeau with Arthur Erickson and Elvi Whittaker, 1976. Photo John Morris, UBC Library

He replaced the walls with sliding glass and connected the buildings, adding a bathroom and a kitchen. He played with different materials—leather tiles on the bathroom wall, wall tiles in Italian suede in the living room, and Thai silk in the study—and then he turned his attention to the garden.

Erickson bulldozed the English garden, dug a hole for the pond and used the dirt to make a hill high enough to block the view of his house from his neighbours.

“Everybody in the neighbourhood thought I was excavating to build a house, and chatted with me over the picket fence, very happy to believe that they were no longer going to have a nonconformist garage dweller among them,” he told Iglauer*.

He planted grasses and rushes from the Fraser River, pine trees from the forest, put in 10 different species of bamboo, and added rhododendrons, a dogwood, and a persimmon to the existing fruit trees. He was known for throwing lavish garden parties that drew a guest list ranging from Pierre Trudeau to Rudolf Nureyev

Barry Downs lived in the Dunbar area at the time and knew Erickson quite well.

“We both had little ponds full of fish and one day Mary and I gave him a turtle,” said Downs. “He phoned me up and said ‘get over here your turtle is eating my fish!’”

Down’s told him that was impossible, the turtle had a mouth the size of Erickson’s thumb.

“I went over and sure enough there’s a fish sticking out of its mouth,” said Downs, adding that yes he took the turtle back.

“Arthur was ruthless. He had a BB gun and would shoot at the herons that would come in and land and eat his fish. Once he told me that he shot through the neighbour’s window accidently,” says Downs.

Arthur Erickson. Selwyn Pullan photo, 1972

Downs says the impressive Japanese-inspired marble terrace panels in the garden are the toilet stalls from the old Hotel Vancouver.

Erickson may have been a talented architect but he was hopeless with finances. By 1992 he had racked up over $10 million in debt and was on the verge of losing his house. A group of friends which included Peter Wall, who took over the $475,000 mortgage, placed the house and garden in the hands of the Arthur Erickson Foundation. Erickson lived there until his death in 2009.

*Iglauer, Edith. Seven Stones: A Portrait of Arthur Erickson, Architect. Harbour Publishing, 1981.

Tags 4195 West 14th, Arthur Erickson, Barry Downs, Edith Iglauer, Elvi Whittaker, Heritage Vancouver, Margaret Trudeau, Mary Downs, Museum of Anthropology, Selwyn Pullan, Sensational Vancouver, Simon Fraser University

Who lived in your house — in 10 (mostly easy) steps

by Eve Lazarus on March 15, 2014

In some ways, researching your home is like an archeological dig. But with a bit of patience you can find out who built your home, who lived there before you, who was murdered there, who died of a comfortable old age, perhaps, even, who’s haunting it now.

1. City Directories:

I always start with the city directories, and now thanks to the Vancouver Public Library, all of B.C. is online up from 1860 to 1955. After 1955 you can find actual copies at the Vancouver Archives, at the North Vancouver Museum and Archives in Lynn Valley or on microfilm at the VPL. The directories will tell you the name of past residents, owners as well as their occupation. The directories also give information about the population of the time, the business climate and advertisements for businesses—it’s a bit like a tourist brochure.

2. Census:

Once you’ve discovered the people who lived in your house you can find out all sorts of great information through the census records. If nothing else it will give you a whole new appreciation why you slog through the forms every five years.

3. Ownership Title:

If you’re flush with cash you can always visit the Land Titles Office in New Westminster. If you provide them with a legal description (District, Block, Lot), and payment, they will provide you with details on ownership history

4. Vital Events Records:

It gets better every year with birth, marriage and death certificates online. More often than not, you can even find copies of the actual death certificates. This death certificate, for example, tells you that Errol Flynn died in Vancouver in 1959, that he’d been here six days, that he lived in New York City, was a motion picture actor from Tasmania and that he was married to Patrice Wymore (and that’s just the top half)

5. Heritage Registers:

If your house has historical merit (and this includes mid-century homes) it may be listed on a Heritage Register. Most municipalities have them and they are almost all online now. Your local city hall will also have a file on your house, and don’t forget to check your local archives.

6. The Vancouver Building Register:

It’s worth checking to see if your house is on the Vancouver Building Register. This register lists tons of information and sources for residential and commercial buildings in Vancouver.

7. Building Permits

Heritage Vancouver took on the herculean task of transcribing the original handwritten registers from Vancouver Archives. As of the end of March 2015 they had just under 33,000 pre-1922 building permits online in a searchable database. Heritage Vancouver also says that if you dig through the water permits at Vancouver Archives you’ll find additional clues to your house’s completion date.

8. Heritage House Tours:

It’s worth a shot, if your house is old enough it may be on one of these tours. New Westminster has run an annual tour for the past 35 years. The Vancouver Heritage Foundation for the past 12 Vancouver Heritage Foundation. and if you’re in Victoria you’re really lucky because the Victoria Heritage Foundation has put out a comprehensive set of four books.

9. Google:

Sometimes the obvious is best. Simply google your address and see if anything interesting pops up. Often past sales will give you pictures and information on the owners.

10. Newspaper databases:

Taking Google one step further, most newspapers are accessible online through your public library. All you need is your library card. For archival newspapers, the British Colonist is online from 1858-1920.

For more information on researching your home’s history see At Home with History: the secrets of Vancouver’s heritage houses

© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.

Tags British Colonist, city directories, Errol Flynn, Heritage House Tour, Heritage register, Heritage Vancouver, Land Titles Office, North Vancouver Museum and Archives, Patrice Wymore, Vancouver Building Register, Vancouver Heritage Foundation, Vancouver Public Library, Victoria Heritage Foundation

Our Missing Heritage: The Theatre District

by Eve Lazarus on October 20, 2013

Empress Theatre built in 1908 — Empress Theatre 1921

In 1913 Vancouver had a thriving theatre district that included eight movie theatres as well as stock theatres like the Pantages and the Empress——both completed in 1908.

Over the years we’ve managed to pretty well destroy all evidence of these theatres—the Capital, the Strand, two Orpheum theatres, and of course, most recently the Pantages Theatre at Main and Hastings that as Heritage Vancouver so succinctly put was “demolition by neglect.”

Theatre companies put on lavish productions at the Empress that called for sheep and horses on stage, as well as cars. For Faust, the stage crew built fire-breathing dragons 20-feet long; and for The Aviatrix they constructed a copy of the new Wright Brothers aeroplane and flew it on piano wire. At one point the Empress had the biggest stage west of Chicago.

By the late 1930s rising costs, movies and the shift of the city away from Main Street sounded the death knell for the Empress. But instead of finding a new use for the building, in 1940 down it came in a pile of rubble.

This is what we’ve done with the site.

Empress Theatre 1908-1940 — Once the site of the Empress Theatre

For more posts see: Our Missing Heritage

Tags Capital, Empress Theatre, Heritage Vancouver, Orpheum, Pantages Theatre, Strand

From Brothel to Teen Housing

by Eve Lazarus on September 15, 2013

The story of the Alexander Street brothels is featured in Sensational Vancouver.

Alexander Street was the red light district in 1912 — 500 block Alexander Street

Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society, took me on a tour of some new real estate Friday—a dozen brightly coloured orange and blue recycled shipping containers piled on top of each other like giant lego blocks. This housing—the first social housing development of its kind in Canada—has attracted all sorts of attention as a potentially viable form of cheap accommodation.

The fact that it sits squashed between two former 100-year old brothels was part of the appeal, she says.

Atira also owns the big brick building next door at the corner of Jackson Street. Dolly Darlington bought the building in 1912 and transformed it into a brothel and part of the red light district that existed on Alexander Street. “Most of the young women who live right here now have been on the street since they were 12 or 13,” she says. “Our goal is to get them using less and working less and it’s meant to be transitional so after about a year or two they should be going somewhere else.”

The self-contained shipping containers will house women over 50 from the DTES who have managed to get their lives back on track and who will mentor the girls.

1888 house demolished in 2012 — 502 Alexander Street in 2012

The shipping container development sits on the site that, up until its demolition last year, was the second oldest house in Vancouver. Abbott says the idea was to keep the 1888 house, renovate it, and put the containers behind it in the alley. The property had been owned by one family for the past 40 years, had not been kept up, was infested with rats, and the house had no foundation, but sat on four cinder blocks. Too costly to fix.

Built by John Baptist Henderson in 1888 — Alexander Price outside 502 Alexander Street ca.1905

“Where has everybody been for the last 40 years? When we bought it it wasn’t even on the [City of Vancouver Heritage house] Register” says Abbott.

Two people thought they might move the house–one a couple of doors down on Alexander Street and another who wanted it for a laneway house on Cordova.

But it was still too expensive to move, and the City refused to kick in a penny said Abbott.

The former brothel, and one-time home of the British Seaman’s Mission, has Heritage B status on the Register and Abbott has tried to replicate the original stain-glass at the front and mosaic tiles in the foyer.

Abbott said they had another fight with the City over a thin strip of garden. The city wanted ornamental bushes, the girls wanted to grow vegetables. They decided to plant veggies and beg forgiveness later.

Too bad about the house. It could have shared a 125^th birthday party with the City of Vancouver.

Tags 500 Alexander Street, 502 Alexander Street, Atira Women's Resource Society, British Seamen's Mission, Dolly Darlington, Heritage Vancouver, Janice Abbott, red light district, shipping containers

The Last of the West End Mansions

by Eve Lazarus on May 4, 2013

Heritage Vancouver released its annual top 10 endangered site list today and it spells more bad news for the last of the West End mansions.

The heritage conservation organization has flagged three properties: the Legg Residence at 1245 Harwood Street, Gabriola Mansion at 1531 Davie Street, and three houses that sit side by side at 1301, 1309 and 1315 Davie Street.

Built in 1901 for BT Rogers, the Sugar King — Gabriola in 1904

I wrote about Vancouver’s West End mansions at the turn-of-the-century in At Home with History: the secrets of Greater Vancouver’s heritage homes. Back then the West End was the place where the wealthy flittered from manor to manor, presenting calling cards, and sipping on lemonade while playing croquet and badminton on manicured lawns.

In 1908 a book with the unlikely title of the Vancouver Elite Directory, reported that 86% of those who rated a listing lived in the West End, while 6% lived downtown and the rest were scattered throughout Point Grey, Kitsilano and Fairview, with a few holdouts still in the East End.

The Abbott House at 720 Jervis was saved when the city gave developers the go-ahead to build two extra floors on each tower as a heritage density bonus in exchange for saving and renovating the old mansion. Unfortunately, the heritage density transfer, which could help save the West End, is a distant memory.

The Legg residence was built in 1899 — 1245 Harwood Street

Gordon T. Legg, the managing director of the Union Steamship Company lived at 1245 Harwood, a gorgeous arts and crafts house built in 1899, and right next door to the largest known Tulip tree in the city. Originally the city did a deal with the devil, where the house would be saved in return for a 18-storey tower. It wasn’t a bad compromise, but the pending loss of the 100-year-old Tulip tree upset the neighbours, and in the latest bizarre scenario, we are saving a tree to sacrifice the century-old mansion.

It is a tragic loss to the West End, which as Heritage Vancouver points out, is one of only three estate homes that remain from the turn of the last century, the others are three heritage homes on Davie Street, and the one that I’m most upset about–Gabriola at 1523 Davie.

Most people remember Gabriola as a Hy’s Mansion or a Romano’s Macaroni Grill, but it was originally designed in 1900 by Samuel Maclure for Benjamin Tingley Rogers, the Sugar King. At one time the mansion occupied the entire block with stables, outbuildings and greenhouses. Stained glass was created by the Bloomfields, it had 18 fireplaces, and got its name from the green sandstone on the outside that was quarried on Gabriola Island.

The mansion has been boarded up for several years. Keg Restaurants bought it and announced plans for a restaurant back in 2011. But Gabriola still sits vacant, a target for vandals and a wet dream for developers.

For more on the West End see:

Tags 1245 Harwood Street, 1523 Davie Street, BT Rogers, Gabriola, Gordon T. Legg, Heritage Vancouver

Heritage Turkeys

by Eve Lazarus on January 19, 2012

This is one list you don’t want your name on.

Crosscut, a blog out of Seattle, released it’s Heritage Turkeys of the Year list, what it calls “who did most to raze, wreck, uproot, neglect and generally trash our historic treasures in 2011”

Metro Vancouver made the cut twice.

The Pantages for demolition of historic theatre and “Vancouver’s Highway to hell” for “historic cannery demolition, threat to archaeological and burial grounds.’

Looking west towards Glenrose Cannery — The South Fraser Perimeter Road

Tags Alexander Pantages, Crrosscut, fraser river, Glenrose Cannery, Heritage Vancouver, Pantages Theatre, Peter Pan Cafe, Peter Pantages, Polar Bear Swim, south fraser perimeter road

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