Kathryn Maynard Archives

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

Vancouver City Hall designed by Fred Townley — Vancouver City Hall in 1945 CVA City P45

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

Before Vancouver settled on its current City Hall on West 12^th, it had been housed in a number of really interesting buildings.

The Vancouver Police Department outside City Hall in 1886 VPL #1090

The first council started out in a tent shortly after the Great Fire wiped out most of the city in 1886. The tent was on the CPR pier at the foot of Main Street. Chief Constable John Stewart is pictured second from left.

149-151 Powell Street, finished in October 1886

Three months later, the Sentell Brothers were contracted to build the first city hall at 149-151 Powell Street–a two-storey wooden structure. It took just a month to build and came in at under $1,300. But the city couldn’t afford the tab, and the Sentell Brothers took the unusual step of shutting them out until they came up with the cash.

Powell and Columbia Streets Oppenheimer Bros Wholesale Grocers building 1898

The building quickly became too small for the growing city, and when David Oppenheimer was elected mayor in 1888, City Hall into his warehouse on Powell and Columbia. The building is remarkably still there, in a sketchy part of Gastown, rehabilitated and now owned by rock star Bryan Adams.

Oppenheimer was replaced by Frederick Cope as Mayor in 1892 and City Hall moved to the old Market Hall on Main Street (Westminster Avenue until 1910) in 1898 just south of the Carnegie Library at East Hastings and remained there for the next three decades. The building with its wonderful turrets was demolished in 1958.

Holden Block. Leonard Frank photo, 1936 CVA BuP56

In 1929 City Hall moved to the Holden Block at 16 East Hastings designed in 1911 by William T. Whiteway—the same architect who designed the Sun Tower and Kathryn Maynard’s Alexander Street brothel.

Vancouver City Hall from Yukon, 1937, Leonard Frank photo CVA City P21

Since 1937 our art deco City Hall designed by Fred Townley has stayed at its current location on West 12^th. You can thank (or blame) Mayor Gerry McGeer for the look and the location, the first time a major Canadian city had built its city hall outside of the city.

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

A brief history of Vancouver’s City Halls

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