The Standard Life Insurance building has been at the corner of Howe and Dunsmuir in Vancouver since 1975. It was the third building on the site. In 1889, it was occupied by a hotel.
For more stories like this one, check out Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
As 14-storey office blocks go, there’s really nothing wrong with the Standard Life Insurance building at the southwest corner of Howe and Dunsmuir Streets. It’s got a bit of a mid-century vibe about it, likely because it was designed by McCarter Nairne, the architects behind the Canada Post building on West Georgia. It certainly fits in with its surroundings, that intersection has similar looking office blocks on the other corners and the boxy Pacific Building opposite.
1889:
If you were walking past in the summer of 1889 though, you would have found the spanking new Manor House. It was wood framed with three stories (with a fourth below street level) a wrap around balconies and four turrets. A ten by ten foot tower gave guests a drop dead view of the fledging city, the Burrard Inlet and the North Shore mountains. It was steps above the Gastown hotels, and less expensive than the first Hotel Vancouver that sat up the hill on the corner of Granville and Georgia (where Nordstrom’s is today).
The Badminton Hotel:
By 1898, the hotel had new management and a new name. It stayed the Badminton Hotel until 1924 when it became the Badminton Apartments with 45 three-, two-, and one-bedroom rental units until it was demolished in March 1936.
Replaced in 1936:
Five months later the Vancouver Sun and Province wrote stories about the exciting new building that replaced it—a two-storey reinforced concrete structure–with five retail stores on the ground floor. Two stores fronted Howe Street and three faced Dunsmuir. One corner was designed specifically for the Vancouver Mortgage Corporation. It had less than half the number of rental units as the former building on the second floor, and was called Derek Court after the son of owner Victoria-based William Todd.
“A very special feature is the radio aerial for each apartment providing short and long reception,” wrote a Vancouver Sun reporter.
Businesses included Reid’s Jewelry, Drainie Travel, Calhoun’s Hats, the Londonderry shop and Harrison Galleries. Its most famous tenant was Ginger Coote, the bush pilot whose airline became part of CP Air.
Derek Court lasted even less time than the Badminton.
In 1975 Standard Life Assurance bought the property and Derek Court came down with just “five men, a crane, cats and trucks and a 2,500 pound wrecking ball.”*
*Vancouver Sun, February 17, 1975
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