McCarter Nairne

BC Binning’s Secret Mural

by Eve Lazarus on April 10, 2021

The Imperial Bank of Canada opened its new building on April 21, 1958 at Granville and Dunsmuir Streets. It featured this stunning mural by BC Binning. The building is now occupied by a Shoppers Drug Mart, but the mural is still there.

BC Binning’s mural at Shoppers Drug Mart. Eve Lazarus photo, 2020, Vancouver Exposed

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

The Mural:

Next time you’re downtown and have a mascara emergency or need some aspirin, drop into the Shoppers Drug Mart at Granville and Dunsmuir. Once you hit the cosmetics area, you might just forget what you came in there for, because opposite the front entrance and right above the gift cards is one of the hidden wonders of Vancouver—a stunning tile mosaic created by legendary artist BC Binning in 1958.

586 Granville Street (at Dunsmuir) built in 1958 featured a mid-century design by McCarter Nairne architects. Eve Lazarus photo, 2020, Vancouver Exposed

Although it’s probably best not to, if you go up to the second floor, you can actually touch one of the 200,000 pieces of Venetian glass that make up this massive mural that dominates the entire length of the wall. Binning, an artist who taught architecture, was commissioned by the Imperial Bank of Canada to celebrate the province’s booming resource-based economy, from hydroelectricity and forestry to shipping and agriculture, with a “key” to help interpret it.

The key to understanding BC Binning’s mural. Courtesy Illustrated Vancouver.

Made in Italy:

Binning spent more than three months in Venice overseeing its preparation. He climbed a ladder a few times each day to look down at the growing tile and marble mosaic for the overall effect. When the greens weren’t as vibrant as he expected, he had the tiles changed. When the mosaic was finished—all 500 square feet of it—it was shipped to Canada in 12 boxes, to be reassembled on the wall like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

McCarter Nairne (the architects behind the Marine Building, Devonshire Hotel, and Georgia Medical and Dental Building, designed the mid-century building which featured terrazzo floors, polished granite and marble columns.

The Bank of Montreal opened a branch at 586 Granville in 1893. The bank moved out in 1925 and the Imperial Bank of Canada moved in (shown here in 1955). It was demolished in 1958 and replaced with the mid-century building. Photo Vancouver Archives 447-333

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

Tags 586 Granville Street, BC Binning, Imperial Bank of Commerce, McCarter Nairne, Selwyn Pullan

The Manor House on Howe Street

by Eve Lazarus on June 13, 2020

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.

Manor House in the 1890s, 603 Howe Street. CVA SGN 1461

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).

Looking north from Dunsmuir between Howe and Granville in 1909 (Manor house on left) CVA Van SC P45 (see high res: Vancouver Archives)

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.

Shown shortly before it was demolished in 1936, the Badminton had shed its balconies but was a still regal looking building not yet 50 years old. CVA Hot N2

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.

Derek Court, 603 Howe Street. CVA Str N282, August 1936

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.

The Standard Life Building at the southwest corner of Howe and Dunsmuir. CVA 779 W05.12, 1981 (note the similar view to the above 1936 photo)

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

Tags Badminton Apartments, Badminton Hotel, Derek Court, Manor House, McCarter Nairne, Standard Life Insurance, Vancouver Mortgage Corporation, William Todd

The Georgia Medical-Dental Building

by Eve Lazarus on 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 Marine Building was completed in 1930—the only one left standing.

Leonard Frank Photo, 1929 — Leonard Frank photo in 1929 showing the Georgia Medical-Dental Building under construction, next to the Devonshire and the Georgia Hotel.

What were we thinking?

As this more recent photo shows, the HSBC Building now sits where the elegant Devonshire Hotel used to be. The GMDB was blown up or perhaps blown down is more accurate—to make way for the twenty-three-storey Cathedral Place.

Cathedral Place replaced the Georgia Medical Dental Building

Paul Merrick, designed Cathedral Place, renovated the Marine Building, the Orpheum Theatre, and converted the old BC Hydro Building to the Electra. I quite like Cathedral Place. It’s nicely tiered, the roof fits in with the Hotel Vancouver across the street, and it even has a few nurses, gargoyles and lions pasted about as a reminder of the former building. Everyone over 35 likely remembers the three nurses in their starchy World War 1 uniforms looking down from their 11^th storey parapets. Known as the Rhea Sisters, the terra-cotta statues weighed several tonnes each. Later restored, the nurses are part of the Technology Enterprise Facility building at UBC.

But here’s a thought. Instead of honouring a heritage building by sticking fibreglass casts on a new building, why not keep the original one! The Georgia Medical-Dental Building was only sixty after all—hardly old enough for its unseemly demise, but old enough to represent a significant part of our history.

Cathedral Place designed by Paul Merrick — Fibre glass nurse at Cathedral Place

The Devonshire:

I never saw the Devonshire, but I love one of its stories. According to newspaper reports, after being kicked out of the snotty Hotel Vancouver in 1951, Louis Armstrong and his All Stars walked across the street and stayed at the Devonshire. Walter Fred Evans, a one-time member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra built the Devonshire, and supposedly Duke Ellington, Lena Horne and the Mills Brothers wouldn’t stay anywhere else.

* McCarter & Nairne also designed the Patricia Hotel, 403 East Hastings; Spencer’s Department Store (now SFU at Harbour Centre); the Livestock Building at the PNE, and the General Post Office on West Georgia.

For more posts see: Our Missing Heritage

Tags Cathedral Place, Devonshire Hotel, Georgia Medical-Dental Building, Marine Building, McCarter Nairne, Paul Merrick, Rhea Sisters

Our Missing Heritage — What were we thinking? (Part 1)

by Eve Lazarus on September 8, 2013

The Marine Building is one of Vancouver’s most treasured buildings, a gorgeous example of Art Deco. So why did we destroy our other one?

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

The Devonshire Apartments, the Georgia Medical-Dental Building and the Marine Building were all designed by McCarter & Nairne architects.* The Devonshire was first, designed as an apartment building in 1923. Next came the 15-storey Art Deco medical building—and the only one left standing—the Marine Building completed in 1930.

As this more recent photo shows, the HSBC Building now sits where the elegant Devonshire Hotel used to be, and the medical building was blown up or perhaps blown down is more accurate—to make way for the 23-storey Cathedral Place.

I quite like Cathedral Place. It’s nicely tiered, the roof fits in with the Hotel Vancouver across the street, and it even has a few nurses, gargoyles and lions pasted about as a reminder of the former building. Everyone over 35 likely remembers the three nurses in their starchy World War 1 uniforms looking down from their 11^th storey parapets. The Rhea Sisters, as they were known, were made from terra-cotta and weighed several tonnes each. The nurses were restored and are now part of the Technology Enterprise Facility building at UBC.

But here’s a thought. Instead of honouring a heritage building by sticking fibreglass casts on a new building, why not just keep the original one!

Paul Merrick, the architect who designed Cathedral Place, and who did such a nice job renovating the Marine Building, converting the old BC Hydro Building to the Electra, and fixing up the Pennsylvania Hotel on Hastings, could have easily designed Cathedral Place someplace else. The Georgia Medical-Dental Building was only 60 after all—hardly old enough for its unseemly demise, but old enough to represent a significant part of our history.

I never saw the Devonshire, it came down in 1981, but I love one of its story. According to newspaper reports after being kicked out of the snotty Hotel Vancouver in 1951, Louis Armstrong and his All Stars walked across the street and were immediately given rooms in the Devonshire. Walter Fred Evans, a one-time member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra built the Devonshire, and supposedly Duke Ellington, Lena Horne and the Mills Brothers wouldn’t stay anywhere else.

Our Missing Heritage is an ongoing series. Please also see:

Our Missing Heritage (part two) Mid Century Modern North Vancouver

Our Missing Heritage (part three) The Empress Theatre

Our Missing Heritage (part four) The Strand Theatre, Birks Building and the second Hotel Vancouver

Our Missing Heritage (part five) The Hastings Street Theatre District

Tags BC Hydro building, Cathedral Place, Devonshire Hotel, Electra, General Post Office, Georgia Hotel, Hotel Vancouver, HSBC Building, Livestock Building, Louis Armstrong, Marine B, Marine Building, McCarter Nairne, Patricia Hotel, Paul Merrick, Pennsylvania Hotel, Rhea Sisters, the Georgia Medical-Dental Building, Walter Fred Evans

The Livestock Building at the PNE

by Eve Lazarus on June 30, 2010

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

Designed in 1929 by McCarter Naine — The Livestock Building at Hastings Park. Eve Lazarus photo 2010

Hastings Park:

The Livestock Building at Hastings Park is a rundown old concrete warehouse full of peeling paint, boarded up and broken windows. The back is just as neglected, but painted red from a film shoot some years ago. Most of us know it from taking our kids to see the petting zoo, the pig races and Big Bob at the annual Pacific National Exhibition. And, while it’s in desperate need of a face lift, the building has got both architectural merit and a really interesting social history.

The Forum was the men’s building K. CVA photo 1942 180-3541

Internment:

The first part of the building went up in 1929, and then in the ‘40s architectural firm McCarter Nairne turned it into a much larger Streamline Moderne building—the same firm that designed the amazing art deco Marine Building on Burrard.

Most important though is the building serves as a reminder of the injustice suffered by 22,000 Japanese-Canadians during WW2. From March to September, 1942 you would have found more than 3,100 women and children at different times living in deplorable conditions in the animal stalls at the western end of this three-acre large building. The eastern section housed a hospital, kitchen and dining area. The men–mostly fishers and miners and merchants and foresters were housed in the Pure Food Building.

The Hastings Park buildings used to contain the Japanese during the war – 1942-1945. Photo CVA 180-3506

PNE buildings:

All told there were at least 10 of the PNE buildings used to house the Japanese Canadians in disgusting conditions. Most of the buildings are long gone, but as well as the Livestock building, Rollerland, the Forum, the Garden Auditorium and the race track were all used at some point to contain the Japanese before they were shipped off to internment camps.

These “enemy aliens”–many who were born in Canada–were wrenched from their homes and sent to live here before being forcibly relocated to internment camps in places like Slocan, BC.

Wander through the Momiji Gardens and you’ll find a faded plaque secured to a rock telling some of the story.

Muriel Fujiwara Kitagawa described the Japanese women’s dormitory: “The whole place is impregnated with the smell of ancient manure and maggots. Every other day it is swept with dichlorine of lime, or something, but you can’t disguise horse smell, cow smell, sheep, pigs, rabbits and goats…there are 10 showers for 1,500 women.”

Back in 1997 when it looked like the PNE and Playland would move somewhere else, the Garden Auditorium (1940), the PNE Forum (1933), the iconic wooden rollercoaster (early 1930s) and the Livestock Building were all under threat of demolition. A decision to keep the PNE where it is gave these structures a reprieve.

According to Dave Hutch, project manager, the City of Vancouver is currently assessing the Livestock Building before recommending that it be added to the Vancouver Heritage Register. Hutch, says based on the research so far, the building will likely qualify for an A Status, which at the very least should help the former marshalling facility get the maintenance it badly needs to prolong its life.

Tags Hastings Park, Japanese-Canadians, Marine Building, McCarter Nairne, Pacific National Exhibition, Vancouver Heritage Register

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The Mural:

Made in Italy:

1889:

The Badminton Hotel:

Replaced in 1936:

What were we thinking?

The Devonshire:

Hastings Park:

Internment:

PNE buildings:

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