Sharp and Thompson Archives

Before the Vancouver Art Gallery moved into the old courthouse on West Georgia, its home was a gorgeous art deco building a few blocks away.

1145 West Georgia Street, 1931. Courtesy Vancouver Art Gallery

If you live in Vancouver, you know that the Vancouver Art Gallery is housed in the old law courts, an imposing neo-classical building designed by celebrity architect Francis Rattenbury in 1906. What you may not know, was that the VAG started out in a gorgeous art deco building at 1145 West Georgia, a few blocks west from its current location.

Story from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

Site of the “new” VAG. April 1931, CVA 99-3870

The original 1931 building—the same year the VAG was founded—was designed by local architects Sharp and Thompson. George Sharp, a respected artist and founding faculty member of the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts designed the building to fit perfectly into the largely residential West End neighborhood. It had a main hall, two large galleries and two smaller ones with a sculpture hall, library and lecture hall.

VAG Sculpture Court, 1931. CVA Bu-P400.8

Charles Marega won the commission to sculpt the heads of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci that flanked the front door. Marega carved the names of those who were considered great painters of the times (none were Canadian and all were men).

After the war, Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris, who lived on ritzy Belmont Avenue, raised $300,000, and the building was expanded to three times its original size to accommodate the works of Emily Carr and some of Harris’s own paintings. The Art Deco façade disappeared and Marega’s sculptures were no longer considered appropriate for the new sleeker modern building.

Vancouver School of Art exhibit, June 1931. CVA 99-3952

The VAG ran a classified ad in the Province in July 1951 offering the sculptures for sale. If they didn’t sell, the plan was to throw them out. Rumour has it that they found a home somewhere in the Lower Mainland – and if you happen to have them in your backyard, please let me know!

The newly renovated version, 1958. Courtesy Vancouver Art Gallery

In 1983, the VAG moved into its current digs at the old courthouse taking with it $15 million in art. Two years later the original building was demolished. Now the Paradox Hotel (former Trump tower) and the FortisBC Centre straddle its old space.