The Devonshire Hotel on West Georgia was demolished July 5, 1981 to make way for the head office tower of the Bank of BC.
Story from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Devonshire Apartment Hotel:
The Devonshire originally opened as an apartment building, but within a few years was operating as the Devonshire Hotel. The building sat between the Georgia Hotel and the Georgia Medical-Dental Building and closed 40 years ago this month to make way for the head office tower of the Bank of BC.
The Devonshire, which was designed by McCarter Nairne (the architects later designed the GM-DB next door and the Marine building) replaced Georgia House, which was actually two houses joined together by a long pergola-like verandah and known for its dances and parties. According to one newspaper story, some of the Devonshire suites had grand pianos, likely because Walter Fred Evans, the owner was a piano distributor and involved with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Louis Armstrong:
I never saw the Devonshire, but I love one of its stories.
According to newspaper reports, after being kicked out of the racist Hotel Vancouver in 1951, Louis Armstrong and his All Stars walked across the street and were immediately given rooms in the Devonshire.
A photo of a travel-weary Armstrong sitting on his suitcase in the Devonshire’s lobby appears on the cover of his album in 1951.
Supposedly, Duke Ellington, Lena Horne and the Mills Brothers wouldn’t stay anywhere else.
Red Jackets and Corned Beef Sandwiches:
Former Globe and Mail reporter and author Rod Mickleburgh was there when the Devonshire was demolished. “I thought the loss of the Dev was awful. The Dev was the poor cousin of the Hotel Georgia, an old-fashioned pile-of-bricks hotel in a great location right downtown,” he told me. “I loved the corned beef sandwiches and glass of beer I’d get in their beer parlour, served, of course, by waiters in red jackets on small, round, terry cloth—covered tables. A glass of beer was twenty cents—you gave the unionized waiter a quarter.”
I forgot to ask Rod if he remembered seeing William “Fats” Robertson there having a beer. Fats, along with a bevy of judges, lawyers, doctors and stockbrokers was a regular until 1978 when he was caught heading up a major drug smuggling ring and sentenced to 20 years.
Dal Richards, Manager:
Local celebrity Dal Richards was the resident manager from 1979 to its closure two years later. Eleni Skalbania was an investor in the late 1970s. She followed that with a partnership in the Hotel Georgia, and in 1984, opened her own boutique hotel, The Wedgewood on Hornby Street.
Related:
Sources:
- Province, November 13, 1932, April 30, 1981
- Vancouver Sun, April 29, 1981, January 14, 2017
- Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus
23 comments on “The Devonshire (1924-1981)”
Wow! That photo! A trifecta of buildings, especially the GMDB! Would have loved to have seen the Georgia House too! Did you find any photos of that?
Have you got any history on a hotel Mr. McWhinnie built?
I just stumbled over a mention of the Georgia House when I was looking up something about the Dev – it was mentioned in a 1931 story. First I’d heard of it, and will be on the hunt for more information – would love to see photos as well!
I have a photo that I believe shows the Georgia House. It looks west down Georgia st when it was a dirt road. The only remaining building in the photo is Christ Church Cathedral on Georgia and Burrard. There is an East India Tea Co store where the Georgia Hotel now stands.
Thanks so much for sending it. I’ve found the high res version and a couple of other interesting angles of these houses. I’ll do up a blog in the next few weeks. Eve
Both (1) the individual architects who build Vancouver before the Second World War, and (2) the general planning of the city were clearly superior to everything that followed.
Yeah I remember watching the explosive demolition in July 1981 from the Courthouse (now Vancouver Art Gallery) plaza. It was a long wait before they pushed the button but was all over in a few seconds the Devonshire was reduced to a pile of dust and rubble.
Interesting that the Hotel Vancouver had racist policies at one time. They probably were forced to change their attitude by government, the people or money lost by not hosting such talents. We still have racists, they hide behind the computer in grandmas basement with no friends/family.
The Hotel Vancouver management were threatened (there’s not really another word for it) by the Filippone Brothers from the Penthouse Nightclub for their treatment of Armstrong–who was a friend of the club, and had performed at the Palomar Ballroom that they had part ownership in.
Hotel management were discreetly told there would be issues over Armstrong’s treatment. But there were a number of places in Vancouver like this at the time. Times changed and eventually so did the management policies. But I like to think the Filippone’s message that some noses would be broken over it all made a difference.
Thanks Aaron, this is definitely the best version I’ve heard!
I went to high school and hung around with Walter Evans Jr.
My wife and I had heard that the Dev had the best King Crab diner to be had in Vancouver. We went there for diner in the late 70s or early 80s and were not disappointed.
I remember watching the Devonshire go down back in 1981. It may have been the first local building to be imploded, which was probably the reason I was there to watch. It was quite a sight to see it reduced to a massive dust cloud rolling down Georgia St., but sad that it had to go.
No words. Classic replaced by plastic. From all pics its hard to tell with both the Georgia and Dev that they were L shaped. Quite the grand apts along the Hornby side with DR & LR much like a house. Hard to tell where the BR’s are though. Those small windowless rooms beside the hallway? And double the sadness as the absolute magnificent Italianate Hotel Vancouver was kitty corner.
The Devonshire Seafood House under the management of Louis Stervinou, was one of the best and classiest place to dine in Vancouver in an era starved of food sophistication.
[…] the design and construction of local landmarks such as the Seaforth Armoury, Marine Building, the former Devonshire Hotel and the Georgia Medical-Dental […]
Born in Powell River in 1928, my parents and I came to the DEV every year for the PNE parade. We had a suite on Georgia with kitchen. In 1937-38 I had my tonsils removed at St.Pauls and was bed ridden at the DEV for days, only able to eat ice cream which was supplied free of charge by Palm Dairies. As a kid I loved the place including nites out in the 1960’s. Great memories.
Great story! Thanks Gary
[…] Grey. The blasts rocked the city centre, smashing more than 70 windows at the Hotel Vancouver, the Devonshire, the Georgia Hotel and the […]
The Devonshire Pub was my favourite place to go in the late 1969 til the demolition I came to Vancouver from Ottawa and met most everyone I know today there There was a waiter in the pub named Jimmy cant remember his surname wonderful sense of humor I remember there was a cocktail lounge on the main floor with a really neat name cant remember the name cant find it online a few years ago I met the head waiter from the cocktail lounge at my local dog park He clamed to have been the last employee to leave the night before the implosion I worked for a law firm at Cambie and 10th and we watched the implosion from there a sad day Anyone remember the name of the cocktail lounge?
i love these story’s i am from MB but been here since 1990 and lived at 10 n Fraser since 04 but i have never left this area lived in quite a few places i remember you doing a story on the green house on my block i seen alot of stuff go down in this hood but now its the worst kind of bad shit going down …………. new buildings …. i hate it so i was wonder if you could mustard up a bit of history of my hood broadway n fraser down to kings gate mall i am sure you could come up with a good one please keep up the great storys i love them
rob
Thanks for dropping by. If you type in “Mount Pleasant” into the search engine on my blog you’ll find a few stories of heritage, history and murder in your neighbourhood!
[…] and Nairne, the same architects that designed the Devonshire Hotel, Georgia Medical and Dental Centre and the Livestock building, designed the Marine Building—the […]