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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6 comments on “The Manor House on Howe Street”
Interesting that 625 Howe was the same architect as 349 West Georgia. I had jobs at both locations and vive la différence!
Having spent the first 17 years of my life in the West End I love the memories these stories inspire. School friends live in homes located on Howe and Hornby. I think a few of these houses still exist. Very few of the homes I lived in or visited friends at still exist.
My Dad used to buy hats from Calhoun’s. I remember a black Fedora, a black Homburg with a silk ribbon, and a killer grey Stetson. At out summer house, he wore a wide handmade straw hat he bought in Fiji. He wasn’t a fashion plate, but he always looked perfectly suited to his surroundings. That’s the meaning of “style.”
When I went to work at Woodward’s Downtown Mens Wear as a student, I condensed his example into my own mantra: “Fashion is what they try to sell you. Style is what you need.”
Well.
In a final bizarre twist to the story of 625 Howe St.
I worked for Standard Life for 20 years as a Building Maintenance engineer at several of their Vancouver and Burnaby Properties..
In the last years of my employment with Standard Life I worked at 625 Howe maintaining the building.
I saw an earlier article about the various buildings at this address.
So,
When I left, I found an small , inconspicuous place down in the bowels of the building to leave a plaque with an earlier Van Sun article about 625 Howe with my business card.
My name is Derek Court.
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