Comments on: Finding the Rhea Sisters

By: Taurean

Taurean — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 18:36:49 +0000

I read this story in your Vancouver Exposed book and loved the history. I’ve worked in the TEF3 building for years and always wondered what the statues where about.

By: Gavin Wishart

Gavin Wishart — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 05:45:03 +0000

I was telling some friends about the Rea sisters and they didn’t believe me. From a doctor friend a long time ago I was told the names of the sisters, I did understand one of the sisters was Gono not Pyor, but that does it matter, they are remembered as a bit of Vancouver folklore and that’s the important part.

By: Ron

Ron — Sat, 14 Apr 2018 01:40:45 +0000

It wasn’t so much that the rear (north side of the Georgia Medical Dental Building wasn’t “finished” – it was just clad plainly – like the south side of the Hotel Vancouver.

Like most buildings of the day, it’s floorplate was comprised of narrow wings to allow light to penetrate into the rooms.
– so the building actually had an “L” shaped floorplate.

The Hotel Georgia has a similar “L”shaped floorplate and the Birks Building had a “U” shaped floorplate.

You can see the rear of the Georgia Medical Dental Building at the left edge of this shot:

http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/uploads/r/null/4/6/468480/6df44183-1881-4dd1-9d07-494021a5be79-A46299.jpg

By: Margo Pfeiff

Margo Pfeiff — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 06:14:51 +0000

I often worked as a dental assistant in the GMDB and it was spectacular. It’s not true that it was only finished at the front which you can easily see in archival photos. Only one side where the escape stairs were was not adorned, but functional. The lobby and interior details were magnificent. And the interior rooms were no gloomier than other Art Deco buildings in town. It was just prime real estate and developers were having their day in a city that then and now cares little about their architectural heritage. There was a great deal of anger and controversy about the destruction. These days only the Downtown Eastside has a decent collection of heritage buildings. It seems, in Vancouver, that only the down and out and troubled have the clout to keep developers at bay. So far.

By: Casey Lazecki

Casey Lazecki — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 23:41:07 +0000

Great story, Eve. Love all the great information you provide us.
I was lucky enough to buy a piece of terra cotta from the VHF’s GM-DB sale. I was first in line to buy, but, moments before the sale was to begin, I remember developer Andre Molnar being escorted in ahead of us and having his pick of the litter. Ten minutes later he had bought up the larger pieces for himself and left the scraps for us regular folk!

By: Mabel NIchols

Mabel NIchols — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 06:57:17 +0000

I am 84 yrs. old now! When I was pre school my mom would bring me to Vancouver each month when she was coming down from Hope, B. C. on the train to shop. We would walk from the CPR station up to the Melrose Café on Hastings Street just off Granville. She would always point out the Medical Building and show me the Nurses on the top. Then she would point out the Marine Building, and then the Vancouver Hotel. I don’t know if it was to orientate me to where I was in case I got lost. I wonder if that might have been influential in my becoming a Nurse and training at St. Paul’s hospital?

By: Nancy Conlin

Nancy Conlin — Sun, 18 Mar 2018 17:35:13 +0000

In reply to Melodie. Ha ha. My dad had the same sense of humour.

By: Raymond Parker

Raymond Parker — Sun, 18 Mar 2018 17:06:44 +0000

Thanks for this, Eve. At the time of the demolition it seemed to us nostalgics that the whole of our beloved city was being levelled, especially the most-loved icons.

The Georgia Medical-Dental Building features, or peekaboos, in a photo or two I made in 1984
from an empty lot somewhere around Smithe and Howe, which is now part of my “Eighties Vancouver” portfolio.

I was aware that the sisters had been replicated in fibreglass, but lost track of where the originals had ended up. I can’t say I’m a fan of Cathedral Place. Its name is certainly grandiloquent, though it doesn’t have enough patina of age for my liking … though I’m just a grumpy old Brit who grew up among smokestacks and ancient castles. 🙂

By: June Arnett

June Arnett — Sun, 18 Mar 2018 17:00:48 +0000

In reply to Eve Lazarus.

I had not heard of him either; apparently he was one of the founders of the school of architecture at UBC. http://www.dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/323
He was pretty brave to start his own business in the middle of the Depression.

By: Janet Lawley

Janet Lawley — Sun, 18 Mar 2018 16:45:45 +0000

I didn’t realize the Courtyard was there. Will have to check it out next time I’m downtown.

By: June Arnett

June Arnett — Sun, 18 Mar 2018 16:22:17 +0000

Thanks for this Eve — I so enjoy your writing on Vancouver history. I just looked up Joseph Francis Watson to see that he was also the architect for the Armstrong Funeral Home on Dunlevy. (another story there!?) I miss the GM-DB, but Cathedral Place is beautifully done.

By: Melodie

Melodie — Sun, 18 Mar 2018 00:57:58 +0000

In reply to Eve Lazarus. Laughing. I had no idea either when I was little, I am 65 now. To this day it makes me laugh, it was my dad's sense of humour!

By: Melodie

Melodie — Sun, 18 Mar 2018 00:28:34 +0000

Their names were Gonorrhea, Pyorrhea and Diarrhea according to my dad. I loved those nurses when we went to Vancouver as a small child.

By: Rod Mickleburgh

Rod Mickleburgh — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 21:53:12 +0000

I’ve passed that place on East Hastings many times, and have noticed the nurse! I always wondered whether it was an original. Now I know. Who knew two of the originals are on the building out at UBC? Cool….I remember the GM-DB very well, and the attempt to preserve it as an early example of art-deco architecture in the city. It was the forerunner to the incomparable Marine Building. Bryan Adams (yes, that Bryan Adams] was involved in the preservation campaign, that didn’t have a chance, alas. It was quite a striking building from the outside, especial with the famous nurses. And there were art-deco touches in the lobby, but admittedly it was dark and gloomy inside. I did a piece on the campaign to save the GM-DB for CBC-TV. I got to examine the nurses up close. A real thrill….there was some criticism of Paul Merrick at the time for his involvement in the destruction of a building the many, including me, thought should be saved. But i remember him telling me: the issue isn’t preserving the GM-DB, it’s whether what replaces it is better. And one has to say, Cathedral Place is a beautiful building, and i love the fact the facsimile nurses are still in pace. So one to Paul Merrick. I was there for the imploding of the GM-DB…..a sad day…..despite Cathedral Place….thanks for another informative blog, Eve!

By: Richard Skelly

Richard Skelly — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 19:55:02 +0000

Like so many of Eve’s blasts from the past, this no doubt triggers memories in most Boomer readers. Growing up in Richmond, I never sought medical or dental help in downtown Vancouver. What strikes me, however, is that such a useful service building existed in the heart of the city. That’s because—in addition to transit—parking was plentiful and inexpensive. One could use the Hudson’s Bay parkade, walk over to the doc’s office, browse at the Bay and have a fish-and-chips dinner at the Seymour Buffet. These days, cheap downtown parking exists only in the memories of gits like me.

By: Jean Honig

Jean Honig — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 18:54:26 +0000

Thank you ! I love these bit’s of history , and i think I know the place on Hastings st , you mentioned .