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ARLIS/NA VANCOUVER CONFERENCE BULLETIN #3, June 10 1998
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A HISTORY OF VANCOUVER ARCHITECTURE: 1860 - 1960
Vancouver, in the westernmost province of British Columbia, is a
relatively young city, its origins dating from the early 1860s as one of
many small lumber milling ports on the Pacific Northwest coast. The city s
oldest surviving building is a simple frame structure built in 1875 as the
Hastings Mill store. The store was moved in the 1930s to its present
location in Pioneer Park where it serves as a Museum.
In 1886, the Canadian Pacific Railway chose Vancouver as the western
terminus for the transcontinental railway and base for its trans Pacific
shipping lines. In the same year, a fire swept through the town, destroying
most of its vernacular wood buildings. The city council reacted by passing
a by-law requiring all new buildings in the town centre to be of masonry
construction. Some of the oldest buildings in the historic Gastown district
date from the reconstruction period between 1886 and 1889.
The boom period from the late 1880s through the 1890s saw the emergence of
identifiable architectural styles, drawing both from British and American
influences. Among Gastown s commercial buildings are Victorian Italianate
and Richardsonian Romanesque structures dating from this period, as well as
bay-windowed facades -- evidence of San Francisco s architectural
influence. More exotic is the oriental influence in the architecture of
Vancouver s Chinatown, as evidenced by tiled parapets and characteristic
recessed balconies.
Vancouver s early residential architecture reflects modest versions of
styles prevalent in other North American centres at the turn of the
century, particularly the decorative Queen Anne homes which are commonly
associated with San Francisco neighbourhoods. Thousands of these homes were
demolished as the downtown expanded, but well-preserved examples can still
be found in Strathcona and in the West End s Mole Hill neighbourhood.
Much of Vancouver s architectural legacy dates from the Edwardian building
boom of approx. 1905 to 1913. Vancouver s finest private residences were
constructed during this time, including Shannon, a Georgian Revival
mansion, and Hycroft, built as an Italianate villa between 1909 and 1911.
Vancouver s first skyscrapers also date from this period, including the
Beaux Arts influenced Dominion Trust Building (1910; 13 storeys) and World
Publishing Building (Sun Tower) (1913; 17 storeys), successively the
tallest structures in the British Empire. In common with many commercial
buildings of the era, both buildings make extensive use of terra cotta to
add decorative detail, the Sun Tower being locally famous for the terra
cotta caryatids which support its cornice.
The city s finest surviving Beaux Arts structure, the old Main Post Office
(1910), is located at the corner of Hastings and Granville Streets. In an
award-winning reincarnation, the structure has seen new life as Sinclair
Centre , a complex which combines retail uses with Federal Government
offices. Significant landmarks from the early part of the century include
several neoclassical temple banks, including the Grecian-inspired Bank of
Montreal, which continues to be used as a bank, and the Bank of Commerce
(1906-08), which has been converted by Birk s Jewellers as its downtown
flagship store. Another financial landmark is the 17 storey Royal Bank
tower (1929), notable for its cathedral-like Romanesque Revival interior.
One of Vancouver s best known buildings is the former Courthouse (1912), a
granite, domed, classically-inspired edifice designed by Francis M.
Rattenbury, also the architect responsible for the Legislative Buildings
and the luxury Empress Hotel (both in Victoria, the Provincial Capital). In
a very successful exercise in adaptive reuse the Courthouse was converted
as the new home of Vancouver s civic Art Gallery. Other classical landmarks
include the colonnaded Canadian Pacific Railway Station (1915), and the
terra cotta encrusted Hudsons Bay Department Store (1925).
Residential architecture in the Edwardian era was strongly influenced by
the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain and the United States. Accordingly,
central Vancouver neighbourhoods derive much of their character from
Craftsman-style homes built in the 1910s and 20s. The British influence can
be seen in the many half-timbered Tudor Revival / Craftsman hybrids,
particularly in the mansions of Vancouver s exclusive Shaughnessy District.
More modest Craftsman influences can be seen in middle class districts
such as Kitsilano, where variants of the California Bungalow were popular.
As in other North American cities, an eclectic array of historical styles
continued to be the architectural norm throughout the pre-WWII period. For
example, the University of British Columbia continued to use the
Collegiate Gothic style of its 1912 Master Plan as late as the early 1950s.
The Orpheum Theatre, 1927, (now home to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra),
is a late, but grand and ornate exercise in atmospheric movie-house
design, employing the exotic Spanish Renaissance Revival style for its
interior spaces.
The Hotel Vancouver (ARLIS/NA 1999 Conference Hotel), is a fine example of
the Canadian Pacific Railway s Chateau style (a variant of French
Renaissance Revival), complete with steep copper roof, stepped parapets,
and menacing gargoyles. Construction commenced in 1929, but due to the
Depression, it remained a steel shell until 1939 when work was finally
completed. In the intervening time public preferences had changed, and the
lobby, lower arcade and VIP suites were executed in Art Deco rather than
the originally planned historical styles (which can be seen on the
conference level. Successive main floor renovations obliterated most of
this legacy and, ironically, the lobby areas have recently undergone a
renovation to produce a retro classical interior.
In the late 1920s, the young and progressive city embraced the new Art Deco
style to an extent not emulated by the more conservative eastern centres of
Toronto and Montreal. Art Deco has been described as the first modern
architectural style. Unlike the mature Modernism which emerged in Vancouver
in the 1950s, the style is highly ornate, but it shares with Modernism an
avoidance of classical forms. Vancouver s Marine Building (23 storeys;
1929), at Hastings and Burrard Streets, is arguably Canada s finest
commercial example of the genre. Its elaborate interior and exterior
maritime motifs, executed in terra cotta, are fully realized, and its
elevator lobby is one of the most impressive in the city. Also in the Deco
genre, City Hall (1936), was a Depression Era civic works project. At the
time it was completed, its stepped tower massing, and simple, sparely
adorned, Moderne -style surfaces were considered radically modern, and
foreshadow the transition to International Style Modernism after WWII. Two
other Deco-inspired landmarks are bridges: the Spanish-Deco Burrard
Bridge (1930-32) and Vancouver s civic icon, the Lions Gate (suspension)
Bridge (1938-9), with its concrete portal torcheres, and flanking lions by
sculptor Charles Marega.
With a few small-scale exceptions, International Style Modernism blossomed
in the 1950s, brought to Vancouver by a handful of young Toronto
architectural graduates seeking more fertile ground for innovation.
Residential architecture was also strongly influenced by the work of
Richard Neutra in California. By the late 50s, Vancouver had become a
leading centre of modern design, and had developed its own regional West
Coast style, emphasizing inclined rooflines, local materials (particularly
wood), post and beam construction which allowed open plans and expansive
windows, and integration with the natural landscape.
Commercial and institutional landmarks from the period include the UBC War
Memorial Gymnasium (1951), the Dal Grauer (electrical) Substation (1955)
and BC Electric Building (1957), all designed by the firm of Sharp,
Thompson, Berwick, and Pratt. The substation features an all-glass street
elevation which exposes electrical machinery within. The office building is
an elegant example of early glass curtain wall construction. To integrate
art and architecture, local artist Burt Binning designed the motif for its
tiled surfaces, using colours reflective of the west coast landscape. The
building was recently saved through conversion to condominium apartments.
Other modern landmarks include the former Central Library (Semmens and
Simpson; 1957), which involved a controversial recent conversion to a
Planet Hollywood theme restaurant and Virgin Records Mega-Store; the Simon
Fraser University Campus (Erickson and Massey; 1965); the MacMillan Bloedel
office building (Arthur Erickson; 1969) and the glass-atrium Law Courts
(Arthur Erickson; 1975-77).
Peter Vaisbord
Heritage Vancouver
Prepared for
ARLIS/NA NW Chapter
June 1998
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Reference Division Fax: (604) 291-3023
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