Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia. It is a sea port in British Columbia’s southwest corner sitting at the foot of the Coast Mountain range. Much of Vancouver is built on a peninsula surrounded by water.
Vancouver is a city with a view. It has a natural harbor, a backdrop of rugged mountain peaks, a forest-like park, sandy beaches, you can ride a gondola car up Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver, and you can fish for salmon. You can drive almost to the peak of Mount Seymour for beautiful views and skiing sites. Vancouver is Canada’s third largest city.
Robson Square is located in the heart of downtown Vancouver; it was designed by Arthur Erickson and houses a Law Courts building, office space for six hundred government employees, and the City’s outdoor ice-skating rink. The three-block development has a rooftop reflecting pool, three waterfalls, a foot bridge, a man-made mountain, and many trees and shrubs.
We drove up Mount Seymour to the bottom of the ski slopes (the end of the roadway) where the elevation is 1,016 miles.
Canada Place resembles an enormous ocean liner with its roof of billowing sails. Canada Place represents many stories, such as, Indian legends, shipwrecks, cruise ships, Vancouver’s history and beautiful scenery, freight and cargo, exports and imports, Vancouver and Canada’s development in world trade. Canada Place is the terminal where cruise ships dock. It was built for Expo 1986 and is a dramatic structure with its distinctive sails. Underneath is the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre.
Granville Island incorporates everything from the theaters to a popular public market. Located at the south side of False Creek under the Granville Street Bridge, Vancouver’s Granville Island Public Market sells fresh vegetables, fresh fish, meats and other groceries and plants. The Island is home to several restaurants as well as a marina. Access from downtown is via the Granville Street Bridge.
Queen Elizabeth Park was once a quarry. From its location on Little Mountain, there is a fine view of the city, mountains and sea. Rolling lawns and gardens are interspersed with winding paths to enable enjoyment of colorful flower beds. The dome of the Bloedel Floral Conservatory is a beacon to lure park visitors to view an assortment of tropical and semi-tropical plants.
Stanley Park at the western end of the city is a thousand-acre wilderness crisscrossed by walking trails and bounded by an eleven-kilometer seawall. Indian carvings on the totem poles tell their enchanting tales with each figure, animal and head depicting some phase of life or belief of the early coast Indians.
837-857 Hamilton Street – Hamilton Street Victorian Homes – These four homes date from when Vancouver was less than a decade old and new homes such as these filled the neighborhood all the way to Granville and Hastings Streets. Each was built in the Queen Anne style, three in 1893, with the newer 1895 Alex Gibson house displaying fine mill work in its gables.509 Richards Street – The eight-story Lumbermen’s Building, originally known as the North West Trust Company Building, is a reinforced-concrete commercial structure with terracotta ornament, built in 1911-12 and located on Richards Street south of West Pender Street in downtown Vancouver. It is a good example of the Edwardian Commercial Style, which was the decorated version of the Commercial Style, in which the elevation is treated in three parts – a base and a cap, both of which are finished in ornamental terracotta; and a five-story, relatively plain brick-faced ‘shaft’ between them. The decorated facade contrasts with the plain, brick treatment of the other three elevations. The character-defining elements of the building include: the simple, point-tower massing built flush to the sidewalk and lane; the classical terracotta ornament on the ground floor, including the Doric columns and pilasters supporting a frieze and cornice; the column bases, the arched surrounds on the outer bays; the recessed panels between the mezzanine windows, and the narrow frieze above the mezzanine floor; the terracotta ornament of the top floor, including the segmental-headed windows, decorative frieze, strong cornice, and dentils and brackets below the window sills; the uninterrupted brick piers and recessed spandrels of the intermediate floors; the terracotta capping to the parapet on the south elevation; the terracotta window sills on all the elevations; the plain brick walls on the side and rear elevations.1120 Mole Hill – Mole Hill is a heritage housing community in the heart of the West End. It sits in the block framed by Thurlow, Pendrell, Bute, and Comox Streets, two blocks north of Davie Street and one block west of Burrard. This 170 unit unique and complex project involved the restoration of 26 City of Vancouver-owned heritage houses on an entire city block in the heart of Vancouver’s densely populated West End. The homes include some of the oldest structures remaining from early Vancouver history. This significant heritage resource had been under threat of demolition for many years. The heritage interiors and exteriors of the houses were preserved; each of the houses was raised, adding proper foundations and an additional story; the houses were adapted to include energy efficient heating systems, storm water management and re-use of heritage features. Mole Hill now houses low-income singles and families, as well as market tenants, in studio, one, two- and three-bedroom units. Along with the century-old houses, the project also preserved many of the site’s mature trees. The public space of the Mole Hill block was reconfigured to include community gardens, pathways, benches and a water feature. The introduction of traffic-calming features in the lane way protects the safety of residents and introduced a pleasant walkway for the entire community. Awards for Mole Hill include the 2004 Heritage Canada Award, the 2004 City of Vancouver Heritage Award of Honour, the Canadian Construction Association’s 2004 Environmental Achievement Award and a 2006 CMHC Housing Award for Best Practices in Affordable Housing.750 Hornby Street – Vancouver Art Gallery – It was the former Vancouver Court House.5668 Chaffey Avenue – our lodging during our stays – with brother and sister-in-lawPink dogwoodCanada Place is located at the south foot of Burrard Street opposite the Waterfront Centre Hotel and adjacent to the Pan Pacific Hotel. The Waterfront Sky Train Station is close by.Burrard Street BridgeQueen Elizabeth Park is located at the city’s highest point providing a panoramic view of Greater Vancouver and North Shore Mountains. It is the city’s first Civic Arboretum.Fountain at Queen Elizabeth ParkStanley Park Totem Poles‘Girl in Wetsuit’ represents Vancouver’s dependence on the seaReplica of the figurehead of the S.S. Empress of Japan which plied these waters for thirty-one years 1891-1922 carrying Vancouver’s commerce to the Orient.The H.R. MacMillan Planetarium is designed in the shape of the cedar hats worn by the Coast Salish people.The St. Roch, a short, two-mast schooner, was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police ship with eleven crew. It was the first vessel to travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic through the fabled Northwest Passage, and the two perilous voyages made by the little wooden ship maintained Canadian sovereignty over the Arctic islands. It was built as an Arctic supply and patrol ship the R.C.M.P. bases up to Coppermine. It was in service for twenty-six years. There is only a four-month time period when the ice was open (not frozen).The Museum of Anthropology, located on the cliffs of Point Grey, with a display of Northwest Coast First Nations art is housed in the award-winning glass and concrete structure designed by architect Arthur Erickson which was inspired by the traditional post and beam architecture of North West Coast First Nations People. Pottery, dolls, carvings, wooden musical instruments, lead glazed earthenware tiled stove and Chinese ceramic dishes were on display.The Spirit of Haida Gwaii: The Jade Canoe – 1994 – Artist: Bill Reid – Dimensions and materials: Bronze cast with a jade green patina – at Vancouver International Airport –
Often described as the Heart of the Airport, this acclaimed sculpture was inspired by nineteenth-century miniature canoes carved in argillite, a soft sedimentary rock that is found near Skidegate on Haida Gwaii. As with many historic examples of miniature canoes, this vessel is crowded with creatures and beings, their identities drawn from legends and oral histories of the Haida, and their forms energetically and sometimes fiercely interacting with each other in the manner of rivalrous siblings.
Vancouver, the largest city in British Columbia and the third largest city in Canada, is a sea port in British Columbia’s southwest corner sitting at the foot of the Coast Mountain range. Much of Vancouver is built on a peninsula surrounded by water.
Downtown Vancouver sprawls out from Granville and Georgia Streets. North America’s second largest Chinatown stretches along Main Street and three blocks of Pender between Gore and Carrall Streets.
The central peninsula is the commercial heart of the city where office towers, shopping centers, condos and hotels view for views. At its northern reach, the stylized sails on the roof of Canada Place just into the harbor. West Georgia is the main artery through city center. Howe Street north of Georgia is the city’s financial heart, home to the Vancouver Stock Exchange. South of Georgia, between Hornby and Howe, the Vancouver Art Gallery fronts Robson Square and Arthur Erickson’s glass-enclosed Law Courts. Granville around Robson is a pedestrian mall with fashionable stores, movie theaters, clubs and concert halls. The eastern end of Georgia Street, near the coliseum-shaped Vancouver Public Library, is the theater and stadium district.
Gastown is the historic core of Vancouver, and is the city’s earliest, most historic area of commercial buildings and warehouses. The Gastown historic district retains a consistent and distinctive building form that is a manifestation of successive economic waves that followed the devastation of the Great Fire in 1886, the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1887, the Klondike Gold Rush and the western Canadian boom that occurred prior to the First World War. The Byrnes Block embodies the sudden influx in investment capital that flowed into Gastown based on the certainty of growth promised by the arrival of the transcontinental railway. This building, and the Ferguson Block located across the street, are among the oldest extant buildings in Vancouver that are still standing at their original location; only the relocated Hastings Mill Museum building is known to predate them.
The Byrnes Block is the site of the Alhambra Hotel, located on the upper floor, a representation of the area’s seasonal population in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Hotels provided both short and long-term lodging, serving primarily those who worked in the seasonal resource trades such as fishing and logging. Many of these hotels had combined functions of commercial services on the ground floor and lodging rooms on the upper floors, which contributed to the lively street life in Gastown. The Alhambra Hotel was opulent in its time, contrasted with the numerous cheap wooden hotels built in the area before and after the 1886 fire. As the city grew and building materials became more readily available after the arrival of the railway, it was quickly expanded in a series of additions until it reached its present form.
1690 Matthews Avenue – This stately mansion was built in 1910 for William Lamont Tait, a Scottish-born businessman involved in lumber and real estate after his arrival in BC. This Queen Anne mansion with its grand entrance, round turrets, stained-glass windows, and large brackets uses various materials. The building was converted in 1994 to Canuck Place, BC’s pediatric palliative care provider for children with life-threatening illnesses and the families who love them. The goal of this specialized care is to enhance the comfort and quality of life for both the child and their family. It is achieved through the combination of active and compassionate therapies. Palliative care strives to support children and families by assisting them in fulfilling their physical, psychological, social and spiritual goals while remaining sensitive to personal, cultural and religious values, beliefs and practices.3637 Hudson Street – Tudor style3470 Osler Street – dormers3688 Osler Street – dormers, recessed entrance way3733 Osler Street – Tudor style, round room3690 Selkirk Street – two-story pillars with balcony above, bay window3689 Selkirk Street – A.E. Tulk House Rosemary – This 1915 Tudor Revival English Manor was built for lawyer and whiskey baron Edward Tulk who named it after his only daughter Rosemary. From 1947 to 1994, the house was owned by The Order of the Convent of Our Lady of the Cenacle who operated it as a retreat.36 West Cordova Street – Lonsdale Building – built 1889207 West Hastings Street at Cambie Street – Dominion Building – When it opened in 1910 it was the tallest building in the British Empire; it was Vancouver’s first steel-framed high-rise at 53 meters (175 feet). It was built to house the Dominion Trust which later became the Dominion Bank.The famous Gastown clock on Water Street, designed and built by R. L. Saunders, is the world’s first steam power clock. This clock is located at the western boundary of the old Granville townsite, known as Gastown. In 1870, the shore of Burrard Inlet was only a few yards north of this point. Through the early 1900s, Gastown was the commercial center of Vancouver. By the 1960s, it had become the center of Vancouver’s “Skid Road.†In the early 1970s, it was rehabilitated to its former stature. The success of its rehabilitation was the result of cooperation between many parties working together to beautify the streets.2 Water Street – 1887 – Peckinpah Restaurant – The Byrnes Block is a two-story, Victorian Italianate commercial brick building, with a later addition to the south located across a narrow passageway. It is situated on Maple Tree Square at the irregular intersection of Alexander, Powell, Water and Carrall Streets in the historic district of Gastown. The Byrnes Block is one of the oldest buildings in Vancouver located on its original site. Features include: trapezoidal floor plan, flat roof, two-story height, elaborate pedimented window hoods and surrounds on the second floor, projecting cornice with alternating large and small eave brackets, and an elaborate arched corner pediment, masonry construction, including painted brick cladding with flush-struck mortar joints on two main facades and common red brick cladding on rear facades, large rectangular storefront windows on the ground floor enabled by the use of cast iron columns; elongated double-hung 1-over-1 wood-sash windows on the second floor of the two main facades.1 Water Street – “Gassy Jack†– 1830-1875 – John Deighton was born in Hull, England. He was an adventurer, river boat pilot and captain, but best know for his “Gassy†monologues as a saloon keeper. His Deighton House Hotel, erected here on the first subdivided lot, burned in the great fire of June 13, 1886. Here stood the old maple tree under whose branches the pioneers met in 1885, and chose the name Vancouver for this city.401 Main Street – Carnegie Public Library with two-story Ionic columns, dome and cupola
118 Nicola Street – William O. Ellis House – W.O. Ellis was a local pharmacist and active community member. He built his home on tree lined Nicola Street in 1929. It has many features typical of the Arts and Crafts style, but it is also looking forward to architectural trends popularized in the 1930s. The cream-colored stucco, green window boxes, and red steps are the original colors.223 Nicola Street – The style of this home is typical of the 1910 period in Kamloops and is best described as anti-Victorian in sentiment. It was built in 1909. The overall shape is rectangular and right-angled. Adornment is kept to a minimum. Homes like this can be found scattered throughout Kamloops and were generally owned by small businessmen or railway officials.226 Nicola Street – S. B. Brooke House – This English style cottage was built in 1940 by C.N.R. Conductor Bernard Brooke (aka ‘Babbling Brooke’) and his wife Ruby, after their home at 1426 Lorne Street burned to the ground. Mrs. Brooke and her two children escaped into the -20°F weather at midnight with only their overcoats and nightclothes. The fire brigade’s efforts were hampered by the extreme cold and a broken fire hydrant. Mr. Brooke returned home to find that his wife had narrowly escaped the flames, as the front door had jammed, making her exit difficult. In 1942, C.N.R. Engineer, Archibald Legg and his new bride Janet Darlington purchased this home. The couple were former neighbors in the 800 block Battle Street when both became widowed. Sadly, Archibald Legg was killed in 1948, in a train wreck near Lytton, and Janet remained in the house until 1970. The architecture of this stucco house is unique in the Kamloops area. The steep pitched, double peaks at the front of the house are repeated once at the rear. These details were labor intensive, but add greatly to the appeal of the home inside and out. This four-bedroom cottage has only one bathroom; however, an upstairs bedroom features the original built-in vanity sink. Chamber pots were probably a necessity as one of the resident families had seven children.255 Nicola Street –Sacred Heart Cathedral – Sacred Heart Cathedral was built in 1921 to replace a wood frame church which had burned. Interesting architectural features include stained and leaded glass windows, red brick with white stone accents, columns, balustrade, a tower, and dome.822 Nicola Street – Charles and Clara Hirst built the first house on this block in 1912 in the popular classic box style. The house was subsequently bought by Robert McCall in 1921 who was elected the Police Commissioner in 1926. The house has been extensively restored to its original condition with clapboard siding, v board soffits, wood rafter fascia, and leaded glass panel windows.868 Nicola Street – Royal Dayton Bell House – This late Craftsman style house was built just before the outbreak of World War II by R.D. Bell. Bell was a contractor and carpenter, and given the quality of this house, he probably built it himself. The outside of the house is sided in double rows of cedar shingles. The verandah is getting smaller, as was typical of this period, but it is still a comfortable size by today’s standards and features a wide top railing and slender columns with decorative moldings. Pretty window boxes complete the cottage-like quality of the house.875 Nicola Street – This Bungalow style house was built in 1944. The exterior has original plaster stucco siding, wood soffits and fascia, multi-pane wood frame windows and a scallop frame to accent the front side.115 Tranquille Road – c. 1909-1910 – The Wilson House is a one-and-one-half-story wood-frame house influenced by the Gothic Revival style and connected with William Stewart Wilson, a local farmer, businessman and politician, and the first Chairman of the Village of North Kamloops. The house has a steeply-pitched side gabled roof and side bay window, a central gabled wall dormer, and a full-width open veranda.
245 St. Paul Street – Stuart Wood School – 1907 – It is a three-story school, with a full-height basement, with a symmetrical facade in the Neo-Classical style. It is clad in red brick, has a broad hip roof, front and rear gabled projections, and parged string courses. The architecture conveys a sense of permanence and order and demonstrates the Romanesque Revival style in its massive masonry construction and round-arched windows. There are arched transoms above the three central windows on the third floor. The Classical Revival is evident in the pedimented portico, classical columns, and arched fanlight window above the central entrance. The large sash windows were characteristic of contemporary school design, arranged to take advantage of natural light and ventilation. It has been in continuous use as a school for over a century.603 St. Paul Street – This Classic Box style house built in 1911 was popular at the beginning of the twentieth century. There are numerous examples throughout the older sections of the city. Typically, it has clapboard siding, v board soffits and wood rafter fascia. Because this house has been used for commercial use many of the original windows and doors have been replaced to meet modern building codes.619 St. Paul Street – Herbert and Florence Davies House – This home is a classic example of the Craftsman style house in Kamloops. It was built in 1924 during one of the greatest economic boom times in Kamloops’ history. The first owners were Herbert and Florence Davies. Herbert Davies was a contractor, so it is very likely he built this house himself. As a contractor, Herbert was well-known for his work on the city hall addition in 1913, as well as houses at Seventh Avenue and Dominion.715 St. Paul Street – This is one of a dozen identical houses built in this block by an English contractor between 1913 -1923. Craftsman in style this house was built in 1913. It has v board soffits, wood rafter fascia, broad weather board siding and wood frame widows. The verandah has four square pillars that is common to this style and the front door is original.673 Battle Street – The ‘Ideal’ house was built in 1912 by Edwin and Alice Walkley. Mr. Walkley was the owner of the Small and Dobson Cement Plant in BC Fruitlands on the North Shore. The plant manufactured concrete building blocks which were used to build many basements in Kamloops. Walkley introduced a molded hollow block to Kamloops called ‘ideal’ blocks which he used to build this house and one at 467 St. Paul Street. The hollow shape was meant to replace the need for insulation. In fact, the house was cool in the summer, but too cold in the winter. Each block was hand-made by Walkley in the backyard using several molds with different patterns on the facing. The blocks were sun-dried before being set into place. The overall style of the house is very similar to the wood frame, two story four-square houses of the same era with attic dormer windows found throughout Kamloops.48 Battle Street West – a Roy Burris House – Roy Burris was a member of the famous Kamloops medical family. He had this house built in 1911. It is very similar in style and age to 179 Battle Street West and shares many of the same architectural features. Its long, low verandah is typical of the bungalow style developed by the British in India to keep out the hot, piercing rays of the sun. The verandah boasts the square columns with decorative trim and bay windows typical of the era. The original cedar shingle siding on this house was spared the unfortunate ‘modernizing’ stucco facelift that so many houses in the neighborhood fell victim to in the 1940s and 1950s. Cedar siding is a distinguishing characteristic of early Kamloops houses. The windows still have their original glass panes.101 Battle Street West – A. Galloway House – When this house was built in 1928, it was considered ultramodern and very forward looking. The red mansard roof, red brick steps, plate glass windows, dormers, window boxes and small front porch with a “Greek porch†roof are all original features. Archibald Galloway owned a pharmacy in Kamloops for many years. He also successfully ran as a City Councillor and was director of many community organizations.133 Battle Street West – Frederick E. Young House – When this house was built in 1910, it was surrounded by sweeping property which stretched south and east for several lots. The owner, Frederick Young, was owner and publisher of the Kamloops Standard newspaper. A tennis court, croquet area, gazebo, and a stable located at 76 Nicola Street West were part of the property. The two-story house has an expansive wraparound verandah accessed by a broad flight of stairs, wide leaded glass windows, two circular windows above the front door, sturdy tapered columns, Craftsman style mill work, exposed rafter ends, and an attic dormer.
