The poor old former Louvre Hotel. Today a portion of the building is propped up with steel posts, bolts and plywood because of some careless demolition next door. Let’s hope the building survives this latest threat. The Louvre has a fascinating history which I wrote about 5 years ago. Here’s the link.
Declared a provincial historic area in the 1970s and a national historic district in 2011, Chinatown is recognized for its significant contribution to British Columbia and Canada. The Chinatown Gate, spanning Pender west of Carrall Street, welcomes visitors and Vancouverites to the district. The never ending parade of tour busses in the summer months attest… Continue reading Chinatown: the freeway didn’t kill it but the zoning just might…
This summer we’re looking at some quirky and interesting bits of the city. Walks start at 7:00pm and cost 10 bucks. No reservations needed, just show up at the location listed. Walks go regardless of the weather. July 13 – Strathcona: the other side of the tracks The area between the CN tracks and Clark… Continue reading Wednesday Night Heritage Walks!
Sometimes the third time isn’t lucky. The Beedie Group has revamped their proposed tower at 105 Keefer yet again. But they really haven’t learned much in the intervening months since pulling their previous design. If you are going to build on the edge of a nationally significant community, it pays to understand the place and… Continue reading Around and Around We Go…
The vast majority of homes built in Vancouver and the surrounding municipalities were not the work of local architects but from designs found in plan books. Published in the US and Canada, these books illustrated a variety of designs that were available in plan form from the publisher. Companies such as Radford, Keith, Wilson and others… Continue reading Plan Books and Vancouver
Very pleased that the exhibit is up and looking good (if I may say so myself) in the Hall of One Hundred Rivers at the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
Looking across False Creek from the West Coast Shipbuilder’s yard to downtown, this is what the shore of the creek looked like in the 1940s. The extraordinary mess on the shoreline, roughly where BC Place is today, is the debris from the Empire Box Company and various sawmill operations. (CVA photo M-7-1)
Inserting new structures into older urban environments can be tricky. The rhythm of the street and its storefronts, sidewalk width, building height etc. all play a role in the success of any new building. But then, despite the best of intentions from the planners it fails at a certain level. The Keefer Block at the corner… Continue reading Good Intent & Design Fail in Chinatown
The Holborn Group’s refusal to excise the Trump name from their Georgia Street project is an insult to all residents of Vancouver. Regardless of whether it is private property, that there are contracts or operating agreements in place, Holborn is morally and ethically wrong to continue to promote the name of someone who is openly… Continue reading It’s Quite Simple: Dump Trump
The conceptual design for the Vancouver Art Gallery was unveiled yesterday. It’s a perfect Vancouver building. There’s no extraneous swirls or doodads ala Gehry, just a thoughtful response to the program and site. There are echoes of the architecture of coastal First Nations, the Pacific Rim (it’s almost pagoda like in some aspects) and the… Continue reading A Very Vancouver Building
What Floats to the Top of My Desk 