The Vancouver Heritage Foundation and the DVBIA unveiled the latest set of Places That Matter plaques on June 26, 2015. It was a great celebration. The five plaques focus on various aspects of the role West Hastings Street has played in the development of the city; finance, the port, parades, tourism and the early residents.… Continue reading Old Landmarks Going….
Here’s a screen grab from the fabulous 1956 CBC film Summer Afternoon which follows two boys around Chinatown. There are many great images of a long gone landscape. In a brief segment the two are seen climbing over the gates to Canton Alley and then wander down Shanghai Alley. There are very few good images… Continue reading Shanghai Alley on a Summer Afternoon
Maybe Martians should land more often in this city. I like this proposed tower. Positioned on the edge of Gastown where Cordova Street bends as the original townsite grid meets the downtown grid, the tower sits between two very strong heritage buildings which can certainly hold their own against the new comer. In this situation,… Continue reading More Martians Needed
Somethings never change… In 1906 rising property values in Chinatown were forcing smaller businesses out and the community began to think about purchasing property elsewhere in the city to move the Chinese business district to. Here’s the 1906 article.
The former Bank of Nova Scotia at 424 West Hastings is an attractive little building. Built in 1904 and designed by the firm of Dalton & Eveleigh this was the bank’s head office until their new office tower was constructed at the corner of Seymour and Hastings in 1910. At some point the… Continue reading Lost and Found
In this shot from the 1970s looking south from the corner of 5th Avenue and Burrard there is a billboard for the product that altered the look of thousands of older homes across the city.
In the 1960s Vancouver embarked on a number of civic improvements including its street furniture and one of the items was this forlorn looking object seen here in this 1978 photo. What is it? It’s a newspaper kiosk for that long lost profession of the corner newspaper vendor. When papers published more than one edition… Continue reading Forgotten Urban Objects
There are so many examples of cities using light in interesting ways. Imagine if Chinatown in Vancouver hosted a lighting festival… This is from Frame Magazine. It may not be as drastic as in some parts of the world, but the Netherlands gets dark pretty darn early during winter. To break the blackness, Amsterdam Light Festivalilluminates… Continue reading Let There Be Light…
On a recent walking tour of the Cedar Cove area of Vancouver (centred around Victoria Dr and Powell Street) we came across this fabulous set of buildings at 2036 Triumph Street. Local lore has it that the house was once on Powell Street at the waterfront and that it was moved to it’s current location.… Continue reading Build House, Move House…
Friends of the Archives Fall Fundraiser: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 7:00 pm-9:00 pm Doors open 6:00 pm H.R. MacMillan Space Centre 1100 Chestnut Street Join Andy Coupland and John Atkin as they explore the changing nature of Vancouver through before-and-after images selected from the blog Changing Vancouver and the Vancouver Archives. Set against the background… Continue reading An Ever-changing City
What Floats to the Top of My Desk 