Miro Cernetig writes in today’s Sun about a rapidly changing Vancouver to come.
They’re working on multi-billion-dollar plans to fundamentally remake the city, a development boom that will unfold over the next few years and rival what happened after Expo 86. The skyline will never be the same.
Really? What surprises me about Vancouver, given its youth, is how much it stays the same.
Here are some shots, all taken in the 1960s (that’s half a century ago, kids), of Vancouver street scenes:
300-block West Pender
800-block Granville
900-block Granville
900-block Granville
2000-block West 41st
Correct me if I’m wrong, but except for the signage and the cars, not much has changed. I’d guess that almost every building in these shots is still there. Certainly, the overall look hasn’t changed that much – something that arguably might be true for the majority of the streets in the city.
It’s one thing to create planning policy, new zoning, new community visions and its another thing for the economic fundamentals to be in place for the private sector to implement them.
The math behind building office towers and apartment buildings is very challenging and risk-filled (and housing, for that matter). Developers of these (often pension funds) are not in the business of losing money or taking on excessive risk that they won’t be able to rent the spaces at rates high enough to cover land and building costs.
I therefore agree that change will happen slowly, even if there are some dramatic new visions and the accompanying zoning by-laws put into place.
Well, the Capitol Theatre has been demolished (twice), and the Royal Bank was replaced by Future Shop, but in general you’re not incorrect. On the other hand, street scenes of Howe or Hornby in the vicinity of the Robson Square courthouse would show quite a change from the 60s.
Miro Cernetig was referring to the overall skyline, most of the highrises in this somewhat imperfect streetview shot are post Expo.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=vancouver&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia,+Canada&ei=jFC_S5KxNtG1nAfEpYCECg&ved=0CA0Q8gEwAA&ll=49.267469,-123.077431&spn=0.027555,0.064287&z=14&layer=c&cbll=49.267598,-123.077388&panoid=Ynu3clYXlAOuVILpdQ7Q4Q&cbp=12,288.38,,2,0.4
The two 900 block Granville Photos are interesting. Indeed almost all the buildings are still there, except for the Aristocratic on the SE corner of Granville and Smithe, and the Mr Mike’s ($1.49 steaks!) was demolished and replaced with what was a Taco Time.
The date of the photo can be estimated as it was after the Dominion Theatre became the Downtown Theatre, but before the Studio became the Eve (A porno theatre…. the V in their logo was a pair of legs iirc) Neither of these are theatres now, along with the Plaza they have been converted to nightclubs… Thankfully the Vogue has escaped a similar fate.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=downtown+vancouver&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia,+Canada&ei=K-i_S-LmPM3EngehreCwCg&ved=0CAsQ8gEwAA&ll=49.280208,-123.121204&spn=0.01579,0.038581&z=15&layer=c&cbll=49.280281,-123.12133&panoid=YjdDnPSiTrc23OVSvaZDBg&cbp=12,252.36,,1,-10.52
As for the east side of the block, the changes are not as apparent until you pull the camera back a little, which reveals new residential towers on Seymour
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=downtown+vancouver&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia,+Canada&ei=K-i_S-LmPM3EngehreCwCg&ved=0CAsQ8gEwAA&ll=49.280292,-123.121333&spn=0.01579,0.038581&z=15&layer=c&cbll=49.280365,-123.121456&panoid=Coo19ff7WoJCW9ym2-Sqfw&cbp=12,186.13,,0,-13.22
One last thought… There’s a development permit application on the old Keg/Mcdonalds at Thurlow and Alberni, demolition is imminent. I remember that ugly building being constructed, as as a kid my family would stay at the old 2 level walkup motel, “The Downtowner”, that occupied the site before it was built accross from Oil Can Harry’s. Now that’s what I’d like to see, a photo of The Downtowner Motel.
I wouldn’t take Miro Cernetig too seriously, he’s always getting his facts all wrong.
On the other hand, consider the 700 block Granville. The only building that was standing in 1968 that is still standing is the Vancouver Block. All the rest, the Birks building, the Royal Bank, the Castle Hotel, and (a real shame) the old Orpheum/International Cinema/Lyric Theatre are long gone.
Slightly off topic: What blows me away about Miro’s piece is that he seems to believe building bigger buildings automatically equals more public benefit, basically in and of itself. I don’t see why building a much taller hotel on the bc place site is going to do to make life better for most people in the long run, or even if the market for a much larger hotel would be there. Certainly if it were, they would be proposing it, wouldn’t they? It’s well within the view cone.
And it’s funny that he’s bringing the issue of taller buildings up now, immediately after we had this large discussion in which the people of vancouver clearly said that the view comes are a public benefit in and of themselves.
As for how Vancouver changes, I would guess Vancouver looks and feels drastically different than it did 50 years ago. There are plenty of buildings that we’ve already mentioned that have changed, including a number of theatres by the sounds of things, and the previously unmentioned 300 block of pender, which now has a big hole where a parking lot sits in the middle of it. And like has been already mentioned, if you zoom out a bit you see a forest of condos now. Even though much has thankfully remained, it’s important to remember we have to work to keep much of that alive.
But the “fundamentally remake the city” comment is also way off base. The reality, as always, is somewhere in the middle.
Tessa, yes the “Dance” building in the 60s shot is gone, most of the rest is unchanged
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=vancouver&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia,+Canada&ei=eK7GS7nzB4GiswPv6_C3DQ&ved=0CAsQ8gEwAA&ll=49.282697,-123.111827&spn=0.001974,0.004823&z=18&layer=c&cbll=49.282763,-123.111922&panoid=cUPFhTH0N0Sn-26w-CdFXw&cbp=12,116.73,,0,-14.62
It really depends on the block…. look at this photo, the northwest corner of Burrard and Georgia where the Royal Bank tower now sits… http://vancouver.ca/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll&BU=http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/archives/webpubhtml/qbes/ws_photocombined.htm&TN=Records&SN=AUTO30660&SE=1738&RN=10&MR=10&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=1&XP=&RF=ThumbnailNewAll&EF=&DF=Full+AV&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=2&ID=&MF=&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=138287&NR=0&NB=1&SV=0&SS=0&BG=&FG=&QS=&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1
Another fun old photo, Cedar Street (now Burrard Street) in Kits before the bridge was built http://vancouver.ca/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll&BU=http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/archives/webpubhtml/qbes/ws_photocombined.htm&TN=Records&SN=AUTO31294&SE=1742&RN=112&MR=10&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=1&XP=&RF=ThumbnailNewAll&EF=&DF=Full+AV&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=2&ID=&MF=&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=198206&NR=0&NB=11&SV=0&SS=0&BG=&FG=&QS=&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1