Mark Hume penned a paen to Vancouver’s waterfront in the Globe last week:
The stunning waterfront walkway clearly is one of the things that work in Vancouver, but it didn’t just happen. The pathway began to take shape in 1911 when, at the urging of board secretary W.S. Rawlings, the Vancouver Park Board passed a resolution calling for land to be purchased along the English Bay waterfront. At the time, only 30 per cent of the English Bay waterfront was in public ownership – now nearly all of it is.
But the story was clearly too long to fit into the few column inches he was allocated. Fortunately, another lover of all-things-seawall has made an effort to document its history.
James Schouw is the developer of some of Vancouver’s most intriguing buildings (check out his web site; it begins with beautifully done illustration of The Grace in Downtown South/Yaletown.)
A few years ago, just as a personal project, he started Seawall Chronicles: “a compilation of sights and sounds videotaped along the seawall … to celebrate the urban and natural elements that define Vancouver.”
He began by interviewing past city planner Larry Beasley, and then in September did one with me, talking about my favourite part of the seawall and some the history of the West End, cycling and development.
You can begin here, and then click through to the second page. For my interview, I’d start with the sixth segment, “The Seawall”, and then work though some of the other topics – all of which have been really well illustrated with contemporary and historic images.
Very interesting videos to hear about the history. I’ve only lived in Vancouver since 2001 so I’ve always just taken the seawall for granted…
I love the Grace building Vancouver. It’s definitely my favorite condo development. I think it’s the coolest looking building in the city. I’m really looking forward to Artemisia, the next building by James Schouw to be built in Yaletown. It will look quite a bit like Grace with similar architecture but a completely different building.