You see these towers from Highway 1, heading east, way beyond the Vancouver City border. Where are they, and why were they built, in the Sixties, in such a distant place?
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Where are they is easy, heading eastbound along #1, just east of the Galardi exit.
As to why they were built I don’t know but I’m curious as well.
I’d also love to know why there is the one old tower (possibly seniors housing) on Joyce just south of the station well before the other towers came along, there is also a tower just south of Kingsway next to the London Drugs also completly out of place, and another that appears to be around Boundary and north of Hastings. If anyone has insight on these stray towers I’d love to hear the back story.
Hey Joe,
The building in Burnaby I think you’re referring to is 3755 McGill Street, 8 blocks north of Hastings. That is the Seton Villa Manor building. It is a vertical retirement community, and was part of a heritage revitalization agreement dating to the early 1970s. The building was completed in 1974 (http://www.setonvilla.com/main.html). The revitalization agreement benefitted the Overlynn Mansion, built in 1909. I can’t recall exactly where I read it, but I know that there was some local opposition against to Seton Villa Manor back in the day – a concern that the tower would set the precedent for more perceived spot zoning in the Hastings neighbourhood.
The building in Vancouver off Joyce that you refer to is the Columbus Tower, also a seniors residence, owned by the Catholic fraternal organization, Knights of Columus. I can’t readily tell you what led to its creation, nor do I know how the other tower you refer to on 5657 Harold Street (West of Londong Drugs) came to be. That one is also a senior tower, Collingwood Tower, constructed in 1976 (http://app.vancouver.ca/NonMarketHousing_Net/ProjectDetails.aspx?IndexNum=335). Every odd tower has a story. I encourage you to browse through each respective City’s historic listing of Council reports – every significant building has a development application on file. Every building has a unique story.
Joe and David. Interesting discussion. I do not have any special knowledge of this matter, but I would assume, from the gist of it, that the City of ancouver at one time had, and maybe still does have, a policy which treats non-profit housing projects such as “seniors housing” projects differently than regular commercial (for profit) high density residential development when it comes to oning and building height limits.
That is why, when you look around at the urban landscape, and make observations based only on building height or mass, there are buildings that “stick out” in the landscape, and they are often/usually some kind of non-profit or affordable housing projects.
More recently, similar policies have also been applied to mixed use projects. Thus the Kingsway/London Drugs development (I think this is the Middlegate Mall site, now called Highgate?).
Soon you will see some 40+ storey buildings rising on the south side of Metrotown Centre mall / Metrotown Station. This is a deliberate attempt by the City of Burnaby to revitalize and improve that area. Those new buildings, when they are completed, will certainly “stick out”.
I think the answer as to why is pretty easy. If you consider the architectural vintage of those towers mentioned, it is mostly 1960’s, maybe early 1970’s. There was much less NIMBY back then. If a landowner wanted to build a tower, it was much easier without the neighbourhood opposition that we usually see today. Look at the organized outcry against the Little Mountain and Shannon Mews proposals as modern-day examples in Vancouver. And those towers are proposed at only 12 or 14 storeys, not 20. compare this to the project at Knight and Kingsway, completed only a few years ago. I do not recall to much neighbourhood opposition to that one.