Michael Kluckner posts some fascinating photos (by Angus McIntyre) and commentary to note the 40th anniversary of the most important heritage controversy in Vancouver’s history – and the important consequences.
Of all the demolitions of that generation this was the worst …
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Well-organized, sustained protests greeted the proposed demolition, including the splendid mock funeral captured in the photographs below.
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Although the municipal government of Mayor Art Phillips was sympathetic to the campaign, it had no ability to halt the development and petitioned the provincial government of Premier Dave Barrett for an amendment to the Vancouver Charter to allow it to protect heritage buildings. The upshot was a piece of legislation, overturned in 1978 by the next provincial government, that allowed the city to designate heritage buildings without offering any compensation to the owners.
Twenty-one buildings, the core of Vancouver’s historic legacy including the old Post Office, the Orpheum Theatre, Hudson’s Bay Company, and the CPR Station, were designated by Vancouver City Council in 1974; council designated another 30, including the Hotel Vancouver and the Marine Building, by the end of 1976. So, it could be said, the outrage over the loss of the Birks Building triggered the modern era, where heritage buildings are managed and adapted to new uses (formalized as city policy in 1986), leading to the preservation of many of them.
I work across the street and am sickened by the loss of the Birks Building every time I walk by. Not to mention the loss of the fabulous second Hotel Vancouver in 1949.