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Price Points: Robson and Granville

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What’s this about?

It’s not often that I cheer the loss of another bit of Vancouver’s past.  But this block at Robson and Granville is coming down.  (Map here.)

Yay!

It’s a non-descript white-brick block on a great location.  Photographer Alex Waterhouse-Hayward had his studio there – as did, no doubt, an eclectic group of tenants over many decades.  We’ll miss the unique boutiques in tiny storefronts along the Robson sidewalk, and an alluring  retail underworld below – a classic example of Jane Jacobs’ observation: New ideas (and ventures) need old buildings.

Unfortunately this one was too fat, and not tall enough to ever command its site.  It squeezed the north sidewalk past the point of congestion, never gave this signature corner sufficient due, and had one of the ugliest awnings in a city with a lot of competition for ugliest awning.  Hopefully Musson Catell Mackey’s 87-foot replacement will make a statement worthy of the location and animate a corner that surely many developers must have lusted after for years.  I presume Granville Mall Optical had a very long and exceedingly attractive lease, enough to justify hanging in there without making any changes to a storefront of hyperbolic arches in cheap stucco that look like they dated back to the ’70s.

I’m also assuming that the adjacent terra-cotta charmer next door will at least have its facade preserved, given that this polychromatic storefront was designed by Townley & Matheson – the architects of City Hall – and that the Power Block is a designated heritage building.

I haven’t seen a rendering yet – not even the boys at Changing City have posted one – but it had better be good.  It’ll change our perception of this part of Granville and be the gateway to Robson Square a block away.  And of course it’ll be on the go-to corner whenever, one day, we win the Stanley Cup.

I wonder how much glass they’ll be using.

 

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6 comments

  1. Can we take out the Searscube across the street next (or at least punch windows and storefronts into it)?

  3. I for one morn the loss of a building like this. Yes, it may not be the most dazzling building in the city, but it is very reminiscent of old Vancouver. And old buildings like this usually have a wonderful mix of eclectic stores – the eye glass store with great windows at every holiday, the cheap donairs, used clothing, diamonds, pipe shop – you name it. It’s buildings like this made Granville great yesterday and today.

    Unfortunately the new building will probably have a Starbucks and a Nike store – not a lot new or interesting about that. I do hope that I get to eat those words, but that is what the new infrastructure usually brings.

  4. It’s unfortunate that this is what is being re-developed. Just cross the street and see that empty facade that’s the side of the Sears building. That really ought to have something done with it since it’s a big empty space that doesn’t even incorporate any street art or anything and isn’t particularly interesting. Thumbs down to more glass dominated buildings even if they’re on a small and ‘pedestrian friendly’ scale.

  5. Sigh. Agreed it is not a particularly beautiful building, but at least it has a different feel than most of the generic architecture that is being erected downtown. One of the reasons that many film makers use Vancouver as a city backdrop is because the high-rise and downtown skyline/environment is so nondescript it can be made to look like anywhere else.

  6. Another loss. It seems as if Vancouver would prefer to erase the memories of it’s recent past. It’s becoming a very bland, very ugly city. Not to mention the ecological affects all the glass buildings are having on the climate. It’s far windier, and the solar gain effect caused by all the glass buildings is very noticeable. I’m not against change, by why are architects unable to reference our past?