As our economy continues to improve, many heritage sites are under increasing pressure. Our Top Ten sites for this year demonstrate a variety of issues that affect our heritage environment, ranging from individual buildings to entire streetscapes and neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n
The Heritage Density Bank remains frozen, and there is no starting date for the long- promised, long-awaited update of the outdated Vancouver Heritage Register. Some heritage sites are also threatened by current city policies that try to wring out maximum public benefits through additional density, and favour the provision of social, rental and affordable housing over the retention of heritage.<\/p>\n
Several neighbourhood plans are also underway that could have serious impacts on local heritage resources, but there are no proposed mechanisms for updating the Heritage Register in those areas. Over the next year, we will be actively involved in the development of these plans, and other community initiatives.<\/p>\n
#1. Forest Education Centre: VanDusen Botanical Garden<\/strong> #2. The East Hastings Corridor: Vancouver\u2019s \u201cHistoric High Street\u201d<\/strong> #3. The Main Post Office<\/strong> #4. Vancouver Schools<\/strong> #5. Delamont Park<\/strong> #6. St. Paul\u2019s Hospital \u2013 Historic Burrard Building<\/strong> #7. The Waldorf Hotel<\/strong> #8. West End Heritage<\/strong> #9. Shaughnessy \u2013 Don\u2019t Fence Me In!<\/strong>
\nThe building known, as the Forest Education Centre is a modernist masterpiece lost in the forest of an untended section of VanDusen Garden. Built in 1976, it was originally known as MacMillan-Bloedel Place, named for its donor, the largest forestry company in what was then the largest industry in British Columbia. Its unique educational displays, including a 50-seat theatre, were called “A Walk in the Forest,\u201d and used state of the art technology to excite interest in forest technology. In 1986, MacMillan-Bloedel donated the Centre to the Park Board, which continued to offer educational programs until its new Centre opened in October of 2011. Since then it has been used for storage and offices. Today the Park Board claims it has no use for the Forest Education Centre and has plans to demolish or abandon the building.<\/p>\n
\nWith more than 25 development projects undertaken or in the process of being completed, the East Hastings Corridor has experienced immense development pressure. A number of specific properties of heritage interest, most notably the Waldorf Hotel, remain unprotected along this rapidly changing Corridor. More critically, the diverse neighbourhoods surrounding the Corridor will soon face similar stresses. The area is at a turning point where it\u2019s heritage character will be \u201clet go\u201d unless new civic policies are put in place to protect this area.<\/p>\n
\nThe opening of the Main Post Office in 1958 marked the beginning of Vancouver\u2019s development as a regional centre in the postwar era. At the time, it was one of the largest Federal Government buildings in western Canada. This massive building occupies an entire city block bounded by Georgia, Homer, Dunsmuir, and Hamilton Streets. It was recently sold, and no plans have been announced for its future. There is no heritage protection for this building, and it is not listed on the City of Vancouver Heritage Register. The future of this site is unknown.<\/p>\n
\nThe Cecil Rhodes Public School building, known since 1977 as \u201cl\u2019Ecole Bilingue\u201d, has recently been condemned to \u201cseismic replacement\u201d. The building is located in Fairview, on 14th Avenue at Alder Street. It was designed by the Vancouver School Board architect Norman Leech and built in 1911-12. l\u2019Ecole Bilingue is just one of a number of historic schools that we will lose in the next round of the Vancouver School Board\u2019s seismic mitigation initiative.<\/p>\n
\nThis unique collection of 22 city-owned pre-WW1 houses, plus several privately owned residences, forms Kitsilano\u2019s oldest predominantly intact neighbourhood. Tucked along the alignment of the old CP Rail line (also known as the Arbutus Corridor), the future of this enclave of sustainable, rental heritage housing may be dependent on City negotiations with CP Rail, owners of the lands along the right-of-way that are no longer required for transportation.<\/p>\n
\nThe historic Burrard Building at St Paul’s Hospital is in a state of decay. Though the Provincial Government has indicated support for the St. Paul\u2019s Hospital redevelopment and secure future viability of the Hospital, it has not as yet advanced any capital funds in their Budget 2013-14 documents. Without committed funding to seismically upgrade and restore the landmark Burrard Building, it is in grave danger of eventual demolition.<\/p>\n
\nThe Waldorf Hotel was the centre of a blitz of social media this year, as news of its sale and the loss of its cultural programming hit a raw nerve in Vancouver\u2019s cultural and artistic communities. Was this the beginning of the end for East Vancouver\u2019s newfound status as the happening place to be? Would we lose our last, beloved historic palace of Polynesian pop culture? Even the City jumped on this issue with a temporary freeze on demolition. Despite this flurry of interest, the Waldorf Hotel is not recognized on the Heritage Register, lacks heritage protection of either its interior or exterior, and its fate remains unknown.<\/p>\n
\nThe unique historic buildings and varied heritage character of the West End are threatened by the City of Vancouver\u2019s current development policies and the lack of incentives to adequately protect its heritage places. We have selected several buildings in the southwest corner of the West End to illustrate this point. The Legg Residence, an \u201cA\u201d building at 1241 Harwood Street is currently facing demolition, and demonstrates the impact of the city\u2019s decision to freeze it\u2019s heritage density bank; the Gabriola Mansion at 1531 Davie Street demonstrates the city\u2019s lack of capacity to end the extended boarding-up of an \u201cA\u201d listed designated mansion; the three houses at 1301, 1309, and 1315 Davie Street illustrate the City\u2019s failure to update its Heritage Register; and Maxine\u2019s at 1215 Bidwell Street illustrates a token fac\u0327ade retention.<\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s a new marketing ploy in Shaughnessy – realtors put up orange \u201csnow\u201d fencing to indicate imminent demolition for houses that have received a building permit in Shaughnessy \u2013 usually accompanied by a \u201cfor sale\u201d sign for the proposed speculative house. The realtors\u2019 pitch \u2013 “build your own dream home” \u2013 is destroying Shaughnessy\u2019s “English Picturesque Aesthetic” heritage character homes in favour of new, bloated suburban-style houses that are out of scale with their lots and their historic context.<\/p>\n