{"id":23562,"date":"2013-12-06T10:35:44","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T18:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?p=23562"},"modified":"2013-12-06T10:40:02","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T18:40:02","slug":"name-know-charles-marega","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/","title":{"rendered":"A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may not recognize the name, but his sculptures are all over Vancouver. Although he received many commissions throughout his career Charles Marega\u2019s work was not deemed of significant artistic value until after his death. Several buildings he worked on have been demolished and his work discarded along with them. However his contributions to public art and heritage ornamentation gained him acknowledgment by The Province newspaper as the \u201cgreatest sculptor in North America\u201d at the time of his death.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"AM54-S4<\/a>
Statue of David Oppenheimer 1910s City of Vancouver Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arriving in Canada as Carlos Marega in the 1920s, Charles was a prolific sculptor trained in plaster work in Italy, Vienna and Zurich. His first Vancouver commission would be a bronze bust of David Oppenheimer that now sits at the entrance to Stanley Park. In 1909 an elaborate carved gate was planned to honour Vancouver\u2019s second Mayor. However a lengthy artist hunt resulted in a far less grand plan. By the time Marega was selected for the project, the budget had been severely reduced and the bust that now stands replaced the grand gate idea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Capitol<\/a>
Capitol Theatre Interior, 1940-1948 CVA 1184-3587<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In between commissions Marega made a living carving intricate additions to stately homes. His work can be found on fireplace mantels and ceiling ornamentation throughout Vancouver including Crofton House, originally the home of Alvo Von Alvensleben and Shannon Estates, the original home of the Reifel Family. \u00a0After the war Marega completed carving work for the Strand and Capitol theatres, both now demolished. However decorative plaster work at the Orpheum still remains along with the Joe Fortes Memorial in English Bay and the President Harding Memorial in Stanley Park. Commuters taking the Burrard Bridge drive under Marega\u2019s work each day as the busts of George Vancouver and Henry Burrard, as well as the city crest, were also his commissions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>
View of the lion statues in 1939, just after the bridge was opened. CVA 260-987<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Towards the end of his life Marega\u2019s most famous sculptures were also his most personally disappointing. Designed to be cast in bronze, cost outweighed the artist\u2019s ideals and the impressive lions at the entrance to the Lions Gate Bridge were instead individually formed in concrete. Marega passed away in 1939, shortly after the completion of the bridge the previous year. He had a recorded $8 in his bank account. Even though he was perhaps underappreciated during his lifetime, his sculptures have withstood the test of time and can be seen across Vancouver as a testament to his lifetime of work.<\/p>\n

Research:<\/span>
\n The Vancouver Book. Chuck David, 1997<\/span>
\n Building the West. Don Luxton, 2003<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may not recognize the name, but his sculptures are all over Vancouver. Although he received many commissions throughout his career Charles Marega\u2019s work was not deemed of significant artistic value until after his death. Several buildings he worked on have been demolished and his work discarded along with them. However his contributions to publicContinue reading “A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6073,"featured_media":23563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11233,25,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture","category-history","category-infrastructure","category-streetscape"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Name You Should Know: Charles Marega - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You may not recognize the name, but his sculptures are all over Vancouver. Although he received many commissions throughout his career Charles Marega\u2019s work was not deemed of significant artistic value until after his death. Several buildings he worked on have been demolished and his work discarded along with them. However his contributions to publicContinue reading "A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-06T18:35:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-12-06T18:40:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/12\/AM54-s4-Port-P358-Charles-Marega.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"318\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/\",\"name\":\"A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega - Spacing Vancouver\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/12\/AM54-s4-Port-P358-Charles-Marega.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-06T18:35:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-06T18:40:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/12\/AM54-s4-Port-P358-Charles-Marega.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/12\/AM54-s4-Port-P358-Charles-Marega.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":318},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Vancouver\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78\",\"name\":\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\"},\"description\":\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation is a registered charity that is dedicated to supporting the conservation of the city\u2019s heritage buildings through education, public awareness and granting activities. VHF activities are open to everyone with a special emphasis on members of the public with an interest in the city\u2019s history, building owners, related professionals and related organizations. Activities include workshops, lectures, tours, publications, and granting programs to paint, restore and maintain designated heritage properties. VHF actively fundraises through donations of cash, securities, property, and planned gifts to grow an endowment fund to protect heritage buildings in perpetuity.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/vancouverheritage\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega - Spacing Vancouver","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega - Spacing Vancouver","og_description":"You may not recognize the name, but his sculptures are all over Vancouver. Although he received many commissions throughout his career Charles Marega\u2019s work was not deemed of significant artistic value until after his death. Several buildings he worked on have been demolished and his work discarded along with them. However his contributions to publicContinue reading \"A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Vancouver","article_published_time":"2013-12-06T18:35:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-12-06T18:40:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":318,"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/12\/AM54-s4-Port-P358-Charles-Marega.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/","name":"A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega - Spacing Vancouver","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/12\/AM54-s4-Port-P358-Charles-Marega.jpg","datePublished":"2013-12-06T18:35:44+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-06T18:40:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/12\/AM54-s4-Port-P358-Charles-Marega.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/12\/AM54-s4-Port-P358-Charles-Marega.jpg","width":480,"height":318},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/06\/name-know-charles-marega\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Name You Should Know: Charles Marega"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/","name":"Spacing Vancouver","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78","name":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation"},"description":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation is a registered charity that is dedicated to supporting the conservation of the city\u2019s heritage buildings through education, public awareness and granting activities. VHF activities are open to everyone with a special emphasis on members of the public with an interest in the city\u2019s history, building owners, related professionals and related organizations. Activities include workshops, lectures, tours, publications, and granting programs to paint, restore and maintain designated heritage properties. VHF actively fundraises through donations of cash, securities, property, and planned gifts to grow an endowment fund to protect heritage buildings in perpetuity.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org\/"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/vancouverheritage\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23562"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23569,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23562\/revisions\/23569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}