Sperling Annex Rectifier

This beauiful but mysterious building has spawned many conspiracy theories, most of them centred around secret undergound tunnels winding their way through the basements of upper-crust Shaughnessy. The truth is much more mundane. It was built in 1914 to convert power for the nearby Arbutus Line of the BC Electric Railway. It was itself converted in the 1970s to residential power management. Unfortunately its striking Art Deco features are mostly obscured now by thick foliage. (1914 image from Vancouver Public Library.)