What's New

This 1899 building is one of the oldest on the Granville Strip. It was built a little too early - by 1901 it was still surrounded by vacant land.  The upstairs floor was originally residential. One of its tenants was Sam Greer, who for a time owned most of Kits Beach (interesting back story here). (1925 photo from Vancouver City Archives).

This building first showed up in the City directory in 1912. Before Vancouver adopted zoning in 1928, Vancouver boasted hundreds of family owned grocery stores scattered throughout the City.  Few have survived, although recently there have been efforts to revive neighbourhood retailers.  Some of the structures, like this one, have been converted to private homes. (1969 photo from Vancouver City Archive. )

In 1934, tickets for the PNE's first prize home cost 10 cents each. The house, fully furnished, was valued at $5000, and was won by Leonard Frewin, a delivery driver for Spencer's Department Store.  It was dragged by horse-drawn skid from the PNE grounds to its present location. (1935 photo from Vancouver City Archives).

Completed in 1913 with rooms costing $1 a day, the Patricia was a bustling social hub for decades. It hosted boxing matches in its basement and jazz performers like Jelly Roll Morton in the upstairs lounge.  In later years it fell into disrepair, but was recently purchased by the City to provide supportive housing for the recently evicted Strathcona campers. (1917 photo from Vancouver City Archives).

The Quigley Knitting Company made uniforms for the military, police and fire departments in the city. Today, the 1912 building is home to a fancy juice bar and Vancouver's finest ice cream.  (1923 images from Vancouver City Archives).

Ninety years separate these two photographs of Kitsilano. Henry Hudson School (soon to be demolished) is on the left, and the Maple Apartments, still standing, can be seen in the background. The billboard is advertising an automatic coal stoker. (1932 Major Matthews photo from Vancouver City Archives).

At the turn of the twentieth century, the foot of Lonsdale Avenue was the transportation hub of the North Shore. The streetcar, ferry to Vancouver, and the Pacific Great Eastern railway all converged here, conduits for a thriving shipbuilding and forestry industry.  Paine Hardware occupied the building's ground floor from 1914 until 1998, when it was destroyed by fire. (1912 photo from Museum of North Vancouver Archives).

This unique block is composed of four heritage buildings owned by the federal government.  The Post Office and Customs Warehouse were both located here.  In1986 the buildings were integrated into an upscale shopping mall. Plans are now under way to add a 22 storey tower to the complex. (Major Matthews photo from the Vancouver City Archives.)

The original red bricks of this century-old grocery store have been uncovered by developer Domus Group, who transformed the heritage property into a group of contemporary townhomes. The ground floor of the old store will be a coffee shop. (1978 photo from Vancouver City Archives).
 

In 1941, businessman and bootlegger George Reifel traded a strip of land at the foot of Bute Street to the city, allowing the development of Sunset Beach Park, which runs from Stanley Park to the mouth of False Creek. The Vancouver Aquatic Centre, now hidden behind trees, was opened in 1974. (1962 photo from the Vancouver City Archives).