Photo by Jody Wigmore courtesy of Heather Heritage Society https://www.heatherheritagesociety.com/
About
The Heather Pavilion is a historic building located at 2733 Heather Street in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the oldest building on the Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) Fairview campus, opening in 1906 to serve the healthcare needs of a rapidly growing city. A landmark example of late Romanesque Revival and Beaux-Arts, the Pavilion was the largest and most modern hospital in western Canada and became a model for hospital organization when it opened. The building played a significant role in the development of the nursing profession in British Columbia. Former City Councillor Marguerite Ford emphasizes the Pavilion’s significance in Vancouver’s civic development and public decision-making. She highlights that constructing a new hospital aligned with broader civic policy priorities at the time, stating, “Incidentally, people voted on a plebiscite to buy the land for that building. It was really because they badly needed a new hospital,” illustrating strong public support for a modern and permanent healthcare institution.
In 2002, the City of Vancouver designated the 1906 Heather Pavilion and the 1908 end bays and towers of the south addition as municipally protected heritage structures. This designation was part of a broader rezoning of the Vancouver General Hospital precinct and was accompanied by a Heritage Revitalization Agreement (HRA) intended to secure the building’s conservation and adaptive reuse as the hospital campus evolved.
With heritage designation and legal protections in place, the Heather Pavilion was expected to be restored, adaptively reused, and integrated into the hospital campus as a functional and landscaped heritage asset. However, concerns regarding the Pavilion’s future have re-emerged in the context of proposed long-term redevelopment of the VGH campus. In October, the Daily Hive reported that Vancouver Coastal Health has presented a multi-decade, phased redevelopment plan for the hospital, identifying the Heather Pavilion site within Phase 2. This phase involves the demolition of the 1906-built Pavilion to make way for the campus’s largest new building, which would expand inpatient bed capacity, include a logistics hub to support hospital operations, and be accompanied by a new energy centre on an adjacent site. Several nearby buildings would also be cleared to prepare for future development in Phase 3. These plans remain preliminary and are subject to future rezoning, approvals, and funding decisions. The Heather Heritage Society (HHS) also states that earlier site planning associated with VGH redevelopment had included options for the Pavilion’s adaptive reuse, but no longer.
Why on the Top10
According to the HHS’s interactions with Vancouver General Hospital, an application for the City of Vancouver to remove the Heather Pavilion’s heritage designation seems probable. HHS has initiated a campaign to try and ensure the building does not lose its designation. It is still very early, an application has yet to be made and much is still not publicly known but it would be a significant decision to de-designate and demolish and would undermine and call into question the purpose of the City of Vancouver’s heritage program.
Ever since local writer Eve Lazarus posted this news on Every Place has a Story, there has been a mixed reaction and debate over the value of heritage, personal memories, and practical hospital needs. The post has elicited a variety of feelings about heritage buildings and it is informative to see public perception and conclusions to retain or demolish.
One of the more popular opinions elicited by the post so far argues for the practicality of demolishing the heritage building because it is not as important as healthcare needs. It is often the case where the attention is turned towards setting the choice between either “a” or “b”, in this case keeping the building vs healthcare.
Our initial reaction to this news is if VGH is indeed planning for demolition, what is and has been the overall process to make a decision? It is generally accepted that good planning involves a bigger process with guiding principles that steer the dialogue. Whether the building is demolished or not gets the most attention in the built heritage discussion. But there is also supposed to be an overall process particularly because there is a large public and social history component to the building. A good process with guiding principles is supposed to be there to help us through all the matters surrounding the building and what happens to it.
We acknowledge the financial assistance of the Province of British Columbia
