6. BC Electric Showroom (1928) [Saved]

The jewel in the 600-block is the BC Electric Showroom, which despite its derelict condition is one of Vancouver’s most elegant commercial buildings.

Designed by architects Hodgson & Simmonds in 1928. The jewel in the 600-block is the BC Electric Showroom, which despite its derelict condition is one of Vancouver’s most elegant commercial buildings. The exterior features delicate cast stone ornamentation and grand brass-framed windows spanning the second and third stories.

It was last occupied in the 1980s by the predecessor to Science World. Abandoned for over ten years, the buildings is crumbling from water damage and may soon be beyond repair.

The balance of the 600-block has some of the oldest buildings in the city, including the 1889 Crews Block (occupied by the Hudson’s Bay Co 1891-1895) and the 1948 Saba’s facade, its Streamline Moderne design fore-shadowing the modernist revolution of the 1950s and 1960s.

The row has sat abandoned since the early 1990s, headed for demolition.

Updates

Update April 9, 2006: BC Electric Showroom facade (Granville & Dunsmuir walls only) has been retained and restored, while the full interior was demolished; a high-rise residential tower now rises stories above, from within the building.

Update April 9, 2006: The 1889 Crews Block building’s facade has been retained, and restored to its original appearance. All portions of this building behind the facade were demolished. The remaining row of buildings comprised of 19th century early Vancouver architecture on this block, have been demolished.