INTRODUCTION
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Places have meaning to us. We attach memories, stories and values to them. We like them because of our fondest childhood or teenage memories, for their aesthetics, or because they are essential in our daily, weekly or monthly routines. These places become a part of our identity. They become a part of our heritage.
Places can hold different meanings to people, and these meanings can also change over time. Heritage conservation is a balancing act between which values to choose over others, between which places to keep and which not.
Increasingly, the question arises how to conserve our heritage. Because the places that have meaning to us cannot always be captured within traditional notions of heritage building preservation. Also, because some of the places that have meaning to us are about to disappear, or already no longer exist – but there is still the need for communities to continue their legacy.
Number 1 on this year’s Top10 Watch List is Kuwentong Pamamahay: “Stories of Home-Making.” We publicly launched “Kuwentong Pamamahay” on June 1, 2024, a digital resource of stories representing an intersectional Filipino Canadian community working through the realities of what it means to make a home in Vancouver. This oral history project enables and empowers community members to collect, communicate, and present their stories and the stories of their community members so that they can voice their heritage themselves.
Number 2 is Vancouver’s queer heritage. On December 7, Heritage Vancouver held a debut screening and talk of its short film How I Got My Queer Back. The film project follows our vision of a Vancouver where everyone acknowledges, comprehends and values the diverse ways people forge deep connections to place.
Number 3 on our list is Bills 44, 46 and 47. Passed by the provincial government in November 2023, this set of legislation will result in significant changes to Vancouver’s built environment, negating a sense of place in the city’s neighbourhoods.
The top 3 is followed by the Salvation Army Temple, the log house at 4684 W 2nd Avenue and the Polka Dot House. All three places are up for demolition (the Polka Dot House is now gone and there is no new update on the log house but demolition seems likely), but does that mean their legacy will end as well? How can we ensure that the values and stories of these buildings can continue to be present in our city?
Market forces are central to this year’s numbers 7 and 8. The proposed redevelopment of the Army and Navy building is going to bring significant change to one of Vancouver’s legacy buildings, which served thousands and thousands of people annually for over 100 years. The pressure such redevelopments can put on neighbourhoods are tremendous. What if places could in some way be protected from development pressure? We discuss one of the options in the Land Trusts article.
The Top10 closes with two articles about some of Vancouver’s more traditional heritage preservation initiatives. We reflect on the Vancouver Heritage Register update and on the city’s Character Houses policy in relation to more recent housing policies.
We hope that you will enjoy this year’s Top10 Watch List. We are up for the 25th anniversary of our Top10 Watch List next year. In the meantime, we will raise awareness for this year’s list via our programming. Stay tuned!
Special thanks to Ausra and Christine for their help with this year’s Top10.
We acknowledge the financial assistance of the Province of British Columbia
