9. Main Street: 900 to 1000 Block

An isolated vestige of early development still exists south of the Georgia Viaduct, featuring everything from miraculously intact wooden boomtown structures to substantial brick and masonry buildings.

When Westminster Avenue (now Main Street) and Westminster Road (Kingsway) provided the primary connection to New Westminster and the U.S. border, hotels and commercial establishments stretched south along the thoroughfare.

An isolated vestige of early development still exists south of the Georgia Viaduct in the 900- to 1000-blocks, featuring everything from miraculously intact wooden boomtown structures to substantial brick and masonry buildings.

The east side of Main has unique double-sided buildings designed to front both Main and Station streets. Recently, a large chunk of the 1000 block was flattened, and the rest is threatened by the wrecking ball.

Without recognition, the streetscape will disappear under the approaching wave of False Creek condo towers.

Inexplicably, neither the skinny B.C. Electric Railway Men’s Quarters (1913) at 901 Main, nor the Cobalt Hotel (formerly Royal George Hotel) (1911*) at 917 Main, with its passageway for carriages, nor the Station Hotel (1911) at 1012 Main are on the Heritage Register. So these and several others are extremely vulnerable.

Listed buildings include the Ivanhoe Hotel (formerly VanDecar) (1907); Main Sheet Works, with its detailed 1907 wooden facade at 1024 Main; and the abandoned former Bank of Montreal (1929) at 906 Main, all B-listed.

It’s almost too good to be true, but a current plan for the former bank proposes its complete restoration for retail and commercial use. Could this indicate a renaissance for Main Street’s historic frontages? It might not too late for this heritage streetscape.

Updates

Supplimentary Information
* Vancouver building permit dates for the 1911 Cobalt Hotel, formerly the Royal George Hotel:

Vancouver Building Permit
Owner: Empire Supply Co.
Arch: Campbell & Bennett
Applicant: Campbell & Bennett
Legal: Lots: 2-3-4; Block: 23; DL: 196
Application Date: 17-Jun-1910
Address: 909-915 Westminster Avenue [Main Street]
Value: $57,000.00
Type: Concrete building

Vancouver Building Permit #3504
Owner: Doering, C.
Arch: Ferguson, J. F.
Applicant: Furgeson, J. F.
Legal: Block: 23
Application Date: 23-Sep-1912
Address: Royal George Hotel (rear of)
Value: $2,500.00
Type: Factory/warehouse

Vancouver Building Permit #3603
Owner: Doering & Williams
Arch: Ferguson, J.F.
Applicant: Ferguson & Williamson
Application date: 05-Oct- 1912
Address: Royal George (rear of)
Value: $100
Type: Factory/warehouse

Vancouver Building Permit #6010
Owner: G. F. P. Transfer Co.
Arch: G. F. P. Transfer Co.
Applicant: Sharp, Geo.
Application Date: December 13, 1913
Address: Royal George Hotel (rear of)
Value: $4,000.00
Type: Dwelling-house