Browse "Buildings & Monuments"

After the war, Vancouver's modernists, Lawren HARRIS among them, set the gallery on a new course.

When BC Electric chairman Dal Grauer decided to move to new headquarters south of Georgia Street, he wanted a building that would symbolize optimism and progress. What he got was a gleaming 21-storey modernist structure that glowed with electric light 24 hours a day.

The sparkling white terra cotta tiles of the Birks building lit the southeast corner of Granville and Georgia from 1913. Inside, sparkling jewelry, silver and fine china attracted the most demanding, and wealthy, clientele. It was a shock to the city when the Birks family decided to tear the impressive grand dame down in 1975.

“Meet me at the Birks clock” was the standard Vancouver rendezvous plan in the pre-cell phone era of 1913 to 1974. But the Birks clock itself has been a wandering timepiece. It started at Granville & Hastings, moved to Granville & Georgia, and returned to its original intersection — but across the street!

The Vancouver Special took form largely between 1965 and 1985 due to new possibilities in the mass production of cheap and accessible housing. It is the primary form of architecture unique to Vancouver.

The WEM remains the largest shopping centre in North America. It was among the first shopping centres to offer a wide range of amenities, from water parks to themed streets - attractive at any time of year but particularly during winter.