This view of the east side of the 900 block of Richards dates from 1981, when the Downtown South commercial area comprised modest and generally unremarkable one and two storey buildings. There’s one exception in this image; the single storey structure in the centre of the picture started life as a “nondescript office-cum-warehouse” according to Exploring Vancouver 2, but in 1975 it was given a new life as the home of the Architectural Institute of BC. Dalla-Lana/Griffin were the architects of the conversion.
Across Nelson Street were the almost windowless studios of CFOX (which had morphed from CKLG a couple of years earlier). CKLG became Canada’s first full-time FM rock music station in 1968.
In 2006 Tribeca Lofts replaced the AIBC building, with 52 condos in an 8-storey building designed by Hancock, Bruckner, Eng + Wright. The developer, Mark Chandler, faced legal action when he was accused of selling several suites to more than one purchaser. This wasn’t his first run in with the law – he was indicted in Arizona in 2000 on 13 charges of fraud, theft and forgery. He entered into a plea agreement in 2003 and was deported to Canada.
To the north, on the left of the image, where Hudson Optical and British Columbia Industries operated in 1981, The Savoy, a 30-storey tower designed by Howard, Bingham, Hill was completed in 2000, while C-Fox (and the building’s resident mouse population – noted by former radio station staff) were replaced in 2003 by The Gallery, a 23 storey tower, also designed by Hancock, Bruckner, Eng + Wright.
Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 779-E09.12
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Changing Vancouver 