The Vancouver Archives have a series of images taken looking north from Granville Bridge. They’re undated, but we think they date to around 1978. Although apparently taken on a foggy day you can just make out the angled tubes of the 1974 CBC bunker off in the distance, with the Sun Tower behind. The 1976 Sandman Hotel is the solid block to the east.
In between there were dozens of small commercial businesses in a mix of converted houses and simple one and 2-storey concrete or stucco boxes, many of them related to motoring. On the left the orange sign is for Buller’s Glass, who occupied the former gas station where today the final phase of Emery Barnes Park is located. In the distance Trev Deeley’s cycle business was still operating on the edge of Yaletown. On Pacific, on the right in the foreground, the 1936 gas station was still operating, although a few years later it became Carlos n’ Bud’s Tex-Mex restaurant.
Here’s a slightly different view from the bridge. The same cars are parked, so we think it was taken on the same walk over the bridge. The 1976 Harbour Centre, and the Vancouver Centre’s Scotiatower are both visible on the left.
Today there’s a series of residential buildings – in this view there are market rentals, non-market housing and condominiums. On the right is The Mark, a 41 storey condo tower with a childcare on the roof of the podium. Next door are the orange panels of Karis Place, completed in 2011, a non-market housing project developed by BC Housing on a site provided by the City of Vancouver. The building has an underground geo-thermal heating system. On the far left is 600 Drake, a 193 unit market rental project developed in 1993. The grey tower with the blue frames is another condo tower called Space, completed in 1996. 89 of the 211 units are double height lofts.
Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 800-3254
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Changing Vancouver 