This image is another rare example of a Vancouver building published in the Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, this time in 1953. The reason for selecting this particular building is unclear, but it was one of three industrial buildings featured in the June edition of the Journal, none likely to set the architectural world on fire.
The Vancouver warehouse for the Grinnell Company of Canada Ltd was designed by Townley and Matheson, and was filled with ‘Wrought, Cast Iron and Brass Pipe. Fittings, Valves, Pipe Hangers and Supports, Piping Supplies, Etc,’ and the company traced its history back to 1850, founded as the Providence Steam and Gas Pipe Co in Providence, Rhode Island. Among the piping they supplied and installed were early fire fighting systems. In 1869, Frederick Grinnell, a Massachusetts-born engineer, purchased a controlling interest in Providence Steam and Gas and became its president. Fire-extinguishing apparatus in factories was mainly perforated pipes connected to a water-supply system and installed along the ceilings. The water had to be turned on by hand – often too late to prevent the loss of wooden buildings. In 1874 a Connecticut inventor patented a sprinkler design and Grinnell installed it, paying a royalty to the inventor. Grinnell soon designed his own more sensitive system in 1881, and from there became one of the largest suppliers of fire systems and fire extinguishers in North America. In the year the building was photographed the company had just absorbed ADT (American District Telegraph Co), an alarm company. In 1966 they were forced to sell it, having been accused of price fixing.
The Canadian arm of the business was established in 1914, and in the 1970s became part of Tyco Industries, which in turn has been swallowed up by Johnson Controls. The company’s Lower Mainland operation is now based in Delta. This warehouse is currently vacant, and available to lease, but was most recently home to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, who moved to a new location in Burnaby in mid 2019.
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Changing Vancouver 