We’ve seen all the buildings in these two images before, but only from their ‘smart’ side, on Homer Street. Here they are on the working side, on Hamilton, where the train tracks could bring freight cars right to the back door (although the rail access had gone by 1981 when these pictures were taken).
The tallest building, on the right, is known as Murchies warehouse, but it had a much more interesting role before the tea importers moved in, as home to Joseph Kennedy Ltd, one of the city’s busiest rum-running companies. During US prohibition, they exported alcohol ‘legally’, mostly to Central America, but mysteriously the exporting ships never made it all the way on their voyage, but moored up just outside US waters. Their paperwork would confirm that the cargo had been delivered as the manifest showed, but in reality a fleet of small, fast boats would collect the booze, often at night, and then outrun the US Customs. The building was initially developed by J Russell and Donald Gray, who emigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1906. They hired H S Griffith to design the building.
The shorter building to the south, with the eleavtor tower was developed in 1946. Townley and Matheson designed it for Walter M Lowney, a US candy company. In 2000 it became an architect’s office.
The building with the two-storey addition is today also residential, known as The Ellison. It was designed by Sharp and Thompson for George Baker in 1929. We think he was a builder, in which case he knew the area well, as he had built the Gray Block at the end. Howard Bingham Hill designed the conversion which was the first project carried out by the Holborn Group and completed in 2007. Next door there had only ever been a small single story shed before the 1998 ‘Grafton’ condo building was completed, designed by Linda Baker in a ‘warehouse’ style that matches the rest of the block.
Since we took our contemporary images the power supply has been altered, and the poles removed.
Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 779-E13.11 and CVA 779-E13.12
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Changing Vancouver 