This unusually designed building is still standing after at least 110 years. Parts might be older. Mrs J Gamble built a frame dwelling & store in 1904. She is a complete mystery – there was a John Gamble living Downtown, but he was a carpenter so it would be odd for his wife to develop a house using different builders, and there’s no mention of a Mrs J Gamble in the contemporary press. Fortunately, in 1912 a substantial rebuild was carried out by J Guinet to alter and extend the building to its current appearance, when it became the Belmont Block, with six suites.
There were several Guinet brothers in the city, and two with the initial ‘J’, James and John. They were both carpenters, born in Orillia, Ontario, but James was the more entrepreneurial, and was known as a real estate investor in Grandview. Their father, ‘Mitchell’ (probably Michel) was in New Westminster from 1899, and his wife, all four sons, and his daughter by 1901. That year James was working on two homes on Royal Avenue ‘for Mr Galbraith’ when the scaffolding he was standing on collapsed, and he broke both arms using them to protect his face and neck when falling onto a pile of lumber.
John moved to Vancouver first, in 1904, and James joined him by 1905, although he had developed a house on Seymour in 1904. Two years later James married Margaret Isabella McInnes, who was from Lucknow, Ontario and 11 years younger. He was developing homes in his own name that year (although with no permits, we don’t know exactly where). In 1907 he built three homes, on Howe Street, and two on Venables. He continued to build houses until 1912, the year he built this apartment building.
With the construction industry in the doldrums, James briefly worked for Waghorn, Gwynn & Company as a real estate valuer in 1914. Soon afterwards John and James moved to Chilliwack, and took up farming, and then joined up in 1916, fighting in Europe. Their father, Michel, became a fisherman on the North Arm, which he continued to do until his death, aged 80, in 1920. John returned from the war in ill health, having been gassed. He worked as a fire warden in Chilliwack, living in a cabin, and killed himself, aged 53, in 1934.
James ran a successful dairy farm, was heavily involved in the life of Chilliwack, and apparently maintained a sideline with his wife Margaret, continuing to build houses into the 1930s. They had a son, Allan, who was called to the bar and practiced law in Chilliwack, becoming a magistrate. James Edward Guinet died in February 1958, and his wife Margaret in 1967.
The apartments here have a central doorway, addressed as 1435, and the stores on either side are 1433 and 1437. A suite was leasing in 1974 for $135 a month, and $240 in 1980. In 1986 it had risen to $340, and $500 in 1995.
Mallet Jewelers were in 1433 in the 1920s, and O A Brigden, a barber in the 1950s. In our 1978 image Bravo’s jewelers was the tenant, and the unit was available in 1979 for $275 a month. Today it’s a sushi restaurant. To the north a dressmaker was the first tenant, followed in ther 1920s by The Baby Linen and Art Needlework store. Commercial Radio Service operated here in the 1950s, then a second-hand store, and in 1973 the Shoe Repair business here was for sale. In 1978 Damar Floors were here, and today a Cellphone repair business has almost covered the signage for the Donair Town they’ve replaced.
The residents were generally not in the news, although two suites were burgled in 1936, and in 1951 Mrs M Gore, who lived here, was hit on the head with a beer bottle. An intoxicated man was arrested for the incident. In 1958 William Goodfellow was driving on Cambie Street on Christmas Day when he was pulled over by the dry squad. The 12 bottles of liquor and 96 bottles of beer he had in his car cost him a $300 fine for bootlegging.
Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 786-78.16
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Changing Vancouver 