We saw the early history of this building, and the story of the funds that built it in a previous post. General Distributors (who mostly wholesaled radios) were here from 1929, two years after it was built. They became Western Agencies, and by 1942 they were wholesalers of Gilson furnaces, that could burn coal for the duration of the war, but then be switched to oil once hostilities had ceased.

Having survived the war, they were appointed distributors of Stromberg-Carlson radios in 1945. In 1950 Appliance and Heating had also moved into the building, distributors of Gilson heating and refrigeration, including the Gilson Volcano furnace, but they moved to Homer St, and Western Agencies remained here, adding Marconi Radios to their wholesale lines in 1952.

In 1956 the building was being offered for lease, but Western Agencies were still here in 1962, wholesaling Sharp radios. We’re not sure when they eventually left, but by 1974, when this picture was taken, and through the 1980s this was the body shop of Dominion Motors, who operated the 3-floor car dealership at the northern end of the block.

The Spot was completed here in 1998, (before this became known as Yaletown – it was advertised as ‘steps to Yaletown’). Designed by Kasian Kennedy, it’s a condo building with a mix of 196 double-height lofts and studio apartments in an unusual semi-circular building. Initial pre-sales in February 1997 offered the lofts from $88,000, although by October all that was left were studios from $84,900, and lofts from $127,900, (although there was $5,000 off, a discounted mortgage and discounted legal fees to entice purchasers). The last 14 were still for sale in June 1998, from $143,500.

Today 646 sq. ft. 1-bed lofts sell for between $700,000 and $800,000

There have always been investor owners offering rentals, and one is available to rent at $3,850. In 2010 they were available at $1,400, and in 2000, soon after completion, at $980 (although the penthouse was $1,350),

Image source, City of Vancouver Archives CVA 1095-01047

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Here’s yet another garage on Seymour Street – this one built in 1927, and seen here in 1929. As with many of the other similar building, it was built by Bedford Davidson, but he didn’t design it; R T Perry got the plans approved for the $10,800 building. The Dana Estate were the developer, and the only possible person we identified who might have been associated with this that we can find, was Albert John Dana. He was a very early Vancouver resident, the purchasing agent for the CPR. In that role he seems to have also handled the leasing of CPR property.

He was born in Brockville, Canada West (later Ontario) around 1844, and presumably arrived with the CPR as he was living in one of the Ferguson blocks in 1888. In 1890 Albert married Edith Empey, who was from Quebec, and 18 years younger than her husband. (Actually, she was probably Edythe). The couple were reported living in The Hotel Vancouver initially, but Albert was building a house on CPR land (naturally) on the corner of Howe and West Georgia, That may never have been the family home, as they seem to have moved to a house at 1230 Robson as early as 1891, in a house designed for Albert by R M Fripp. The road was still dirt, and Mr. Dana was a frequent correspondent to the City Council about getting it gravelled. A daughter was born in 1895. The house on Georgia became a guest house, initially the ‘Douglas House’, then ‘The Georgia’, with an almost annual change of proprietor, and a second very similar building added alongside in the early 1900s.

In 1900 The Province reported “Miss Dana, daughter of Mr. A. J. Dana, purchasing agent of the C. P. R returned yesterday to her home in Brockville, after a pleasant summer’s visit to the city. Mrs Wilgress accompanied her as far as Mission“. It seems that aged 5, she was travelling unaccompanied back to Ontario. The 1901 census showed their daughter was aged 6, also shown as Edith but known by her middle name, Vivian, and living with them at 1230 Robson. (In 1898 Alonza Dana was also in the city, probably Albert’s brother – who was in Brockville in 1901). In 1902 the reason for their daughter living in Ontario was hinted at “Mrs A J Dana continues to improve, although her recovery is somewhat slow”. By August 1905 she had recovered well enough to travel: “Mrs, A. J. Dana, accompanied by her mother,  Mrs. Empy, and her little daughter. Miss Vivian, will leave shortly on a prolonged visit to friends in Montreal. During their absence Mrs. Wilgress and her sons will occupy the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Innes, Nelson street.” She returned after three months, visiting Montreal and Brockville, and reported to have improved health. She presented a tea in May on two afternoons, but in July 1906 however, her death was reported, leaving Albert a widower with an 11 year old daughter.

Albert sold The Georgia House soon after his wife’s death, to Mrs. Benge, for a rumoured $35,000. He owned other property, including the Royal Hotel on Cordova that he jointly owned with J A Fullerton. He had R M Fripp design another house on Matthews Avenue in 1912. Albert died in 1921 aged 77 when he was living in Glencoe Lodge, and we assume his estate managed his property interests and developed this building. It’s possible it benefited his daughter, who had married Thomas Ramsay in North Vancouver in 1920.

The first tenant here (just two months after the permit was approved) was The Motor Car Supply Company of Canada Limited, who, despite the name supplied accessories rather than motor cars. Founded in Calgary, they expanded so that by 1962 they had opened 17 branches in British Columbia and Alberta.

They didn’t stay long in these premises; in 1929 General Distributors moved in, selling (as this Vancouver Public Library image shows) Majestic and Rogers radios, and Grey-Rock Brake Linings. Two years later they had become Western Agencies Ltd were here, appointed Castrol oil distributors, but still also Exide batteries and Rogers radios (which could be bought on a convenient monthly plan). Majestic radios could be bought for $99.50 in 1933.

Today it’s ‘The Spot’ a condo building designed by Kasian Kennedy and completed in 1998.

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Today’s building is over 70 years old, and is considered an ‘A’ category heritage building. It’s predecessor only lasted twenty years before it was redeveloped. Compton Lodge was designed by R T Perry, and cost its developer, J P Hodgson, $34,000 to construct in 1928. The builders were Hodgson, King & Marble, which gives us a helpful clue about the identity of the developer. Joseph P Hodgson had built three houses on the adjacent sub-divided lots in 1923 – the arched entrance of one of the Beach Avenue homes helped us line up the image accurately. He initially moved into the house on Pendrell.

Remarkably, considering the location (next to Stanley Park and overlooking English Bay), it appears that this was the first building constructed here. The view of the ocean was blocked by six houses built on the south side of Beach Avenue, and Englesea Lodge would have blocked the view to the east. It was designed in the fashionable Tudor, half-timbered style, and R T Perry also designed a very similar building in Calgary for a Vancouver client in 1929.

Joseph Pollard Hodgson was born in England in 1880 and became an engineer. He married Persis Compton, who was also born in 1880, in California. (Hence the name of the apartments). Their marriage was in 1909, in Rangoon, at the time the capital of British Burma. They had a son, Foster, who died in 1910, a daughter, Jennie, in 1912 and another son, Roger in 1916. They first appear in the city in 1913, when Hodgson and King were listed as contractors, and the family lived on Robson street. J P Hodgson’s specialism was bridge construction, and while Hodgson King and Marble built several significant buildings (including Point Grey School, Tudor Manor in the West End and the $300,000 Union Bank on Granville Street), their best known construction was the Burrard Bridge.

As far as we can tell, this was Joseph’s only investment (as well as the houses next door), and he moved from Englesea Lodge, where he lived in the 1920s, to the North Shore. He died in 1935, aged 54 and Persis was 77 when she died on Christmas Eve, 1957. The inquest inquiry found Joseph’s death was “by poisoning, self-administered, while temporarily insane”. It must have come as a huge shock to the family, who were away from the city at the time of his death.

The apartments were put up for sale for $65,000 in 1929, when the revenue was listed as $8,640. Less than 30 years after the building was constructed, it was demolished. In fall 1958 ‘The Beach Park’ was advertised for sale, as a self-owned apartment building. (There was no strata act at the time, so purchasers owned fractional shares in a company that in turn owned the structure). At some point the building became a market co-op; an alternate mechanism for collective ownership. The building is considered important enough to be listed ‘A’ on the Recent Landmarks Inventory of post-1940s buildings compiled in 1990, but that doesn’t guarantee any protection, and the list doesn’t even appear to be available online. The designer was, as far as we can tell, an engineer called R Antonius.

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This 1927 West End apartment building is remarkably unchanged in nearly a century. It was built by Dominion Construction Co., and designed by R T Perry for Vancouver Holdings Ltd. Costing a reported $80,000 to build, (more than the $65,000 on the permit), it has a concrete frame and a ‘buff-coloured tapestry brick’ facing. The Province newspaper reported ‘The building is one of the finest of its type in the city and Is completely equipped with every modern convenience. It is claimed by the owners to be fireproof and soundproof.’ The walls between units had hollow tile construction, and there was matting between the floors called Cabot’s Deadening Quilt. ‘It Is claimed by the owners of the building that a piano played in one suite cannot be heard in the one adjoining, so well is it soundproofed’. The basement boasted ‘one of the newer types of electric washing machines‘.

Vancouver Holdings were H H Stevens property investment vehicle. We looked at his history as a (very) conservative politician in an earlier post where we looked at The Queen Charlotte, another 1927 apartment building developed by Stevens. This project wasn’t quite smooth sailing. City Council approved the building, but when they considered it in March, the Civic Building Committee wanted the apartment to be set back from the building line. The developers did not agree, pointing out that the location wasn’t one where a setback was required. After a 3 month delay, the building went ahead without the setback. It was completed by December, and photographed in 1928.

W H Stevens was the local manager running the apartments; he wasn’t in the city in 1921, which is the most recent census we can access. He was a grocer, in Yale, in 1911 and was born in 1877, arriving in Canada in 1887. We believe he was Henry Herbert Stevens’ slightly older brother (as H H was 9 when he arrived in 1887), and was William Harvey Stevens. He died in 1962, and was buried in Burnaby.

Today the building is owned by Equitable Real Estate, whose portfolio includes some of Vancouver’s best heritage buildings (as well as some contemporary ones). The laundry facilities are still ‘of the newer type’: there’s a common Laundry room with fob activation for the washers and dryers.

Image source; City of Vancouver Archives CVA Str N267.2

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This is the corner of Columbia and East Hastings around 1985, and we’ve looked at the history of some of the buildings in the picture in the past. Right on the corner is a wooden building – one of very few left in the area – that was built in 1893 by H A Jones. Next door, to the east, is a building developed by W Clark in 1911 costing $17,000 and designed by a relatively unknown architect called Kenneth Fraser. We have no way of telling which W Clark was – there were two William Clarks and a Walter Clark in real estate, and another William Clark who was a reasonably wealthy business owner. The development probably involved the 3-storey building on Columbia Street, which only appeared in the street directory in 1912 as the Chateau Rooms. Mr. Clark’s lot was unusually L-shaped, with 50 feet on Columbia as well as 25 feet on Hastings – the corner 25 x 70 foot lot was in different ownership. The Chateau Rooms on Columbia were originally run by Madame Rose E Chenette. Douglas Jung, the first member of a visible minority elected to the Parliament of Canada had his offices there.

As we noted in an earlier post, the building was altered several times (and at some expense) several times in the first couple of years. At the end of 1912 there were alterations to a shooting gallery. This was the Wellington Arcade, run by H G Wickwire. It was possible to open the gallery because a year earlier this was the Wellington Theatre, run by ‘Lathan’ and Saborne, as well as the Wellington Pool Room in the same premises. There were alterations to the pool room in 1912 as well. Initially the World Wide News Co were tenants here, but they disappeared within a year and Mr. Clark spent another $2,000 carrying out alterations at the end of 1911, presumably to create the theatre and pool room. William Latham ran a business called Commercial Transfer as well as the theatre, and his partner was James Saborne, who also owned the Granville Chop House. (He’s probably the same James Saborne who also ran the Wilson Cafe on Yates Street in Victoria until 1913 when the sheriff seized the building contents for non-payment of debt).

William Latham’s household in 1901 also included James Saborn as a lodger. William was 50, and from England, and James was 21 from Ontario. William had a wife and three children at home, including Beatrice, who was 16. In 1911 James Saborne was 33, from Quebec, living with his wife, Beatrice who was 25, born in England, and their two sons, Eugene and James Oswald. He had two brothers sharing their home. Unusually, James was identified as a member of the Brethren denomination. James and Beatrice had married in April 1904.

In 1921 William Latham and his Welsh wife Eliza were living with their daughter, Jesse, her husband, Arthur Curtiss, and their 11-year old grandson. James and Beatrice Saborne were living at 1128 Granville Street, with their sons, and James was working as a ship’s steward.

To the east is a 1982 building, originally built as a retail centre, but more recently converted to artists workshops and a gallery. Next door is Brandiz Hotel, an SRO hotel that started life as the Howard Hotel and then became the Empire Hotel. It built in 1913 for Seabold and Roberts and designed by H A Hodgson.

Beyond the Chateau Rooms on Columbia, across Market Alley, is the Great Northern Hotel. This is almost certainly a 1911 building developed by Sam Kee and designed by R T Perry. The Great Northern station was initially just across the street to the south. A third storey was added when the building reopened in 1981 as a Chinese non-market housing building.

Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 790-1905

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This 1929 image shows the demolition of a number of buildings that had been here less than 30 years.

The Cycle shop had to vacate by 31st January – ‘Everything must go – at cost’ – they had also cut keys. Next door the Vancouver Dress Maker had also offered tailoring, cleaning, pressing and alterations. The next office offered Calgary Oils and B C Mines Real Estate, then The Bay Cleaners and Dyers, and the Georgia Shoe Repair store, with a barber’s shop at the end of the row.

The buildings seem to have been developed by A K Stuart, who also built others on this block to the east, possibly still standing (much altered) today. Mrs A K Stuart obtained a permit for a house on Richards Street in 1902, and A K Stuart obtained another for a house on Georgia Street in 1906. A K Stuart had two other permits for alterations to these lots, in 1907. There may have been other permits, as some from this period have been lost. The 1903 insurance map shows the left hand of these two stores had been built, and there’s a house in the centre of the block, (relocated from where it stood on Richards in 1901) and another house at the Richards Street side of the lots. By 1912 both these matching stores had been completed, along with the rest of the block.

Mrs A K Stuart would have been Margaret, who Allan Stuart had married in 1892. She was from Ontario, but Allan Stuart was born in India in 1861, was in London in 1881 and arrived in Canada in 1883, becoming a CPR draftsman who helped bring the railway through the Rockies, and then settling in Vancouver in 1885. He worked for architect Thomas Sorby, helping design the first CPR buildings including the first Hotel Vancouver. From 1893 to 1901 he worked as Assistant City Engineer, before joining an engineering company supervising mines in Canada and Mexico. In 1907 A K Stuart, recorded as being a civil engineer, was shown living in the house at the centre of the block, and he is no longer in the street directory in 1908. By 1910 Allan and Margaret were living in Hope, (technically part of the Cariboo at the time) with their daughter Marjorie.

An early 1929 edition of the Vancouver Sun saw the announcement for a major redevelopment. “10-FLOOR OFFICE BUILDING TO COST $275,000. S. W. Randall Co. Plan Building on Richards at Georgia. Construction of a ten-storey office building costing approximately $275,000 will bo started on the north-west lane corner of Richards and Georgia streets within the next month, it was announced today. The building will be constructed by 8. W. Randall A Co.. Ltd., Vancouver stock brokers, 375 Richards street. S. W. Randall, head of tho firm, said today that demolition of existing buildings on the site will be started on Friday. Tho building will occupy a ground area of approximately 4500 square feet, with a frontage of 60 feet on Georgia and 73 on the lane. It will be of reinforced concrete construction. Stores will occupy tho ground floor of the structure. Plans for the building have been prepared by R. T. Perry, architect, West Hastings street. Property for the office structure was acquired by Mr. Randall several months ago.”

By March it became apparent that the project was much less ambitious. The permit was for a $50,000 building, and as built it’s possible to see that the building, known as ‘The Randall Building‘, only had 7 floors. In the early 1990s jeweller Toni Cavelti restored the building.

Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 447-289

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While parts of Chinatown (including these buildings) are seeing change to the businesses occupying the main floor retail units, the bricks and mortar have remained unchanged for several decades. The exact date for the image is unknown – it’s said to have been taken between 1960 and 1980. In the background, across the street, the sign for the Marco Polo Club is visible. It was demolished in 1983, and opened at the end of 1964, so we can narrow the date a bit, and our best guess is the early 1970s – possibly 1972.

The most westerly building on the block (on the right) is the Sun Ah Hotel, home to the Ho Ho Restaurant (more recently Foo’s Ho Ho, currently being refurbished). It was designed for Chinese merchant Loo Gee Wing by R T Perry and R A Nicolais, and completed in 1911. The European style of architecture has no obvious reference to Chinatown, even though the client was a prominent Chinese merchant and property developer. There was an earlier building on the site, with Chinese merchants based here from before the turn of the 20th century (when the street was still Dupont Street). The Lung Kong Tien Yee Association acquired the building in 1926, and today it’s an Single Room Occupancy dwelling.

Several of the city’s ‘working ladies’ had houses in this location in the late 1890s, including Bilcox McDonald and Gabrielle Delisle. In 1909 the middle building in the group was constructed, replacing one of the houses. It was a very different style – occupied by The Chinese Benevolent Association. In the first half of the 20th century this was the most important organization in Chinatown. We don’t have an identified architect for the building, started in 1908 and supervised by Chinese merchant Yip Sang. In 1909 Michael O’Keefe was hired at a cost of $10,000 to design and complete the Chinese Hall here, and he had designed and built other properties for Yip Sang’s Wing Sang Company in the early 1900s. The imposing council hall featured a shrine to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, and the room was furnished with elaborately carved armchairs from the Qing Dynasty. In the 1970s, the CBA lost most of its influence. It has since been restructured and has once again become an important organization in the Vancouver Chinese community.

Although the Chinese Freemasons Building next door is said to date from 1907, there’s a 1911 building permit for a $13,500 brick rooming house, developed and built by Chong Yuen, and designed by Cockrill & White. Vancouver’s oldest active Chinese Buddhist temple was first established in this building. We know that today doesn’t have its historic appearance; as part of a renovation done in 1961, a balcony and three arches were added to the front façade, possibly designed by C K L Sihoe.

It housed an organization with deep roots in China. It evolved from the Hongmen movement, which is said to have originated as a group opposed to Manchu rule. In 1910 and 1911, the organization, in their old Vancouver headquarters at Pender and Carrall streets, hid Dr. Sun Yat-Sen from the agents of the imperial Manchu government. The organization is also said to have mortgaged its previous building with the proceeds going to help pay for the Chinese revolution of 1911. Today, the Chinese Freemasons in Vancouver through the Dart Coon Club own and administer this and another building on Pender Street, and two non-profit housing projects.

Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 780-473

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On the right of our 1965 image is the Rice Block. We looked at Mr Rice’s earlier history, and his architect, Otto Moberg, in the previous post. The block, built in 1912 was initially called the Thistle Rooms, with the Thistle Restaurant, which was one of the retail units in the building on Hastings Street, run by Mrs. Lily Muir from 1913. The Thistle Rooms in 1914 were run by Joseph Duminie. He was born in Ontario, and in 1911 was still living there.

By 1920 D H Rice had started yet another career – he was General Manager of the International Advertising Co, living at 800 E Hastings (the alternate address for 404 Hawks). T Ozaki was running a grocery store at 804, James Haughton had a drugstore on the corner, and the Scottish Ham Curers were at 802 East Hastings. Strangely, there’s no mention of the rooms above, although there are residents listed in the directory giving their home address as 800 E Hastings. A year later the Ham Curers have become Sweid Produce, D H Rice is now “gen mgr Internatl Moving Bill Board”, and had moved again, to 1232 W 15th.

In 1922 he appears to have cloned himself – there’s an entry for “Danl H of Rice Inv Co” living at 1041 Comox (but oddly, cross checking there was nobody called Rice listed there – the Bonaventure Apartments, so maybe that was an error). That company had offices at 321 Pender, and there was also a listing for “Danl H agt Natl Life Assce Co r 800 E Hastings”

In 1923, Danl H was a broker, home was  now 1663 Robson. Lorne Rice was a dentist living at the same address: we identified Lorne aged 1 in 1901 when his parents were in Rossland where his father was a grocer. Lorne had moved out again in 1924, and in 1925 Daniel was now a salesman with Paddon & Vogel, real estate brokers at 445 Homer.

In 1926 he has a new business partner and yet another new home address: Danl H Rice of Rice & Nickerson h 2870 Laurel. Another Rice was living at home; Angela was a stenographer with Fleisehmann Co. Lorne was a dentist on Robson Street, and had his own home on Nelson Street. W D Nickerson and Dan Rice were now selling real estate from an office at 441 Homer Street – two doors down from his previous employers, Paddon & Vogel. Things stayed the same for the next few years: by the late 1920s Angela had left home and Daniel’s partner was no longer involved, but he continued in the real estate business, as did Mr. Paddon (but not Mr. Vogel) two doors away.

Once things started getting difficult in the real estate business and the 1930s recession set in, Daniel switched businesses once again. By 1932 he was manager of the Pacific Mutual Benefit Association, still living on Laurel. Lorne Rice had moved his practice address, and his home several times, but he was still a dentist, now on Granville Street. In 1933 Angela Rice still had the same job, but was living on W 13th. The Laurel Street address appears, but now the resident was Olive Rice, widow. The death certificate is confusing – it says that Daniel Rice was born in Ireland (which is quite possible, but it doesn’t match census returns describing him as American, or his brother’s birth in Minnesota). He was aged 62, described as retired, and living with his son, Lorne, on W 36th Avenue for 27 years (which as we’ve seen is very inaccurate, as they had both moved several times over the years). A year later Angela had moved in to live with her mother. Olive Catherine Rice, born in Ontario in 1874, wife of Daniel Henry Rice, died in St Paul’s Hospital in 1955. Her death was registered by her daughter, Angela Berts. A year later another of the Rice’s children, Lawrence, died in Golden aged 57. We assume this is Lorne Rice’s real name, born in Toronto in 1899, and married to Mary McDonald from Boston in Vancouver in 1924.

Two doors up the street is the Hastings Dance Studio, home to the Vancouver Table Tennis Club. It started life as an Italian venue, a hall for the Venetian Benefit Association, designed by R T Perry in 1928. Opening as the Silver Slipper Club, Stevie Wilson outlines in Scout Magazine how in the 1930s The Celestial Gents (Canada’s first modern Chinese swing band) played here, as did The Pony Pals, an early version of the 1940s BC country band The Rhythm Pals. After a period when it was called the Hastings Auditorium, (as in this 1965 image, with dancing on Wednesday and Saturday) in the 1980s it became the Viking Hall. It was home to concerts by punk bands including the Pointed Sticks, who played here in Dennis Hopper’s movie ‘Out of the Blue’. Now located in a part of the city where developers are eyeing up opportunities, and where the recently adopted Downtown Eastside Plan anticipates redevelopment, it’s long term future is probably in peril.

Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 772-20

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We saw what this view looked like in 1929 in an earlier post. We looked in more detail at the building on the corner in another post. Remarkably few of the buildings further east (up the street) have changed very much since the earlier 1929 image, or since this 1978 image. The biggest change (in summer in particular) is the addition of street trees.

Next door to the hotel is a 1903 building designed by W T Whiteway for merchant, Chu Lai. He arrived in British Columbia in the 1860s, worked in the Cariboo and by 1876 he was able to open his own firm, Wing Chong Company, at the corners of Store and Cormorant streets in Victoria. He was Hakka from Guangdong province, and his company became the centre of the Hakka community. Chang Toy (founder of Vancouver’s Sam Kee company), when he first arrived in the area stayed at the company’s property before finding work in New Westminster. The Sam Kee company developed the hotel building on the corner in 1911. Chu Lai died in 1906 in Victoria, survived by four wives (two living in China), five sons, and three daughters.

The 3-storey building next door is a mystery to us – completed around 1910, we haven’t managed to identify a client or architect. There’s a small, more recent building to the east of that, built in the 1950s, and then the substantial Wong’s Benevolent Association with the Mon Keang School, and the Lee Building is beyond that (which we featured in an earlier post). On the far right of the picture is the Sun Ah Hotel, home to the Ho Ho Restaurant (today Foo’s Ho Ho). It was designed for Chinese merchant Loo Gee Wing by R T Perry and R A Nicolais.

Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 780-459

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We saw the Arts and Crafts Building on the 500 block of Seymour Street in an earlier post. It was built in two stages; the first phase was designed by Thomas Hooper for Evans and Hastings and constructed by Norton Griffiths Steel at a cost of $45,000 in 1911, during the city’s first really big boom. In 1927 R T Perry was hired to add another three storeys, which he achieved without dramatically altering the building’s style. Subsequent restorations of the building have also respected the original design far more than in many examples.

Evans and Hastings were printers and publishers, sometimes printing books privately published by the author. They had been around in the city for a long time; in 1890 Thomas Evans and Thomas W Hastings bought the printing business of Robert Mathison, the first printer in the city, and renamed it to reflect the change in ownership. Among the wide range of printing jobs that Evans & Hastings could handle were promotional portrait photographs. Thomas Hooper had his printed by the company in 1910. The company operated from 641 Hastings Street before moving to Seymour. Thomas Evans lived up the street in the 700 block of Seymour; Thomas Hastings in the West End.

When this 1924 Vancouver Public Library image was taken there were a number of tenants on the upper floors of the building. Daly & Morrin Ltd (manufacturer’s agents for drapery) and Cluett Peabody Co (shirt manufacturers) were on the second floor while on the third floor were the Dominion Map and Blue Print Co (still in business today as Dominion Blue) and The Multigraphers, Henry Levy, who supplied chemists, Arthur Smith who was another manufacturer’s agent, the McRoberts Optical Co and Percival W Thomas who was an assayer and chemist.

Later, Evans and Hastings were taken over by the Wrigley Printing Co with premises on the 1100 block of Seymour. Today the building still holds its value as an office building, sold in 2013 to an offshore investor for over $15 million.

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