The Endangered Built Heritage of Renfrew Collingwood

Above: Located at the southwest corner of Kingsway and Slocan Street, the 2400 Motel has been a previous entry on past Heritage Vancouver Top Ten Endangered Heritage Sites lists. This year, this building appears again on the list at number ten. It's easy to see why the property deserves consideration: the exuberant neon sign, the streamlined design of the Motel's main office and the cluster of white stucco tourist cottages. If it could be preserved and refurbished along the same lines as Portland's Ace Hotel or Toronto's Gladstone Hotel, the 2400 Motel could be a boutique hotel property.

Above: This is what remains of the 1896 Carleton Hall, the city's oldest one room school house and Guy Carleton Elementary's oldest building on property. A 2008 arson has left it in precarious shape. Located at the southwest corner of Kingsway and Joyce Street, Guy Carleton's status at the top of Heritage Vancouver's 2011 Endangered Heritage Sites list symbolizes the lack of heritage protection for some of Vancouver's schools as well as the lack of proper seismic upgrading.

Above: Opened in 1951, Vancouver Public Library's Collingwood library branch was designed by the illustrious architectural team of Harold Semmens and Douglas Simpson. Its nomination as the seventh most endangered building on Heritage Vancouver's 2011 Endangered Heritage Sites list highlights the growing importance of the need to preserve and reburbish buildings built in the Modernist style.

While Vancouver is celebrating its 125th birthday, it's important to recognize the value of the city's early built heritage especially in a neighbourhood like Renfrew Collingwood in East Vancouver. Bordered on the north by Broadway, on the east by Boundary Road, on the south by 41st Avenue, and Nanaimo Street on the west, the neighbourhood tends to be overlooked. Nevertheless, this area has a few heritage structures worth saving.

What YOU Can Do

To consider refurbishing or restoring the Vancouver Public Library's Collingwood branch library, email the VPL's library board: board@vpl.ca

To consider refurbishing or restoring the 2400 Motel, email the mayor and council: mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca. This email address represents all the elected officials on Vancouver city council.

To consider refurbishing, restoring and seismic upgrading of Guy Carleton Elementary School, email the Vancouver School Board: info@vsb.bc.ca

Renfrew Collingwood: Home of Endangered Architectural Landmarks

Renfrew Collingwood is a treasure trove of heritage sites important to Vancouver’s history, says Heritage Vancouver, a non-profit society dedicated to preserving the city’s heritage. These gems are so significant they are featured in this year’s Top Ten Endangered Sites list, a collection of at risk heritage sites in Vancouver. The organization identified three locations as having considerable value.

With no less than three heritage buildings on site, Carleton Elementary School is first on the 2011 list. Carleton Elementary School has been featured on Heritage Vancouver’s top ten lists in 2007, 2008, and 2010. Situated at the southwest corner of Kingsway and Joyce, the buildings display the growth of the Renfrew Collingwood area with buildings from 1896, 1908, and 1912. On the property sits Carleton Hall, the historic 1896 one room school house damaged by arson in 2008. There is a proposal by Green Thumb Theatre (a non-profit arts organization creating theatre for youth) to lease Carleton Hall for thirty years. The organization would restore the building for office and rehearsal space, as well as offer theatre for students in the Collingwood area. However, no agreement between Green Thumb Theatre and the Vancouver School Board has been negotiated, and the fate of Carleton Hall remains fragile as its deterioration through neglect continues. Although the school remains open for now, according to Heritage Vancouver, “there is no guarantee of the future of this iconic neighbourhood landmark.”

Recognition has come at last to Vancouver Public Library’s Collingwood branch library. Designed by Harold Semmens and Douglas Simpson and opened in July 1951, the branch library’s was at one time, the most visited Modernist architectural landmark in Vancouver. (The story of this branch library’s history was first publicized by an article I wrote for the October 2010 issue of the Renfrew Collingwood Community Newspaper.) Yet due to the building’s poor upkeep and insensitive modifications, Heritage Vancouver deemed it so important that it was included as the seventh most endangered heritage site. Signs of neglect are apparent; repairs to metal railings and brick work on the front have yet to happen. The original signage and exterior colour have been lost. The long term future is described as “uncertain” by Heritage Vancouver as the building celebrates its sixtieth anniversary in 2011.

After the Second World War, Kingsway reflected the rise of automobile culture with signage and development oriented to motorists. Listed at number ten on this year’s list, the 2400 Motel is a relic of a vanishing era. Owned by the city of Vancouver, it has been carefully maintained when similar structures have fallen to development pressures. The development is charmingly retro in its appeal; a modern, flat roofed main office sits amid small white stucco tourist bungalows in a neatly landscaped setting. Its best feature is its unique blue and red neon sign standing at the property’s entrance on Kingsway. Despite its distinctive design, it may not be enough to save the property from future redevelopment.

It’s great to see Renfrew Collingwood’s heritage finally recognized. The close proximity of these heritages sites makes it possible to see all of them within a two kilometer walk. However, it does bring up some uncomfortable questions about the importance of our built heritage. For example, Firehall No. 15, a heritage firehouse located at the corner of Nootka Street and Twenty-Second Avenue, appeared on Heritage Vancouver’s Top Ten Endangered Sites no less than five times: 2001, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009. Progress has been slow in protecting these landmarks, and this year’s selections are no different. Carleton Elementary School and the 2400 Motel have each appeared on the list three times. Why the lack of political and citizen action when it comes to preservation and restoration? Certainly the history of our area deserves more respect. In a city that does much to forget its past, preservation of these landmarks will ensure the creation and building of a shared community history and identity.