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While its been dwarfed by its neighbours in the century since its construction, the R.V. Winch Building was, at its time, one of the largest office buildings in Vancouver. The five-storey building at the corner of West Hastings and Howe Streets was completed in 1911 with a design that followed the then-popular Beaux-Arts Classical style.
Clad in stone from the Fox Island Quarry at the Jervis Inlet, the commercial building is arguably the prestigious that architect Thomas Hooper designed, and represented his first major project that incorporated steel and concrete construction. He was originally brought on board by Winch — a local entrepreneur who was active in shipping, insurance, and real estate — to design a retail store in 1889. That partnership escalated in 1907 when his firm Hooper and Watkins was retained to create the modern Class A office building that would bear Winch's name.
The 130 offices inside proved attractive to the federal government, who would rent several of them during the 1920s, and purchase the building outright in 1928. More office space was added in the years to come, although at the expense of an ornamental domed ceiling on the first floor.
A radical revitalization in 1983 by Henriquez Partners Architects and Toby Russell Buckwell Architects added retail to the complex, becoming one part of the four-building Sinclair Centre, the popular upscale shopping mall that integrates heritage buildings via an expansive atrium.
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