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In the course of our daily reporting, we often uncover unusual projects, places, or connections that don't make the final cut. Instead of keeping it to ourselves, we're pleased to share our Architrivia.
Gastown's current built form is unlike any other neighbourhood in the city. Its historic assemblage of commercial buildings and warehouses are the result of multiple distinct periods of development that gradually fashioned a communal identity for the area following the ravaging Great Fire of 1886. The 1887 arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), the Klondike Gold Rush, and the economic boom that cascaded across Western Canada each contributed to Gastown's character in its formative years.
Next to CPR, real estate developer and Alderman James W. Horne owned more land in the area than any other single person or entity, and Vancouver's economic fortunes demanded the construction of new office spaces to accommodate the various commercial activities taking place in the neighbourhood. The J.W. Horne Block was his response to the region's success. One of the earliest brick buildings erected after the Great Fire, its unique triangular shape reacts to the converging street surveys of the original 1870 Granville Townsite and CPR's 1885 grid plan.
The 1889-built structure sited at 315 West Cordova Street institutes Victorian Italianate elements. Architect Noble Stonestreet Hoffar designed many of the city's largest examples of this style of architecture, including the abutting Springer and Van Bramer Block. Spending over a century instilled into the landscape, the three-storey flatiron building continues to illustrate the prosperity that shaped Gastown's early development.
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