In the mid-2000s, MacDonald Development Corporation and Wall Financial Corporation set out to create a landmark residential tower worthy of its historic site at 833 Seymour Street, which had been home to the 1922-built Capitol Theatre. In its effort to do just that, the development team hired Bingham + Hill Architects to execute a 43-storey elliptical tower designed to mirror its downtown surroundings and honour the original occupant of the site.
The 2,500-seat Capitol Theatre boasted a stage that could accommodate live music, theatre and the biggest silent films. American architect Thomas W. Lamb, who solidified his expertise in theatre architecture by imagining over 100 movie palaces, was brought onto the project by the Famous Players Corporation. The venue lasted half a century until it was converted into the Capitol 6 Multiplex in 1976, which was torn down in 2007 to make way for the soaring 372-unit skyscraper.
The mixed-use Capitol Residences contains a collection of condominiums that benefit from generous oversized windows. Though the demolition of the Capitol Theatre struck a nerve with many in the community, the cultural importance of the site hadn't completely disappeared with its redevelopment. Rather, the functions of the property have only expanded in the time since the theatre's demolition.
The project included new back-of-house space for the adjacent Orpheum Theatre and a 25,000-square-foot educational facility for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music. Spread across the first four levels of the building, the school includes a 120-seat recital hall.
Homes were released to the market in 2007 ahead of construction, which concluded in 2011. The clean lines and glazed elevation of the building represent the traits of a modern and ever-changing Vancouver, yet its name gracefully references the preexisting use that embedded the address into the memories of yesteryear's Vancouverites. Such a nod to the site's history is proof that the city's past, although perhaps too often ignored, is worthy of celebration.
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