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The Carnegie Centre at Main and Hastings Streets is unequivocally associated with the economically distressed Downtown Eastside. Often the backdrop of protests launched by anti-poverty activists, the historic property is a stalwart defender of the neighbourhood, offering a range of recreation facilities, a low-cost cafeteria, a branch of the Vancouver Public Library, and numerous programs and services designed to assist disadvantaged members of the community.
Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was approached by the City of Vancouver for $50,000 in funding to build a new library at the turn of the century. The magnanimous Carnegie, whose moral code dictated the extension of cultural and educational opportunities to those in need, readily accepted the arrangement, on the condition that Vancouver supplied the site and contributed $5,000 a year. Completed in 1903, it would become Vancouver's shining example of the approximately 2,500 libraries throughout the English-speaking world — including 125 in Canada — that were made possible by the Carnegie Foundation.
The Vancouver Museum occupied the top floor for decades, fulfilling many the same cultural functions as the library. The library expanded its footprint in 1929, overtaking the adjacent space formerly occupied by City Hall. When the library moved to Burrard Street in 1957, followed by the relocation of the Museum to Kitsilano Point in 1968, the now-vacant building gradually fell into disrepair. The moves generally echoed the shift of services westward, emptying out many of the community facilities that had historically defined Vancouver's prime intersection.
The building was rehabilitated by the City, converted into a community centre in the early 1980s, and triumphantly returned to the public library system. Its role as a crucial social hub is only strengthened by its Victorian design, courtesy of New Westminster-based architect George William Grant. With a granite facade, Ionic-columned portico and dome, French mansard roof, and Romanesque arched windows, the building's exterior details contributes to its enduring charm.
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