Description of Historic Place

The B.C. Market Company Building on Alexander Street is part of the consistent and distinctive historic architectural context of Gastown, situated among other Late Victorian and Edwardian era commercial vernacular low- to medium-rise brick structures built to the property lines. The original two storey masonry front facade has been retained as part of a new residential development.

Heritage Value

The B.C. Market Company Building is located on what was once part of the old trail along the beach between Gastown and the Hastings Saw Mill. Like the eastern portion of adjacent Water Street, the area became home to food wholesalers, ship chandlers, and logging and mining services when Gastown became the hub of international and intercontinental commercial activity as the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the eastern terminus for trans-Pacific shipping. Wholesalers took advantage of Gastown's position by importing goods, storing them in Gastown warehouses, and repackaging them for distribution throughout the province. This building also demonstrates the expanding food distribution network that was developing in response to a rapidly growing population.

The B.C. Market Company Building is part of the distinctive and tangible legacy of western Canada's boom era. Built in 1906-07, the building was later purchased in the 1930s by the Pegg family along with 27 and 29 Alexander Street to serve as the headquarters and distribution centre for the Vancouver Supply Company, the family's wholesale grocery business. In 1996, 25-29 Alexander was converted to residential condominium units, and this facade was retained in situ as part of the new development.

The facade displays the late persistence of the Romanesque Revival style, with six articulated bays, brick cladding and rough-dressed stone trim. The storefront is clearly distinguished from the upper storeys, with large display windows with arched structural openings. The four central window openings on the second floor have segmented-arch openings, and their stone trim joins in a running band.

Source: City of Vancouver, Heritage Planning Street Files

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the B.C. Market Company Building include:
- spatial relationship to other late Victorian and Edwardian era commercial buildings
- siting on the property lines, with no setbacks
- original surviving brick and sandstone elements of the front facade
- Romanesque Revival influence as demonstrated in the symmetrical facade expression, rough-dressed stone trim and arched windows
- segmental arch window openings in centre of second storey with flanking rectangular window openings
- arched openings at the ground floor level, with one large central arch flanked by two smaller arched openings