Description of Historic Place

The Cambie Hotel is a three storey Edwardian commercial building located at the southeast corner of the junction of West Cordova and Cambie Streets within the historic district of Gastown in Vancouver.

Heritage Value

The Cambie Hotel is associated with Gastown's history as a mixed-use district. When the City of Vancouver became the entrepot between the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and trans-Pacific shipping in 1887, Gastown was its hub. In the late nineteenth century, this area of town was, for the most part, populated by unattached males of working age, largely employed in seasonal resource industries. This type of hotel was in high demand not only to provide central, inexpensive housing for workers but also to accommodate travellers and businessmen.

While they generally lived in hotels, there were no facilities for food preparation in the rooms, so the accompanying saloons and restaurants served their culinary needs, while facilities such as pool rooms provided recreational opportunities. This hotel, like many other buildings in Gastown, served a combined function of providing lodging and residential space on the upper floors, while commercial space occupied the ground floor.

Built in 1899-1900 by architects Parr and Fee to replace a building occupied by Gross and McNeil Express and Draymen, which had been burned in a fire in 1899, it represents a new commercial style influenced by developments in Chicago. The plain brick piers and cast-iron window units depart from traditional styles. In 1914, it became the Hotel Carlton and was known for its cafe at ground level. This building is a significant large-frontaged commercial structure which has accommodated a variety of businesses on this important Cambie Street corner. Its location forms a focal point where West Cordova Street turns to the east. The variety of uses has included: drugstore, vocal instructor, dentists, physicians, coal and wood merchants, hairdressers, jewellers (Grassie and Co.), and an architect (Edwin A. Whitehead), all contributing to a bustling street-level activity. The building is now known as the Cambie Hotel.

Source: City of Vancouver, Heritage Planning Street Files

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage character of the Cambie Hotel is defined by the following elements:
- the relationship between this building and its neighbours within the Gastown historic district
- its siting on the property line, with no setbacks
- form, scale and massing
- the prominent frontage to both West Cordova and Cambie Streets, with 45º angled cutoff at its corner
- the siting of the property as a visual terminal view from the west on West Cordova Street
- the articulation of the two and three window wide bays set within rectangular brick openings
- the open ground level retail area with cast iron columns and bevelled glass high level windows
- Edwardian architectural details such as projecting cornice and dentil ornamentation, plain brick piers, cast-iron window units.