Description of Historic Place

The Alexander Residence consists of a four-storey hotel on the south side of Alexander Street in the historic Gastown district of downtown Vancouver, close to the Port of Vancouver and the railway yards. The structure spans the entire lot with entries off of both Alexander and Powell Streets.

Heritage Value

Constructed in 1911-12 to the designs of Vancouver architect William F. Gardiner, at the height of Vancouver's pre-World War I building boom, the Alexander Residence is valued for the representative character of its use and architecture.

This plain four-storey hotel was used for residential accommodation above, and commercial shops on the ground floor. It is of value for demonstrating a pattern of use that was common in this part of Gastown, where both retail and residential space were geared to serving the itinerant population of male resource workers who came and went from the city at regular intervals. Especially in the winter, when the logging camps were shut down, men lounged on the street and passed their time in the bars. The restaurant and bar located in this building in 1913 would have catered to male resource workers.

The hotel housed men from Asia, most likely Japanese, for part of its history. This was a common use for structures along Powell Street, the centre of the Japanese community prior to World II when all Japanese were forced to leave the Coast. This association contributes to the heritage value of the building because it reminds us of the significance of this street to the history of the Japanese in Vancouver and Canada more generally.

Additional heritage value is found in the conversion of this building to non-market housing in 1973 (upper floors) and community services (ground floor and basement). Best known of these is 'The Dugout,' a drop-in centre operated by the First United Church, that has been located here since about 1979-1980. Since its establishment in 1885, First United Church has played an important role in the neighbourhood, providing a focal point for social activism by community and church members. The Dugout is one manifestation of this and reflects both the history of the neighbourhood as home to Vancouver's poorest and most marginalized residents, and how society has endeavored to address this.

The building's architectural design is plain and unassuming, and typical of hotels in the area. Designed by William Frederick Gardiner and constructed by Adkison and Dill, the recessed storefront with external basement stair and decorative metal railings is reminiscent of English commercial architecture, and speaks to Gardiner's English origins and training. The asymmetrical entry off of Alexander, with doors leading into the shops and another door leading upstairs, is typical of small hotels of this type. The building was renovated in 1992-93.

Gastown's intense development and role as Vancouver's first urban neighbourhood is reflected in the way the owners have maximized the commercial frontage with retail stores on both the Alexander and Powell Street elevations.

Source: City of Vancouver, Heritage Planning Street Files

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Alexander Residence include its:
- location on Alexander Street in Gastown with other similarly-scaled buildings directly adjacent
- building's occupation of entire lot with entries from both Alexander and Powell Streets
- mixture of uses in the building, especially the upper floor residential
- building design that delivers natural light and fresh air to rooms
- asymmetrical and recessed arrangement of entry from Alexander Street, which separates access to the ground floor from access to the upper floors
- access from Alexander Street to the basement via the exterior staircase and the metal work associated with the staircase including the diagonal cross bracing of the landings
- differences between the Powell and Alexander Street Elevations
- materials, including the use of wood in the storefronts with brick above
- symmetrical arrangement of upper storey windows with stone sills and panes arranged one-over-one
- the sash assemblies and their glass
- the storefronts and their glass
- the patterns made by the steel paterae on the elevations
- cornice above the ground floor and just below the roof line
- mosaic at Alexander Street entrance
- remains of painted wall advertisements on east wall