Description of Historic Place

The Edgett Building is an Edwardian era, three-storey masonry commercial building, with buff-coloured brick and Neoclassical Revival sandstone detailing. The building is connected to the tall office building across the alleyway by an enclosed, complementary arched bridge.

Heritage Value

The Edgett Building is an excellent example of the Chicago School style of commercial architecture. The building was built in 1910-11 and designed by architect Alfred Arthur Cox (1860-1944), a well-known Vancouver architect. After his success with the Carter-Cotton Building, which stands just to the north of this site (and is now connected to it by an archway built over the alley in 1924), he obtained numerous commissions from prominent businessmen, corporations, and the provincial government for commercial and institutional buildings.

Also valued for the contribution it makes to the urban backdrop of primarily two and three-storey commercial buildings that surround Victory Square Park, the building is prominently located on a northeast sloping lot at the corner of Cambie and West Pender Streets, opposite the Park. Historically important for its role in the retail activity of the area, the building's original function as a grocery store is illustrated by the large street level display windows. The owner of the grocery store was H.A. Edgett, a prominent local grocer, also known as 'The Store of Plenty,' that had outgrown its nearby West Hastings Street location by the time of this building's construction. Harry Edgett and his brother Frank had a successful partnership as grocers, establishing the extremely successful retail and wholesale business that helped to define Vancouver as a centre of substantial commerce. This particular store boasted numerous departments, each presided over by specialists, purveying groceries such as teas, coffees, butter, fruit, fish, poultry, and delicatessen and confectionary items. Later adapted for use by the Province Newspaper, this building is now the Architectural Institute of BC's Architectural Centre, reflecting the institutional and continuous commercial importance of this neighbourhood.

The Edgett Building is significant for its association with its original owner and commissioner, Francis L. Carter-Cotton. Carter-Cotton was a well-known local dignitary, publisher of the News-Advertiser newspaper, Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Minister of Finance, and Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works. Carter-Cotton was also the first chancellor of the University of British Columbia (1912), first chairman of the Vancouver Harbour Commission (1913) and a founder and charter member of the Vancouver Board of Trade.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Edgett Building include its:
- prominent corner location, opposite Victory Square on a northeast sloped site
- siting on the property line with no setbacks
- commercial form, scale and massing as expressed by its three-storey plus basement height and regular rectangular plan
- later archway over the alley that connects this building to the Carter-Cotton building, finished with similar detailing
- flat roof with raised brick parapets
- masonry and steel frame construction with sandstone cladding on the first and second storeys and third storey sandstone detailing; buff-coloured brick on the third storey; granite block foundation
- Chicago School commercial style elements, such as its Neoclassical-inspired detailing as found in the double-height pilasters, the capitals ornamented with lions heads; entablature with projecting cornice; and roofline cornice which incorporates triangular pedimented third-storey corner window heads supported by scrolled brackets; secondary Cambie Street entrance with triangular pedimented head
- additional exterior elements such as its third storey pedimented corner window casings with keystones; and the receiving door off the alley
- regular symmetrical fenestration: large recessed plate-glass panes on the ground level; original metal-framed Chicago windows on the second and third storeys with fixed centre frame flanked by operable casement sashes with upper section hopper; paired windows with stone sills on the alley elevation; third storey corner windows consisting of a large fixed pane with two hopper transom light windows
- interior elements such as its black and white mosaic floor with Greek key design at entrance on the north bay of the Cambie Street facade; secondary stairway with cast iron staircase with marble treads; and freight elevator wooden grilles