Description of Historic Place

The historic place consists of the six-storey brick building at 34 Powell Street, built around 1913 and located in Vancouver's historic Gastown.

Heritage Value

34 Powell Street has heritage value for being a good example of the Edwardian Commercial industrial and warehouse buildings that were characteristic of development in this part of Gastown, and for representing the upgrade and adaptation of buildings of this kind in the 1990s.

The original use of this building has value for representing the predominant land use in this part of Gastown, namely wholesale industrial and commercial distribution, which occurred because this area (Water, Alexander, and Powell Streets) is located closest to the transportation facilities provided by the CPR railway tracks and Burrard Inlet. The different occupants over time represented a variety of businesses and illustrate the changing demographics of Gastown. The building stood empty for several years after its construction in 1913, likely indicating an over-supply of speculatively built structures of this kind. The original occupant, Toronto-based saw manufacturer Henry Disston and Sons Ltd., used it as a branch office, factory, warehouse, and repair shop to access the large Western Canadian market for cutting timber and lumber. In the mid-1920s the building also accommodated D.M. Doherty Ltd., manufacturers' agents, who fulfilled a similar economic role. By mid-century (1950) the prime occupant was still a wholesaler, but had shifted from resource industries to drug distributor Barham & Sands. A retail confectionary occupied street level. A generation later (1975) the wholesale use remained, although the business (Pacific Supply Co. Ltd.) was now a sporting goods importer and the ground-floor tenant a karate institute.

The building is representative of the dominant building form in Gastown at the time: a five-or-six-storey masonry-faced building, with a heavy cornice and restrained classical ornament on the ground and top floors - known as the Edwardian Commercial style.

A shift to arts and residential uses in recent years exemplifies the revitalization of Gastown. An art gallery was introduced on the ground floor in the late 1980s. In 1993-95 the building was rehabilitated and adapted (by Acton Johnson Ostry Architects) to accommodate an acting school and repertory theatre on the ground floor (now a café) and residential units on the upper floors. Seismic upgrading and new exit stairways upgraded the building to meet safety codes of the day.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 34 Powell Street include:
- The siting of the building against the front and side property lines
- The brick facade, with stone sills and string course
- The projecting, ornamented, metal classical cornice
- The grooved treatment of the brick on the top floor elevation
- The double-hung wood sash windows
- The large shop window and recessed door on the ground floor