Description of Historic Place

The United Rooms is a four-storey brick building with rooms upstairs and a cafe on the ground floor. Located at 139 East Cordova Street, the building is located within Vancouver's Gastown, close to the Port of Vancouver.

Heritage Value

Built as the Harbour Rooms in about 1912, this four-storey building was used for residential accommodation above, and retail on the ground floor. The date of construction coincides with Vancouver's pre-World War I building boom, and with significant redevelopment of the city's low cost housing, occasioned by civic housing reform initiatives and connected to larger social reform movements.

It is of value for demonstrating a pattern of use that was common in this part of Gastown, where numerous similar small hotels 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 and pool halls. Renamed the United Rooms sometime between 1925-1950, the upper floors continue to be used for what is known in Vancouver as 'single room occupancy' accommodation.

There is also heritage value in the architecture of the building. The front elevation, especially above the ground floor, with its white glazed brick, features continuous piers with decorative brick spandrels and a moulded, glazed terra cotta stringcourse along the parapet and above the ground floor in patterns inspired by Greek architecture. The window assemblies, arranged in two symmetrical columns, consists of sash windows with divided panes in the upper portion. Overall, the front elevation is of similar complexity of detail to those found on hotels along East Cordova Street, designed by architect Hugh Braunton. The ground floor elevation appears to have been significantly altered at a later date. It features black terrazzo tile, large single pane windows, and a utilitarian door. Remnants of the original ground floor elevation are visible, including the terrazzo floor tile in the entry way. As is typical of hotels and commercial establishments, the rear elevation is much plainer than the front. A fire escape provides a visual cue to the multiple occupancy use of the building.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 139 East Cordova Street include:
- white glazed brick and faience elements on the front elevation, including the decorated brick facing on the parapet, the remains of the cornice and key pattern string courses, decorated brick spandrels, sills, and decorative patterns in contrasting brick
- window assemblies, including arrangement in symmetrical columns and arrangement of twelve small panes over one single pane
- remains of the terrazzo tile in the entry way and the glazed terra cotta stringcourse
- contrast between front elevation and rear elevation
- enduring residential use of the upper floors and visual cues, such as the fire escapes and signage, that communicate this
- ground-floor commercial use