Description of Historic Place

The Boyd Building is a one-storey commercial building at 88 East Cordova Street in Vancouver 's historic Gastown.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Boyd Building is found in its association with Thomas Boyd, its architecture, and its place in the streetscape of Cordova Street.

Thomas Boyd, his widow, and later his daughter, owned this lot for almost ninety years, from the late nineteenth century until 1989. Boyd, who arrived in Vancouver in 1884, took great personal pride in his status as a 'pioneer.' A contractor, he played an active role in creating the city, clearing the rights-of-way for Granville Street and for Park Drive in Stanley Park. Working on his own and with others, he also purchased real estate, and designed and constructed numerous buildings, including this one. These associations illustrate how contractors also acted as developers and designers, helping to shape the city.

Likely built in 1928, this brick building replaced an earlier timber structure on the same site. Located adjacent to the Columbia Hotel, it served first as an extension of the hotel. Later, it was rented to a series of tenants, including for a long period, E.W. Grant and Son, who operated a sheet metal works here. Both of these uses fit well with the immediate neighborhood, where hotels and hardware stores, big and small, sat cheek to jowl. The modest scale of the building reflects the relatively late date of construction. By 1928, the hub of Vancouver's commercial activity had shifted west and Cordova Street was no longer the city's most important shopping street. The contrast between the scale of this building and those nearby, erected earlier, illustrate this change in Gastown's place in the larger city.

The architecture of the building also contributes to its heritage value. Its modest scale, parapet, and pilasters make it read as part of the neighbouring hotel. It also blends well with its neighbours to the west, helping to create a sense of a coherent streetscape. The arrangement of the storefront reflects a standard shop design that, in Vancouver, endured from the late nineteenth century until well into the 1950s.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defiining elements of the Boyd Building include:
- single storey building occupying entire lot adjacent to a large hotel structure
- architectural elements that emulate those on the Columbia Hotel, including the string course, the sheet metal cornice, and the pilasters
- the articulation of the street frontage, in particular the way that the shop front is recessed to emphasize the pilasters
- the arrangement and components of the storefront, including the large plate glass windows with low sills, low level transom panels, and recessed central doorway
- the mixed history of use, which reflects various phases in the history of Cordova Street