Description of Historic Place

The Europe Hotel Annex at 43 Powell Street is a mid-block, four-storey brick hotel with semicircular arched windows and Venetian-style brick detailing on the upper levels. It is located at the heart of Vancouver's historic Gastown.

Heritage Value

What is now the annex to the Europe Hotel was built in two phases by the prominent Canadian-Italian entrepreneur Angelo B. Calori. The development is of interest as the only significant business venture in Vancouver by an Italian immigrant prior to the Depression of 1930. The first phase, a four-storey brick hotel on the easternmost lot, in a restrained Venetian architectural style, was completed in 1886. With the Byrnes Building at the corner of Water and Carrall Streets close by, it is recognised as one of the earliest brick buildings to have been completed after Vancouver's devastating fire of 1886. The hotel was extended to the west in 1890 with an exact replica to complete the building we see today - a particularly well-preserved example of early commercial Vancouver architecture.

The hotel's location was influenced by the proximity of the steamship docks at the foot of Columbia Street, from where passengers were brought by a dedicated bus service. Such innovations and the decision to provide affordable modest rooms that would suit the pocket of the business traveller reflect Calori's business acumen and the commercial importance of this part of Vancouver. One year after the opening of the Hotel, the Canadian Pacific Railway devised a freight rate structure that favoured Vancouver and began running its own steamships to Asia, consolidating Calori's venture - a fitting return from the company for whom he had worked when first in Canada. His success enabled him to steadily acquire the adjacent lots and expand the hotel. Finally, in 1908 he was able to build a new Europe Hotel on the lots to the west, retaining the original as an annex. The significance of the annex is consolidated by its survival in original form and its proximity to the later Europe hotel.

The present day use of the buildings, sympathetically restored and converted to affordable housing by architects Adolph Ingre and Associates in 1983, reflects the changing fortunes of the Gastown neighbourhood, including the demise of the steamship service, the employment crisis that emerged as the commercial district declined, and the City of Vancouver's initiative to recast the area as a heritage tourism destination.

Source: City of Vancouver, Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Europe Hotel Annex include its:
- Location close to the historic waterfront of Vancouver's Gastown district
- Mid-block location, adjacent to the Europe Hotel
- Use for accommodation on the upper storeys and retail at the ground floor level
- Frontage to both Alexander and Powell Streets
- Brick details, including the arcaded parapet, corbelled cornice, Venetian-style frieze, and string courses with sawtooth dentils
- Shape and organisation of window openings
- Surviving double-hung vertical sliding sashes
- Symmetry of elevations
- Storefronts, including awning boxes, the arrangements of mullions and transoms, the glass, door leafs and window sashes on both Alexander Street and Powell Street facades