Description of Historic Place

Ferrera Court is a six-storey brick Edwardian commercial building located at the corner of Jackson and Hastings Streets in Vancouver.

Heritage Value

The value of Ferrera Court lies in the historic relationship between this area and the economy of early Vancouver. By the turn of the twentieth century, it was clear Vancouver was emerging from a lumber company town to a centre of urbanism and progress. The event that precipitated this change was the land deal reached between the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the British Columbia government in 1884. The government agreed to donate ten square miles of land in the False Creek and Granville Street areas in exchange for the CPR erecting works, docks and a station, and completing the rail line from Port Moody by 1886. From then on the focus of economic activity shifted from servicing the lumber industry to servicing urban growth, as a new era of boosterism and civic pride was ushered in.

Vancouver’s prosperity during the Edwardian era was manifested by the construction of many impressive terra-cotta commercial buildings and Ferrera Court is an expression of this early boom period. A Vancouver landmark since 1912, Ferrera Court was built and owned by Cavaliere Agostino Gabriele Ferrera (1857-1948), Italian Consul to Vancouver, a Knight of the Crown of Italy, and one of the city’s first gourmet restaurateurs.

The structure was designed by architect Frank H. Perkins, and is the largest and most elegant work of his short stay in the city from 1911-1913. The main wall surfaces of buff brick are highlighted with a profusion of cream-coloured terra cotta. Ferrera Court was at the time considered to be the grandest building in that part of town. Like many commercial structures along the Hastings Street corridor, Ferrera Court served a dual function of providing accommodation and street-level retail operations. Early tenants range from real estate agents, BC Electric Railway clerks, a chemist, teacher, engineer, and a theatre stage manager. A street-level grocery store is listed in most years until 1970, with other street-level tenants including an Orthodox Mission (Russian, Serbian, Greek) and the Church of Christ. By 1960, various Asian tenants had moved into the building, indicatng a shift in the local community.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of Ferrera Court include:
- its functional relationship to other buildings in the neighbourhood
- form, scale and massing, considered large and very elegant for the area
- built to the property lines with no setbacks
- external characteristics of the Edwardian style, including symmetrical design, buff brick construction with terra cotta detailing, stone trim, segmented granite pillars at street level, and pattern of fenestration
- other decorative features, including segmented cornices above second to fifth storey windows, arched window openings on sixth storey, and grand carved stone entry with central medallion at street level
- main floor storefronts on Hastings and Jackson Streets