Former RCMP headquarters among sites identified on first-ever Heritage BC watch list
Posted September 22, 2018 1:18 pm.
Last Updated September 22, 2018 1:21 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Heritage BC is out with its first-ever “watch list,” a list of at-risk sites that are significant to the historic and cultural fabric of the province.
“Heritage isn’t just about built structure,” explains architect Timothy Ankenman, who was part of the group of professionals that compiled the list. “It can be about places, it can be about graveyards, it can be about all kinds of things, and sometimes it doesn’t necessarily have architectural significance, but also have cultural significance…and that’s what we kind of watch for.”
Two Vancouver locations are among the five selected: the former RCMP “E” Division headquarters on Heather Street and the Collingwood Branch of the Vancouver Public Library.
Ankeman points out the old “E” Division headquarters is being considered for redevelopment.
“So often, we repurpose these buildings and turn them into something else and consideration is being given to tear it down for reconciliation purposes.”
The building started out as the Fairmont Training Academy, a Tudor Revival style building designed in 1912 by Vancouver architect Samuel Maclure, whose works include Government House in Victoria. The land it sits on is jointly owned by the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, and the Canada Lands Company.
The other local site is the Collingwood branch of the Vancouver Public Library. “Our city is full of structures that became known as the International movement,” Ankeman explains. “[It] was really one of the first buildings of its kind in that style.”
Opened in 1951, it was designed by the same architects behind the former Central branch at Robson and Burrard. It made the watch list because of what Heritage BC calls “unsympathetic” alterations. “[But] if you look at historical photos, it’s an absolute gem of a building,” he adds.
The categories and sites on the 2018 Watch List are:
- Institutional Heritage: Fairmont Academy, Vancouver
- Post War, Modern or Twentieth Century Heritage: Vancouver Public Library Collingwood Branch
- Industrial Heritage: Morden Colliery, Morden Colliery Historic Provincial Park, Vancouver Island
- Schools: Victoria High School, Victoria
- Churches: First Presbyterian Church, Prince Rupert
- Vernacular Heritage: Turner House or Cruikshank Residence, Abbotsford
