Winters Hotel to be demolished Wednesday after destructive fire

Demolition of a historic building destroyed by fire in Gastown will begin Wednesday and local residents and business owners are being told to be prepared for the expected work in the area.

The Winters residential hotel at Abbott and Water streets was destroyed Monday. More than 140 people, including 73 residents of the single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel, were forced out by the flames and unable to return due to the destruction.

In an update Tuesday, City of Vancouver Chief Building Official Saul Schwebs says there will be planned power outages, as well as additional street closures, to ensure the damaged building is taken down as quickly and as safely as possible.

He says the two-day demolition will be done with an abundance of caution, as they are assuming asbestos will be present because of the building’s age.

If everything goes to plan, demolition of Gastown’s Winters Hotel is set to begin tomorrow morning, according to Vancouver’s chief building official. https://t.co/PYkrgI2877

— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) April 19, 2022

Residents and business owners in the area are being told to close their windows before demolition begins. Any items left outside should be brought in, and all vents should be turned off. Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services will be on site to mitigate the amount of dust.

Power will be turned off on Wednesday morning for a portion of Abbott, Cordova and, Water Streets.

Road closures will be ongoing, including Abbott Street between Water Street and Blood Alley, which will be extended south from Blood Alley through to Cordova Street starting Tuesday. There may be additional road closures in the area to accommodate equipment and crews.

The cost of removing the debris and remains of the structure will not be covered by the city’s finances, but will instead be covered by the building’s owner.

“We had a conversation with the owner last week and he was you know, he couldn’t meet our timeframes which is as soon as possible. He doesn’t have the connections to the demolition contractors, it would have taken much longer for that for him to have gotten this worked out. So, we’re just stepping forward to make sure we get things returned to … safe conditions and normal as quickly as possible,”

The building, of which the upper floors comprise the Winters Hotel, has been standing for more than 100 years. The building does have heritage status, but efforts restore the building instead of knocking it down were ruled out by experts.

“The roof had been completely burned away and collapsed into the fourth floor of the building. Much of the fourth floor has also been collapsed. So we have it the situation with masonry walls, they have very little lateral support.” Schwebs said. “There’s nothing to keep them from falling in or out. And that creates a very unsafe condition in the chances of repairing this building safely and or just don’t seem to be viable at this time.”

An environmental assessment will be done on the nearby Gastown Hotel, which was also home to dozens of people who have been displaced by the fire.

“It remains unoccupied for a couple of reasons: One is that there’s just the condition of the Winters next door, we’re concerned that it’s not safe to be up to occupy that building right now. And there’s also because it was exposed to the fire, we’re concerned about the environmental conditions within the building,” Schwebs said. “So certain assessments will have to be made to ensure that it’s safe before people go back into that building. As soon as Winters is down that work and get started. So one of the reasons were operating as quickly as we are on this is to get people house rehouse as quickly as we can.”

Business owners will not be granted access to the space due to safety reasons, according to Schwebs.

“We’ve been in communication with them throughout. I’ve denied access to those spaces out of an abundance of caution for public safety. We’ve heard their concerns and their desire to get back into their spaces. That’s why we had an engineer come down and take a look at it today. Once we get the result of this assessments, we’ll be communicating that result directly with the store owners,” he said, adding that assessment would be expected around noon Tuesday.

Related articles: 

• Five people taken to hospital from fire in Vancouver’s Gastown

• Gastown building to be torn down following fire; 144 people displaced

• Vancouver SPCA sheltering pets displaced by Winters Hotel fire in Gastown

Five people were taken to the hospital as a result of the fire, with several others having to be rescued by firefighters.

“One occupant had jumped from the top floor of the building and was located in the back side of the building in a really precarious spot,” recalled Vancouver Fire Chief Karen Fry in an update last week.

It took about 12 hours for crews to douse the flames and ensure hot spots were put out.

In the days since the fire, work has been done to rehouse residents who lost everything. Donation drives have also been held to help supply residents will essential goods. The SPCA, meanwhile, offered to house pets for residents free of charge until they could sort out more permanent housing.

Many of the residents of the SRO are low-income.

“This building houses some of our most precious residents in our city. The impact of them is going to be very traumatic, and we’re aware of that. Our hearts go out to all of those impacted not only the residents but to the businesses,” Fry said.