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Dougall House

306 Abbott Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B, Canada

Formally Recognized: 2003/01/14

Exterior view of the Dougall House, 2004; City of Vancouver, 2004
oblique view
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Other Name(s)

Dougall House
Winsome Rooms
Devon Rooms

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1890/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2005/04/01

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Dougall House is a three-storey, late Victorian commercial and residential building located on the southeast corner of Abbott and West Cordova Streets in the historic Gastown district of Vancouver.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Dougall House lies in the historic relationship between this area and the economy of early Vancouver. It is associated with Gastown's history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as a mixed-use district and the centre for Vancouver's trade and manufacturing. When the City of Vancouver became the entrepot between the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and trans-Pacific shipping in 1887, the hub of this international commercial activity was Gastown.

Built in 1890 by Vancouver architect R. Mackay Fripp, the building is an example of late Victorian commercial development. Constructed of masonry with stone detailing, it signified the permanence of fire-resistant building materials and heralded a confidence in the rebuilt city. Architectural elements of this building resemble those found elsewhere in Gastown; the open parapet is similar to the Boulder Hotel at 1 West Cordova Street.

The Dougall House, like many other buildings in Gastown, served a combined function of providing lodging on the upper floors and commercial space on the ground floor, contributing to the bustling street-level retail businesses in the area. The Dougall House catered to the commercial traveler and tourist, billing the establishment as a 'new building with all appliances for safety, comfort, and luxury of tourists and travelers.' Around 1910, rooms catered to the population of loggers, cannery workers, and fishermen, which indicates that the fashionable trade had left this part of Gastown.

Significant tenants included Dr. H.E. Langis, physician, and Dr. W.J. McGuigan, physician and coroner, who kept offices in the building between 1893 and 1909. McGuigan was Vancouver Mayor in 1904, and served as medical superintendent for the CPR in Vancouver.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The key elements which define the heritage character of the Dougall House include:
- the relationship between this building and its neighbours within the Gastown historic district
- its siting on the property lines, with no setbacks
- retail use of main floor, as indicated by the fenestration and storefronts
- corner location with splayed entrance
- late Victorian architectural elements, including pilasters dividing the bays of alternating rusticated stone and smooth brickwork, moulded brackets below a horizontal string course at the base of the open balustered rusticated stone parapet; pattern of fenestration (one-over-one double-hung wood sash), and moulded recessed brickwork spandrels between upper storey windows

Recognition

Jurisdiction

British Columbia

Recognition Authority

City of Vancouver

Recognition Statute

Vancouver Charter, s.593

Recognition Type

Heritage Designation

Recognition Date

2003/01/14

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Developing Economies
Trade and Commerce

Function - Category and Type

Current

Historic

Commerce / Commercial Services
Hotel, Motel or Inn
Commerce / Commercial Services
Eating or Drinking Establishment

Architect / Designer

R. Mackay Fripp

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

DhRs-481

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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