Description of Historic Place

The Shelly Building, formerly known as the Duncan Building, is a six-storey commercial brick building located in Vancouver’s Victory Square area, on the edges of both downtown and historic Chinatown.

Heritage Value

The Shelly Building is significant for its architecture, for its history of use and ownership, and for the vicissitudes it suffered because of its location. Designed in 1911 by the Vancouver architectural firm of H.L. Stevens and Co., the office building was touted as being ‘first-class, modern and fireproof’ when it first opened a year later, with retail stores on the ground floor. It has value as a good example of the Commercial Style, in which the most prominent characteristic is the grid-like organization of the window and wall surfaces. The elevations are divided into three sections: a base with large glass display windows, a mid-section containing most of the floors, and the attic, typically capped by a bold cornice. Decoration is concentrated on the base and attic. The exterior is relatively unchanged, and the interior features a number of valuable components.

The original owner and developer was Howard J. Duncan, about whom little is known. The building was not a financial success, particularly when office rentals slowed in the 1913 recession and at the outset of the First World War a year later. The location was perceived as being unfavourable, some distance east of the downtown core and close to Chinatown. Although anchored by the tall World Building across Pender Street, the ‘new business area’ of Pender Street could not withstand the competition from downtown office buildings. The failure of Duncan’s investment has value for demonstrating this. The London & British North America Company Ltd., a real estate and financial firm, acquired the building in 1916, probably as the result of foreclosure. The firm is significant for representing the considerable investment capital that entered Vancouver from Great Britain at the time.

The building continued to struggle, the top two floors being converted to use by the Young Women Canada Association. It had a new lease on life in 1925, when it was purchased by Cora Marie Shelly. Her husband, William Curtis Shelly was an entrepreneur and philanthropist, credited for founding many businesses, including Home Oil, Pioneer Timber, Canada Grain Export, Nanaimo Sawmills, Canadian Bakeries, and Shelly Bakeries. He was a Vancouver City alderman and Park Board chairman, playing an important role in the development of the City’s beaches. He also served as Minister of Finance in the Tolmie provincial government in the late 1920s and 1930s.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Shelly Building include:
- The architectural features of the Pender Street elevation, including the ornamented terra cotta pilasters, spandrels, and frieze over the lower two floors; the plain brick wall above; the windows grouped in pairs, with stone sills; and the dentilled cornice.
- The original one-over-one wood sash windows on the office floors
- The original wood sash windows on the mezzanine floor, with pilasters
- The original transom lights at the tops of the shop windows on the ground floor
- The original wood sash windows and stone sills on the lane elevation
- Interior features, including marble panels, floors, and ornate cast plaster ceiling of the lobby; oak woodwork; brass hardware; open marble staircase with marble treads, risers and wainscoting; the cast and wrought iron balusters and newel posts on each floor