Description of Historic Place

The historic place at 102 Powell Street is a two-storey, brick and concrete framed industrial building, now a front and rear facade enclosure, designed in the Edwardian Commercial style on Powell Street in Vancouver's Gastown. It is on a lot shared with the adjacent Oppenheimer Building.

Heritage Value

The former warehouse at 102 Powell Street is of value for its association with glass manufacturers Pilkington Brothers, in its time the largest supplier of glass in North America. The architecture of the building is of interest for reflecting a significant worldwide shift toward the formal expression of function. This interest is enhanced by the building's current use as an annex of The Warehouse Studio, a recording studio built by Bryan Adams, one of the most prominent rock musicians of the modern age.

The Pilkington Brothers (Canada) Ltd. glass warehouse was built in three phases: the ground floor in 1906, perhaps to designs of the Vancouver architectural firm of Somervell and Putnam; the first floor between 1911 and 1916, characteristic of the work of Dalton and Eveleigh; and alterations to the ground floor street elevation in 1916 by Somervell and Putnam. This steady growth is of value for reflecting the success of the company's corporate strategy to build a chain of suppliers in North America to combat falling exports prompted by the growth of the US plate glass manufacturing industry.

The choice of the Powell Street location speaks to the proximity of the commercial district to the port through which Pilkington glass was shipped from the UK. The sale of 102 Powell Street in the late 1950s reflects Pilkington's decision to manufacture glass in Vancouver in a new factory on Southeast Marine Drive, designed by architects McCarter Nairne and Partners.

This characterful building is of value for its contribution to the industrial and commercial character of the Gastown area. The surviving internal arrangements of the warehouse illustrate the process of receiving, preparing and dispatching orders of glass. The way these activities are reflected in the roof shape, the fenestration, and the doors of the Powell Street elevation, are of value as a Vancouver example of the steadily emerging, worldwide, functional architectural style in the early twentieth century.

The heritage value of 102 Powell Street is amplified by its contribution to the significant Pilkington Glass group arising from the survival of two other related structures, both now formally reconized, comprising the Oppenheimer Block at 100 Powell Street, Pilkington's earliest glass warehouse in Vancouver, and 120 Powell Street, "Pilkington House", built for the firm in 1910.

The significance of 102 Powell Street, now serving as a facade enclosure annex to The Warehouse Studio at 100 Powell Street, is consolidated by this association with world famous rock musician Bryan Adams, Canada's 1990 Artist of the Decade and recipient of the Order of Canada. As a centre for Vancouver's cultural industry, Adams' studios are of importance for attracting other world-class artists including REM, AC/DC, Sir Elton John, Bon Jovi, and Stevie Nicks.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 102 Powell Street include:
- Location in Vancouver's former commercial district close to the old Port of Vancouver
- Mid-block location on Powell Street
- Proximity to other structures associated with the firm of Pilkington Brothers (Canada) Ltd. in particular the Oppenheimer Block at 100 Powell Street and 120 Powell Street
- Massing including the occupation of the entire lot
- Evidence of connecting doors to 100 Powell Street
- Evidence of the former roof of the building in the form of scars and weathering on adjacent structures
- Brick details including soldier courses, gate pattern motifs and a stylized pediment emphasised by projecting string courses.
- Stone masonry details including the plinth, sill and pilaster capitals at ground floor level
- Articulation of the facade by windows, doors and string courses on the principal elevation facing Powell Street
- The fenestration including the exposed wood lintels, the finished woodwork, the glass, and the subdivision of the sashes and fixed lights
- The evidence of the former roller-shutter doors
- The presence of a interventions relating to the sound recording studios including a putting green, and the juxtaposition of these interventions with the historic fabric