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53 West Hastings Street

53 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1994/11/21

53 West Hastings Street; City of Vancouver, 2004
front facade
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Other Name(s)

53 West Hastings Street
Deeks Block
Eastern Building
Strathcona Hotel

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1909/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2008/01/24

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The historic place at 53 West Hastings Street in Vancouver is a five-storey red brick Edwardian commercial building.

Heritage Value

The value of 53 West Hastings Street lies in the historic relationship between this area and the economy of early Vancouver, and to Gastown’s history as a mixed-use area. In the late nineteenth century, this area of Vancouver was the centre of commerce and industry.

Designed by well-known architect Thomas Hooper of Hooper and Watkins, the structure was built in 1909 as an apartment block with commercial frontage at street level. Originally known as the Eastern Building, it became the Strathcona Hotel in 1910, with Pierre Paris Shoes occupying the street level for sixty years. Thomas Hooper’s own career echoes that of the boom and bust cycle of British Columbia’s resource-based economy. Having designed hundreds of buildings, traveled extensively in search of commissions, made and lost several fortunes, he died penniless and was buried in an unmarked grave.

The value also lies in the function and the architecture; the building was built to provide housing and retail goods to a largely male population of resource industry workers and commercial travelers. Its design and construction are significant, as they reflect the transition from Victorian styles to the cleaner, more restrained and functional Edwardian style, and solid masonry and steel construction.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 53 West Hastings Street include:
- rectangular form and massing and prominent scale
- built to property line with no setbacks
- external characteristics of the Edwardian style including symmetrical design, brick construction, stone trim, and pattern of fenestration
- classical decorative features, including ribboned swags just below the fifth-floor stepped brickwork, and columns with ionic capitals spanning the third and fourth storeys, and separating each window bay
- stepped ornamental brickwork over the first- and third-storey windows, under the second-storey sills, and below the upper cornice level
- painted sign advertising Pierre Paris Shoes on the east facade
- main floor storefront

Recognition

Jurisdiction

British Columbia

Recognition Authority

City of Vancouver

Recognition Statute

Vancouver Charter, s.582

Recognition Type

Community Heritage Register

Recognition Date

1994/11/21

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
Shop or Wholesale Establishment

Architect / Designer

Thomas Hooper

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

DhRs-506

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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