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Oppenheimer Building

100 Powell Street, Vancouver, Colombie-Britannique, V6A, Canada

Reconnu formellement en: 2003/01/14

Exterior view of the Oppenheimer Building; City of Vancouver 2004
Oblique view
Exterior view of the Oppenheimer Building; City of Vancouver 2004
Front facade
Pas d'image

Autre nom(s)

Oppenheimer Building
The Warehouse Studio

Liens et documents

Date(s) de construction

1886/01/01

Inscrit au répertoire canadien: 2007/08/03

Énoncé d'importance

Description du lieu patrimonial

The Oppenheimer Building is an imposing three-storey brick warehouse at the south-east corner of Powell Street and Columbia Avenue at the heart of Vancouver's Gastown. It is on a property shared with a facade addressed as 102 Powell Street.

Valeur patrimoniale

The heritage value of the Oppenheimer Building, Vancouver's oldest brick building, lies in its association with successful merchants, the Oppenheimer Brothers, and in particular with David Oppenheimer, who helped to shape early commercial Vancouver. This handsome piece of Victorian Commercial architecture is a significant landmark building in Gastown. Its recent restoration and conversion to recording studios by prominent rock musician and Vancouverite, Bryan Adams, reflects the adaptive re-use of industrial buildings generally and in Gastown in particular.

The warehouse at 100 Powell Street is significant as Vancouver's oldest brick building. Unharmed by the Great Fire that destroyed Vancouver on June 13, 1886, the warehouse, then under construction, was one of the first substantial post-fire structures to be completed. It is the of work of one of Vancouver's earliest and most interesting architects, Noble Stonestreet Hoffar, who, without formal architectural training, upset the Vancouver architectural establishment with a succession of accomplished Neo-Classical buildings, which included some of Vancouver's earliest brick structures.

Built for Vancouver's pioneer eastern-European Jewish merchants, the Oppenheimer Brothers, the building speaks to the success of their wholesale grocery business, Vancouver's first and largest until the early 1900s. The sale of the warehouse in 1902 to Pilkington Brothers, glass manufacturers, illustrates the changing fortunes of this business, subsequently called Oppenheimer Klondike Supplies and Dry Goods, resulting from the boom-bust cycle commonly associated with the 1897-98 Klondike Gold Rush.

David Oppenheimer was the celebrated 'Father of Vancouver' and owner of the second largest Crown land grant in British Columbia, after the Canadian Pacific Railway. These real estate holdings gave him tremendous brokering power and a key role in shaping and rebuilding post-fire Vancouver. David was City Mayor between 1888-91 and the building served as a temporary City Hall during this period. The family's influence is illustrated by Powell Street's earlier name - Oppenheimer Street.

The 1902 purchase of the premises by the UK glass manufacturing firm of Pilkington Brothers reflects the company's corporate strategy to build a chain of suppliers in North America. Its is a key component of the significant Pilkington Glass group of buildings, which includes the adjacent warehouses at 102 and 120 Powell Street.

The Oppenheimer Building is also a fine example of heritage conservation. Its conversion to recording studios speaks to the late twentieth-century interest in the adaptation of industrial heritage buildings to other, often arts-based uses. The care and accuracy of the restoration of the warehouse's former external appearance by Vancouver-based Don Stuart Architects, rewarded with a City of Vancouver Heritage Award, is an important example of heritage custodianship - retrieval and protection of historic character for the appreciation of present and future generations.

The significance of the Oppenheimer Building is consolidated by its 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 have attracted other world-class artists, including REM, AC/DC, Sir Elton John, Bon Jovi, and Stevie Nicks.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Éléments caractéristiques

The character-defining elements of the Oppenheimer Building include:
- Location in Vancouver's former commercial district close to the old Port of Vancouver
- Location at the south east corner of Powell Street and Columbia Avenue
- Massing, including the occupation of the entire lot
- Plain expanses of brick divided by horizontal mouldings in contrasting colour
- Articulation of the facades by flat-headed windows, doors and string courses on the Powell Street elevation
- Proximity to other structures associated with the firm of Pilkington Brothers (Canada) Ltd., the warehouses at 102 and 120 Powell Street
- Materials of construction, including the brick, the wooden cornice, and the window glass
- The fenestration, including the exposed wood lintels, the finished woodwork and subdivision of the lights
- The remains of original finished woodwork associated with the doors
- The fragments of fixings for signage

Reconnaissance

Juridiction

Colombie-Britannique

Autorité de reconnaissance

Ville de Vancouver

Loi habilitante

Vancouver Charter, art.593

Type de reconnaissance

Désignation patrimoniale

Date de reconnaissance

2003/01/14

Données sur l'histoire

Date(s) importantes

s/o

Thème - catégorie et type

Économies en développement
Commerce et affaires

Catégorie de fonction / Type de fonction

Actuelle

Commerce / Services commerciaux
Studio ou atelier

Historique

Commerce / Services commerciaux
Entrepôt

Architecte / Concepteur

Noble Stonestreet Hoffar

Constructeur

s/o

Informations supplémentaires

Emplacement de la documentation

City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Réfère à une collection

Identificateur féd./prov./terr.

DhRs-184

Statut

Édité

Inscriptions associées

s/o

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