Improvements

By the fall of 1915, the optimism of Vancouverites was plainly visible. The University of BC, under President F.F. Wesbrook, opened. The buildings in Point Grey wouldn't be finished until after the war so the students were taught in shacks and tents on the General Hospital grounds. And the official student gowns were piped with khaki cord to mark its wartime birth. Many students left classes soon after enrolment to enlist in the Western Universities Battalion for overseas service. But UBC was started!

That same September, the city got its first major war contract. It was a $2 million order for shell casings and it was split between Wallace Shipyards and North Shore Iron Works.

The Admirality released the old Empress of Japan to take up its trans-Pacific service again. In November, the first Canadian Northern (later known as the Canadian National) train left the city depot on Main Street. The Great Northern railroad was building a depot and the CPR trains had been running to Penticton on the Kettle Valley line since June 1.

At the end of the year, the Board of Trade called for conservation of resources, an end to monopoly control in industry, but also reported that business was sound, construction dead, and trade picking up.

The upsurge continued through 1916. The provincial government, under W. J. Bowser of Vancouver, provided laws and funds to aid shipbuilding, mining, farmers and seaport - all of which helped Vancouver. 

Prices were rising steadily. Though there was little or no increase in wages, everybody was back at work. The fish pack was fair, the lumber mills working to capacity, no miners on skid road. 

City building rose to $2.4 million from $1.5 million in 2015. However, it was almost all large industrial construction; permits for the year dropped from 612 to 434. 

Shipping was picking up. Large consignments of munitions and other war materials were shipped to embattled Russia via Vladivostok. This trade vanished with the outbreak of the revolution in 1917 and for years immense dumps of machinery and steel sat rusting at the city's outskirts.

Thanks to the book, Vancouver, From Milltown to Metropolis by Alan Morley for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill

An Empress

If you are walking along the seawall at Stanley Park you might happen to see something in the distance that may seem a bit off. Somehow out of place.

And you decide to walk closer to investigate further.

It is very beautiful looking out over the water. But whatever is it doing in the middle of the seawall?

In 1890-1891 the Naval Construction and Armament Co. of Barrow, England built an ocean liner called the RMS Empress of Japan - she was also known as the Queen of the Pacific - for Canadian Pacific Steamships.

She was a beauty! This Empress and her twin- sister Empresses (there were three in total) were the first vessels in the Pacific to have twin propellers with reciprocating engines. Over the course of her lifetime the Empress traversed 2.5 million miles and made 315 Pacific crossings.

This is a replica of the figurehead that was on the Empress of Japan. The original has been restored and now resides in the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

Although this Empress was part of a fleet of Empresses she stands out from the others. Perhaps because she held the speed record for crossing the Pacific for over two decades. Captained by Captain Henry Pybus, the RMS Empress of Japan won blue ribbon for record crossing of the Trans-Pacific crossing of 1897. (As you may remember I wrote a bit about the Captain in an earlier entry.)

The RMS Empress of Japan was built to carry mail (RMS stands for Royal Mail Ship) and passengers but there was an agreement of commission between the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Canadian federal government and the British government with a clause that stated that in the event of war the Empress would be refitted to meet with Admiralty requirements. So the ship was refitted as an Armed merchantman during World War I.

The Empress of Japan served well during war and she was the only one of the three original Empresses to return to the Trans-Pacific route.

But she was weary and in 1922 the Empress of Japan was retired, she swung at anchor in Vancouver Harbour for four years. In 1926 someone abroad purchased her and she was beached on the north shore of Burrard Inlet to be scrapped locally.

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The tragedy of it all. This once beautiful ship who had sailed the seas so proudly was now run aground and being torn apart by indifferent workers. The wall hangings were ripped apart and being used as rags, the mahogany panelling was being cast into the water and the once majestic figurehead that had helped guide the Empress through the seas had been discarded and slated for destruction.

But all was not lost. Some Vancouverites descended on the wreckage site to salvage what they could and to this day if you happen to walk into the right home you would be able to see remnants of this glorious ship.

And the editor of the Daily Province, Frank Burd, heard about the disposal of the figurehead and went into action. It is rumoured that some reporters found themselves with a unique assignment that day: to rummage through the dump looking for parts of a large wood carving and removing those pieces.

The figurehead was found and it was erected at Stanley Park in November of 1927. But it was wood and even with the occasional slap of paint - it was not painted in anything close to the original colours though - the figurehead began to deteriorate.

But then Norman Hacking, marine editor at the Province, became involved. The figurehead was removed and replaced with the fibreglass copy. The original sat in the work yards of Stanley Park for years before being transported to the relative safety of the Maritime Museum. There it waited fourteen years before it was moved to a laboratory to be restored. (It is quite a long process of how the figurehead was restored. If you are interested then please visit this page of the History of Vancouver website.)

Now the figurehead is a proud display of a colorful piece of maritime history at the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Empress of Japan, Vancouver, Captain Henry Pybus, Norman Hacking, Vancouver Maritime Museum, History, Frank Burd

Saints and States

A person has to find their happy moments in the little things in life. After all if we waited until the big pleasures came we might spend the majority of our lives depressed. My little joy came today when I got a few pictures of the Pennsylvania Hotel - also known as the Woods Hotel and the Portland Hotel. Because of where it is and the denizens of the area it has taken me a couple of months to get a nice collection to show you.

Built in 1906 for the original owners J.S. and Eliza Woods, this building is five storeys and a basement. At the time it was built it was one of the first major hotels to built on Hastings Street and its location was ideal. During Edwardian era Vancouver this hotel was situated near commuter rail and streetcar lines, within walking distance of the harbour, the ferry to North Vancouver and the Union Steamship Docks which were located at the south of Carrall street. (the Pennsylvania Hotel is located at the corner of West Hastings and Carrall Streets.)

At one time this was one of the city's better establishments that served wealthy travellers and commercial businessmen. But when the financial centre of Vancouver shifted further west and this area of town began to suffer an economic downturn, this hotel was no longer appealling to the upper crust.

The architecture of this hotel was greatly influenced by contemporary styles in the United States. There is a rippling sequence of four bay windows and it is capped by a prominent corner turret. This structure reflects the influence of the Romanesque Revival style and is reminiscent of buildings in San Fransisco prior to the 1906 earthquake.

The information on historicplaces.ca refers to this turret as not being there any longer. As you can see it is there. The Pennsylvania Hotel was redone and reopened in January of 2009 with units for the lower income people.

The Pennsylvania Hotel was designed by architect William T. Whiteway who was responsible for the Sun Tower, the original part of the Woodward's building and numerous other buildings here and in the United States.

I promised you saints so here we go.

I just mentioned the architect William T. Whiteway and this is another of his projects. The St. Regis Hotel was built by builder E.J. Ryan - he built the existing Hotel Vancouver - in 1913 and is the last hotel built before World War I that is still being used as a hotel.

This is an example of the Edwardian Commercial style and isn't as embellished as some of Whiteway's other designs such as the Pennsylvannia Hotel. The original mosiac tile floor is located at the northwestern portion of the building. And the neon blade sign at the corner is also original from 1920.

Here's another saint. The Hotel St. Clair.

This hotel was originally built in 1911 for Captain Henry Pybus who was the commander of the ship the R.M.S.S. Empress of Japan. Back then the hotel was called the Dunsmuir Rooms - the name was changed in 1929 -and served rail workers as well as ocean going passengers.

The hotel was designed by Samuel Birds - an architect who also trained as an engineer - and the stonework is actually concrete.

Another note of interest is that a replica of the Empress of Japan's figurehead is preserved near Lumberman's Arch in Stanley Park. I guess I'm travelling back there in the future.

While walking along Hastings Street I noticed an angel watching over residents.

From a distance she looked magical, not so much close up. But the sentiment is great.

I also stopped in at the International Village mall to go to the washroom. While there I took a photo of one of the ornaments hanging from the ceiling.

This is for good fortune and I wish that for all my readers.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Captain Henry Pybus, Pennsylvania Hote,Dunsmuir RoomsHotel St. Clair,St. Regis Hotel,history,