Vancouver Elegance

The year was 1900 and it was the beginning of the Golden Years in Vancouver. For the city's rich, from then until 1914, was a time of Edwardian elegance. In the CPR controlled West End, the city's upper class created a privileged world consisting of proper  British comforts. Fantastic mansions, surrounded by clipped hedges and holly bushes, were built along Davie, Denman and Robson Streets.

Benjamin Tingley  Rogers built the Gabriola, a stately Victorian mansion, which occupied two lots at Davie and Nicola. Gabriola was designed by Samuel Maclure and reported to have cost $25,000 - "probably twice as much as the next best residence in the city."

Inside Rogers's home was elaborate wood panelling imported from England, 18 fireplaces, opulent stained glass and the city's first concrete basement. You can see photos I took of the Gabriola in 2011 in this entry.

More than three quarters of the city's elite lived in the West End in 1908. That is according to Vancouver's Elite Directory. The West End was a haven, allowing the upper crust to insulate themselves against the surrounding wilderness.

The world of a woman revolved around  "at home" days and garden parties. These parties were held in a different part of the neighbourhood on each day of the week. A man's life, outside of business that is, consisted of exclusive clubs - the Terminal City Club, the Vancouver Lawn and Tennis Club, the Vancouver Yacht Club. The most sanctified club was simply called the Vancouver Club. The children of the West End attended private schools. It sounds like it was very sheltered.

However, the city was rapidly developing and the West End, once considered "out of town" was falling under urban pressure. Fortunately, the elite had another option to escape the common folk. The CPR was developing Shaughnessy Heights, an even more rarefied neighbourhood on the southern rise above 16th and Granville. 

These lots were highly restricted and costly but once offered for sale, wealthy buyers lined up around the block to purchase their share. They wanted to be part of the land touted as the most exclusive residential area west of Mount Royal and South of Nob Hill.

Thanks to the book Vancouver; A History in Photographs by Aynsley Vogel and Dana Wyse for the above information. 

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Kensington Place

In 1912 architect Phillip M. Julien designed this Baroque Renaissance building on Nicola Street.The Spanish and Italian influences are quite obvious when a person looks at  Kensington Place.

As is evident from these photos Kensington Place is not only large but also quite decorative.

Surrounding the entrances and windows is precast, iron ornamentation, columns frame the recessed balconies and elaborate consoles support the roof cornice.

This building is unique in the fact that it was built using a combination of a massive timber frame and concrete. Apparently various noteworthy British Columbians  have resided here.

Do you remember when I wrote about Gabriola and the rumour that there was tunnel beneath it that led to 1215 Bidwell Street? According to what I was told B.T. Rogers, who owned Rogers Sugar and Gabriola, used to run bottles of booze through those tunnels. There was a mansion on Bidwell that was also a one time a finishing school for ladies. Later years it became different restaurants. This is what it looks like today.

This blue wall extends for a little ways down Davie Street. At one time the plan was to build a large condominium tower but I heard conflicting stories from different people I talked with on the street. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Phillip M. Julien, Kensington Place,baroque,Rogers Sugar,History,1215 Bidwell,Gabriola

The House Built on Cavities

I couldn't resist the title of that entry. This mansion known as Gabriola was not built on a cavity in the ground but it was built for Benjamin Tingley Rogers of Rogers Sugar. I've written on Rogers before if you look back at earlier entries. He was one of the people who helped to make this city.

Architect Samuel Maclure designed this lavish home for the Sugar King, as Rogers was known, starting in 1900. On July 1, 1901 Rogers and his wife moved in and lived in Gabriola for seventeen years. (It was named Gabriola since the stones used to build it were quarried on Gabriola Island.)

While I was walking around the vacant property today I imagined what it must have been like over a hundred years ago when this extravagant home was full of life and parties and the crème de la crème  of Vancouver society. I even imagined that if I listened hard enough maybe I would hear the tinkling of glasses and the gaiety from years gone by. I didn't though.

I read that there are a series of tunnels under this Queen Anne style mansion that lead to a manor on Bidwell Street that has  been known as the Balthazar Night Club. These tunnels were used for rum running. The Balthazar has been renamed Maxine's which is a throwback to Maxine's College of Beauty Culture which existed in the 1930s and 40s and was a bordello.

Another story about those tunnels is that the Balthazar used to be a finishing school for young ladies and that when the school mistress was having financial problems she would send a few girls through the tunnels to Gabriola. Of course these are rumours but you have to admit stories like this are interesting.

The impressive stained glass windows were designed by the Bloomfield Brothers.



There are a lot of photos today of what was once known as "probably the most lavish private home ever constructed in B.C" but I really want my readers to get the true feeling of the mansion.

 I was so enthralled by this beauty of architecture that I spent more time than usual walking around it. I could see the vehicles entering the gates and smartly dressed people getting out. I could imagine the mansion lit up for one of the many parties. And I wished that I could somehow go back in time and actually see it, experience it. But alas we don't have the technology to time travel. At least not yet.

In 1918 Ben Rogers died and his wife sold Gabriola - she moved to another mansion in Shaughnessy. In 1925 this was the home of Angus Apartments but by the 1970s the once magnificent home had fallen into disrepair. Fortunately it was saved from demolition and renovated.

In 1977 Gabriola was converted to a restaurant with the interior being restored closer to its original design. (The exterior hasn't changed since it was designed by Maclure). The restaurant Romano’s Macaroni Grill called this building home for quite a while but they have now moved on. I've heard that it has been bought by those involved with the Keg Restaurant chain so we may be seeing new life at the Gabriola again.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Gabriola, B.T.Rogers,Angus Apartments,Balthazar,History,