When I left you on Monday financier Austin C. Taylor had just purchased the estate. Taylor was the president of
Bralorne Gold Mine.
(A little side note. My father's older brother and my mother's oldest brother both worked at Bralorne. So, in a roundabout way, I have a connection to The Shannon.) Taylor stayed at
The Shannon for forty years until his death in 1965.
The Shannon was purchased by developer Peter Wall and he hired Arthur Erickson to make some changes. 1974 the
Erickson Massey Architects - including
legendary architect Arthur Erickson - developed 162 units in a series of two storey buildings that surround the property.
Thirty odd years later there are more plans to change
The Shannon and these ones could drastically alter the estate. A proposed 14-storey condo tower would leave the mansion, coach house and gate house intact but required the razing of the existing townhouse development and most of the trees.
(The gatehouse would be isolated behind 4 to 9 storey walls) In the place of the townhouses there would be two towers of thirteen and fourteen stories as well as numerous smaller ones scattered about that would bring the amount of suites to 891 and the number of residents from 340 to 1600.
The interior of the mansion has been used for the movie industry as well as certain areas are at the use of the tenants that live in the units in the mansion. The new proposal would change all that and make these areas individual strata units.
Quite naturally there are numerous people who are upset with
Wall Financial Corp who own
The Shannon and if these proposals become reality then Vancouverites will not only lose the work of a great architect, Arthur Erickson but we will also see a fantastic estate changed forever.
I was told that the carving seen in this room was done by out of work shipbuilders. Seeing the detail I could believe it!
Friday I have some more photos of the grounds of The Shannon or Shannon Mews as it is now called. I will also tell you about Benjamin Tingley Rogers.
I hope you find the beauty around you.
Karen Magill,
The Shannon,
Vancouver,
B.T. Rogers,
Austin C. Taylor,
Bralorne Gold Mines,
History,
Arthur Erickson
When I left you on Monday financier Austin C. Taylor had just purchased the estate. Taylor was the president of Bralorne Gold Mine. (A little side note. My father's older brother and my mother's oldest brother both worked at Bralorne. So, in a roundabout way, I have a connection to The Shannon.) Taylor stayed at The Shannon for forty years until his death in 1965.
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