To The Park I Go

I decided that I wanted to give everyone a better look at Stanley Park. But to get there I walked along the Coal Harbour Seawall and took notice.

Coal Harbour got its name when, in 1859, Captain George Henry Richards of the British Royal Navy found the occasional coal stream in the sandstone. But the coal wasn't worth the money it would have cost to mine it so it remained. It wasn't that long ago that this area was a mass of parking lots, railway yards, marinas and float plane terminals. Now there are fancy hotels, condos, convention center and art work. The transformatioin is phenomenal.

Can you see the sprays of water soaking the walkway? The Mill Restaurant is in the background.

This sculpture is entitled The Meeting and is done by Wang Shugang from China. It resides near the Westin Hotel.

These figures are so lifelike that I have seen numerous photos online where people are sitting in identical poses and it looks real.

Not far from The Meeting is the artistic creation Ceramic Forms. Korean artist Yee Soo-Kyung recycles fragments from traditional Korean ceramicists to create a new piece of art.

But let's get to the park. I walked along the seawall until it took a turn and I followed the path to cross a bridge.

Stanley Park was opened in 1888 by then mayor David Oppenheimer and it was named after the Governor-General of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston. The park borders downtown Vancouver - a 404.9 hectare oasis for those needing a shot of nature.

The park is almost half the size of London's Richmond Park yet over 10% larger than New York City's Central Park. Some of the trees in the park are hundreds of years old and stand 249 feet. (Some have fallen in recent years as well due to a few severe windstorms Vancouver has had.)

In 1962 the hurricane Freida about 3,000 trees in the park. From December 2006 to January 2007 three major windstorms hit the park and damaged 10,000 mature trees - 20% of the forest was damaged and the seawall was closed. (I remember those windstorms, I lived in a ground floor apartment and the huge tree outside my window went down. Fortunately it fell into the street.)

The Salish Indians used this six acre island as a burial ground. In the 1893 smallpox epidemic early settlers used the area as a cemetary and a place to quarantine the ill. Ergo the name of Deadman's Island is fitting.

In 1944 it became a naval station named after one of Captain Vancouver's ships, the H.M.C.S. Discovery.

The city has sprung up behind that naval station.

This is the building for the Vancouver Rowing Club. Formed in 1886 as the Vancouver Boating Club they had an intense rivalry starting in 1890 with the Burrard Inlet Rowing Club. Many colourful rowing regattas were held in Coal Harbour.

In 1899 the two clubs joined as one and became the Vancouver Rowing Club. This heritage building was opened on September 9, 1911.

Strolling along the seawall is relaxing. The ducks in the water below, a light breeze and people walking, running, biking and rollerblading just help to give it a holiday feel.

The seawall is the genius of the park's first superintendent W.S. Rawlings.  In 1917 he envisioned a great wall as an attraction and that would help protect the shoreline from wave erosion. It took 62 years to build and stretches 8.8km. Master stonemason James Cunningham supervised most of the construction.

To mark the Salvation Army's Canadian centennial, a plaque was erected in 1982 at this picturesque point of the park.

Behind the Hallelujah Point is a statue that will get a person inspired.

Harry Winston Jerome, someone I wrote about when I featured the Mountainview Cemetery. This British Columbia athlete who broke many records deserves this tribute.

I have lots more photos to show you and a lot more trips to make back to the park. I spent hours there but barely scratched the surface. So you will be seeing lots about Stanley Park in upcoming entries.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Coal Harbour, Stanley Park,Harry Winston Jerome,Deadman's Island,Vancouver Rowing Club,history,

Parr and Fee

Today I want to tell you about two architects in Vancouver's history and you may remember seeing their names numerous times in previous blog entries.

John Edmeston Parr was born in 1856 in London England and came to Vancouver in 1896. Son of Samuel Parr, a London architect, John Parr first opened a solo practice but a year later he partnered with Samuel Maclure for two years before joining forces with Thomas Arthur Fee.

Thomas Arthur Fee was born in Drummond County, Quebec in 1860. He learned how to be an architect by studying under Minneapolis architect Harry Wild Jones. Fee contracted polio as a child and spent the rest of his life wearing leg braces.

Together Parr and Fee are responsible for many of Vancouver's heritage buildings. The three photos I have shown you so far are from the Glen Brae House which was built in 1910 for lumber magnate William Lamont Tait. It has a ballroom on the third floor with a floor underlaid with seaweed.

Vancouver has listed this as a heritage building and it is now a hospice for children - Canuck Place.

Here's another house designed by Parr and Fee, this one on West 12 Avenue and built in 1909. By the looks of it has now been divided into rooms or units to rent.

Doesn't the domed tower look familiar? It was a trademark of theirs apparently.

Presently this is called the Moda Hotel but when it opened in 1908 it was called the Dufferin Hotel after a former Governor General of Canada, Lord Dufferin.

Back then the hotel's main clientele was Canadian Pacific Rail workers and travelers. I would like to mention that according to Wikipedia the hotel was built in 1910 but the Moda Hotel website states it opened in 1908. So that is the date I will stick with here.

This massive building on Dunsmuir was constructed in 1908 and opened as the Dunsmuir Hotel. During World War II it served as barracks and later it was home to the Salvation Army.

When the Salvation Army moved in 2003 this building became the Dunsmuir International Village Student Housing - a home for international students coming here to learn English.

1911 saw the Hotel Barron make its appearance on Granville Street in Vancouver. Now it is the Comfort Inn.

This building dates back to the start of the Parr and Fee partnership - it was built in 1899. Originally this was the McDowell, Atkins & Watson Company Building but now, as you can see, it is the Cambie Hostel.

This is just a sample of the structures that Parr and Fee designed. In 1912 the partnership dissolved with Parr forming a new company with John Mackenzie and John Charles Day - Parr, Mackenzie & Day - which operated until 1918.

Fee left architecture to pursue other interests. He vocally opposed Canada's involvement in World War I and gained more notoriety for promoting the idea of British Columbia joining the United States.

John Edmeston Parr passed away in 1923 and Thomas Arthur Fee followed in 1929. But they left their mark on this city and helped to shape it.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Thomas Arthur Fee, John Edmeston Fee,Cambie Hostel,Moda Hotel,Canuck Place,history,

Delving into the World of Science

I had a plan of where to visit and photograph today. But first I wanted to stop by my mother's work and when she was finished take her out for coffee. After she is a good mummy and deserves to take a break. Even if it is with me. LOL. Then I walked her to her bus stop but instead of continuing on my way I decided to go back to her place and see my father. Then we went out for something to eat. The long and short of it is I didn't get the photos I wanted but I have others to show you.

This geodesic dome, which was inspired by Buckminster Fuller, resides at the end of False Creek. We call it Science World though its legitimate name is Telus World of Science.

When Vancouver was awarded Expo 86 -a transportation themed world's fair in 1986 - work began on this landmark. Started in 1984 the building which was to serve as the Expo Centre was completed in 1985. After the fair in 1986 an intensive campaign was launched to secure the building and relocate Barbara Brink's Arts, Sciences and Technology Centre into the dome.

Thanks to much government backing this former Expo Centre was obtained from the province. Then a massive fund raising campaign began. With donations from the federal, provincial and municipal governments as well as the GVRD, the private sector, foundations and individuals 19.1 million dollars was raised. The purpose was to build an addition, redesign the interior and fabricate exhibits. In 1988 over 310,000 people came to view the building in a four month preview.

In 1989 a 400 seat OMNIMAX theatre in the upper section of the dome was opened. This extended the 3D IMAX theatre which had been built for Expo 86.

In 1996 the centre entered its first title sponsorship agreement with Alcan Inc and renamed the OMNIMAX theatre the Alcan OMNIMAX Theatre. Since then Alcan has decided to sponsor the organization in different ways so the name of the theatre returned to the original.

In 2005 Telus gave a $9 million donation and renamed the centre Telusphere. That didn't go over so well so it was renamed Telus World of Science which keeps consistency with the centres in Edmonton and Calgary with the same names. But the Skytrain station is still named Science World and Vancouverites still refer to this dome as Science World.

This is an interesting piece outside the centre. I thought you might like to see it as well.

Construction was going on while I was there, I guess the centre is getting a face lift. Thanks to photobucket I found a photo of Science World at night that is free for me to use. I would like to thank user Travis788 for taking such a fantastic night shot.

Isn't that breathtaking? I remember an episode of the television show 'Sliders where Jerry O'Connell's character was running in an area by the dome. (Okay I realize that I may watch too much television but oh well!)

Talking about television shows I was walking along East Pender today when I saw that something was being filmed. I stopped to get a few pictures for a future blog entry and realized that the show Supernatural was being filmed. I will have to watch to see when that episode is on then I can say I was there. heehee

On the grounds outside the dome, on the east side I think, I found these carvings.

They are reasonably large -  you can see the back of one in one of my previous photos - and quite eye catching.

While I was walking towards home I walked by the Science World Skytrain station at Main and Terminal. I found a very interesting plaque.

What the plaque says is that near that corner on June 26, 1890 (exactly 75 years before I was born) public transit began in Vancouver. Six small electric streetcars carried passengers along ten kilometres of track through Vancouver's downtown. A century later the mayor Gordon Campbell along with Rita M. Johnston - the minister responsible for BC Transit led a caravan of vintage buses along the original route. That would have been something to see!

This gruesome creature is another thing I saw while walking along East Pender. Leftover from Halloween I am sure he looked scarier at night. But the carving was well done.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Telus Science World, Gordon Campbell,Halloween,East Pender,Expo 86,history,

Honoring the Dead

First of all a happy All Saints Day. Did you know that tomorrow is All Souls Day?  These are very solemn days in some sects of the Roman Catholic Church. Honoring dead saints and relatives requires a degree of seriousness as well as tradition.

Last night is more my type of holiday. Halloween. This holiday is celebrated in Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the United States primarily. It is thought to be based on the Celtic festival of Samhain - a Gaelic harvest festival - though some have traced it back to Roman times namely the Roman feast of Pomona who was the goddess of fruit and seeds. Or the roots may be traced to Parentalia a Roman festival of the dead.

The ancient Celts believed that on Samhain the line between the land of the living and that of the dead became thin thus allowing spirits to cross into the land of the living. That wouldn't be so bad if all the spirits were good but the evil ones cross over as well.

Those good spirits, like those of deceased relatives, were honored and invited in to the homes but costumes and masks had to be worn to scare away the evil entitities. The purpose was that the costumes and masks would make the wearer seem like an evil spirit and thus avoid harm.

In Scotland young men impersonated the spirits by dressing all in white with veiled, blackened or masked faces.

The word Halloween and many of the traditions we see today were derived from the Old English era. The first use of the word Halloween has been traced back to the 16th century and represents a variant of the Scottish  All-Hallows-Even.

The photos I am using are from those stored on my computer. I don't have information on the buildings so I am just putting them on here for you to see.

Bet this house was scary last night. The stories and such you could make up about it. If someone thought to decorate it and have sounds emanating from the grounds that would certainly add to the frightening atmosphere of Halloween.

Off the topic of spooky things, don't you find the windows of this building interesting?

This fountain is in Yaletown at a park.



I liked the burst of color here.

This building I am showing you is on Cordova Street. I don't know anything about it but it must be old. Look at these doors.

I am just under five foot two inches and I would have to duck to get in. That indicates that this is an old building.

Look at the stairs! And the front. This appears to be a building with a courtyard or something similiar in the center. I can't enter it, there is a gate that is very secure.

This is another building I haven't been able to find out much information on. But considering the style of it, the location - near Gastown and Strathcona - and the feel I get from it I would say it has been there a while.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, All Saints Day, All Souls Day,Halloween,Yaletown,Cordova,history,