Protecting the Past for the Future: The Value of Preserving Vancouver’s Built History

The floodgates are opening to exciting new developments in Vancouver, but that shouldn’t eliminate our ingrained desire to preserve the heritage architecture that’s found within the region. Like many up-and-coming cities, Vancouver stands as a landscape of potential. However, our relatively young metro area has little in the way of heritage architecture, making it crucial that developers combine a celebration of the past into their future building designs.

The city of Vancouver and beyond is a blend of old meets new. From Gastown and Yaletown found in the downtown core, to Steveston in Richmond and Columbia Street in New Westminster, this region has distinct small pockets of history that are important to preserve. Why? It’s all about rarity, uniqueness, and our desire to preserve pasts celebrations found in heritage architecture. Without this, Greater Vancouver would lack an authenticity that many homeowners crave.

Without heritage, a city loses its identity. And with no identity, it can lead to an environment that’s not grounded, unable to showcase a real sense of distinct character. When we look at parts of the world that are expanding rapidly with brand new, shiny skylines, they often lack the grit or history that reminds their population of where they once came from. That is why a city’s heritage and authenticity is important to preserve and combine within new building developments – it’s a best of both worlds’ scenario.

Looking at some of the historic regions in Greater Vancouver, like Steveston or Yaletown, success can be seen in the preservation of their heritage character, despite having some aspects of certain buildings revitalized. These areas have become micro-communities of their own within a broader community, connected to the past yet still very much in touch with the future of our region’s urban progress. It’s places like these that developers are looking to for inspiration in many upcoming projects across the Lower Mainland.

Vancouver’s development community is proudly bringing forward innovative methods to preserve heritage while, at the same time, providing new and exciting places for residents to live. At MLA Canada, part of our commitment to both homeowners and the development community is to consistently recognize and understand the wants and needs of a consumer, and how developers can bring this to fruition. Consumers are demanding we retain a strong yet authentic path forward for Vancouver’s architecture, including the preservation of the heritage found here. This not only positively contributes to the vision of the city, but also allows MLA Canada and our development partners to work hard and build upon this important consumer desire.

An area of the downtown core that has notable heritage is on the corner of Robson and Cambie. This location has been home to the Northern Electric Building since 1928, occupying an entire city block for close to a century. It represents an early era of the telecommunication industry in downtown Vancouver and was then later home to the Catholic Church. Before renowned developer Amacon acquired this lot, they knew it was crucial to preserve the heritage found there, to which they worked incredibly hard to retain in their development plans. As a result, Vancouver can be excited to welcome a blend of old meets new in this incredibly central spot. Amacon’s upcoming development, Block, embraces the heritage of the Northern Electric Building by preserving its bold brick façade, while intertwining geometric design of the residential tower that honours the traditional architecture at its base.

As we look to a future horizon of continued development across Greater Vancouver, the heritage found in our cities should remain respected and become part of our plans moving forward. Authenticity in new designs can be hard to come by. But with rich and rare history nestled inside our region, the development community continues to work hard to make our city one with an authentic story and identity to live by for years ahead.