Vancouver’s 115-Year-Old Heritage Building Faces Demolition Without Facade Preservation

VANCOUVER, B.C. — The demolition of the 115-year-old heritage building at 500 Dunsmuir St. is set to begin Friday morning, marking the end of a red-brick structure that once housed the historic Terminus Hotel. Unlike previous heritage preservation efforts in the city, the facade of this building will not be saved, sparking debate among urban planners and historians.

The decision to demolish the building came from Vancouver’s chief building official, citing public safety concerns due to structural deterioration. The building has been vacant since 2013, and its condition has worsened over the years, leading to what heritage activists describe as “demolition through neglect.”

Michael Geller, a planner and real estate consultant, expressed disappointment over the decision. “I’m not a chief building official, so it’s dangerous or foolish for me to contradict him,” Geller said. “But going down to the site and looking at it, yes, there were portions of that building that were in terrible shape and the walls were cracking, but the most important facades along Dunsmuir look just fine.”

Civic historian John Atkin noted that preserving the facade would have been both challenging and expensive. “Part of the problem is the design of the building,” Atkin explained. “It’s not a single facade across the front, it’s actually three narrow facades with two sides in an end piece … The structural damage is such that the complexity of the steel work to hold that brick work up would mean you wouldn’t be saving anything really worth saving.”

Despite the challenges, Atkin suggested that the facade could be reconstructed in a new development. “You would say to (the developer), Holborn, ‘This building is dangerous, you have to demolish it,’” he said. “‘And a condition of any development permit for anything you do on the site is the reconstruction of the side and front and inset facades as accurately as can be done.’”

In an email, the city of Vancouver stated that the property owner, Holborn, may be required to incorporate or replicate heritage features in any redevelopment plan. However, due to concerns about hazardous building materials, the owner will not be required to retain the original materials.

Holborn owns most of the block surrounding 500 Dunsmuir, including The Bay parkade. Geller criticized the company for neglecting the building, stating, “It’s a heritage building, but the company that owned it really wanted to see it demolished so that they could then redevelop the entire block. And so they simply neglected it, and for reasons that are harder to understand, the city just simply allowed the building to deteriorate.”

The demolition of 500 Dunsmuir highlights the ongoing tension between urban development and heritage preservation in Vancouver, a city known for its rapid growth and changing skyline.