Monthly Archives: August 2022

Beaty Biodiversity Museum (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

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Beaty Biodiversity Museum

The Beaty Biodiversity Museum, a natural history museum located on the campus of the University of British Columbia (UBC), lies parallel to one of the main walking routes of the university campus.  This C$50-million museum, as well as the Biodiversity Research Centre, are located in the Beaty Biodiversity Centre housed in a 11,520 sq. m. (124,000 sq. ft.), four-storey building designed by Patkau Architects in 2009 and built by Scott Construction.

It formed the final side of a landscaped quadrangle created by the 2006 construction of the Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory.  The museum has a theater and 1,900 sq. m. (20,000 sq. ft.) of collections and exhibit space.  First opened to the public on October 16, 2010, it has since received over 35,000 visitors per year.The museum was selected by Georgia Straight as among the “Best of Vancouver” for 2013.

Its collections, divided into six main sub-collections (the Cowan Tetrapod Collection, the Marine Invertebrate Collection, the Fossil Collection, the Herbarium, the Spencer Entomological Collection and the Fish Collection) and over 500 permanent exhibits, are mostly displayed in cabinet windows and shadow boxes, although a few are shown through alternative displays like in-ground “excavations” that under glass that visitors can walk on. Most items are accompanied by a description card which briefly outlines details like the species and provenance information.

Djavad Mowafaghian Atrium

The collections, including over two million specimens collected between the 1910s and the present, focus, in particular on the species of British Columbia, Yukon, and the Pacific Coast.The space also includes a “family zone,” with juvenile reading materials and a teaching collection in a Discovery Lab.

Skeleton of Blue Whale

The museum was named after Ross and Trisha Beaty, UBC alumni who donated C$8 million in funding to support its creation. The Biodiversity Centre also received C$16.5 million from each of the BC Knowledge Development Fund and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, C$3 million from the Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation, and C$6 million from the university.Dr. Wayne Maddison was the founding director was and the current director is Dr. Quentin Cronk of the Department of Botany.

Grace and Kyle checking out the Taxidermy Exhibit

Designed in the interests of sustainability, the building has a green roof and a reed water garden to reduce pollutants and improve drainage of storm water from the building. Except in some of its laboratories, the centre does not have air conditioning.  Instead, through the facility’s concrete walls and by the use of sunshades on the outside of the building, the temperature level is mediated by natural ventilation.

To reduce the building’s use of electricity (which also assists in the preservation of some light-sensitive collections), natural lighting is also optimized. The centre also includes several “recycling hubs” and facilities for the composting of organic waste material.

We entered the museum through the glass-walled, two storey high Mowafaghian Atrium which, in addition to the museum’s gift shop and the Niche Cafe, houses the museum’s signature piece and most prominent display – a magnificent 26-m. (85-ft.) long skeleton of a female blue whale. Canada’s largest, it was found buried in Tignish, Prince Edward Island.  Suspended over a descending ramp by which the main collections are accessed, the display is a “see-through box” whose façade windows have “steel mesh brises-soleils.”

The largest skeleton exhibit in the world suspended without external framework for support, it is one of only 21 blue whale skeletons on public display worldwide. A Discovery Channel documentary, called Raising Big Blue, was first aired in Canada on June 5, 2011 and is frequently screened at the museum’s Allan Yap Theater. It featured the process of recovering, transporting and displaying the whale.  Scout Magazine included the museum’s blue whale exhibit in  list of “1,000 Cool Things about Vancouver.”

Allan Yap Theater

The Cowan Tetrapod Collection, founded in 1943, was named after Dr. Ian McTaggart-Cowan (its first curator).  Originally named the “Cowan Vertebrate Museum,” it is the second largest collection of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians in British Columbia.

Taxidermy Exhibit

Combining several pre-existing collections including the K. Racey Collection (over 4,200 birds and mammals), the zoological collections of W.S. Maguire and J. Wynne and the HR Macmillan ornithological collection, it contains over 40,000 items,over 39,000 items of which have been indexed in VertNet, a “collaborative project funded by the National Science Foundation that aims to make biodiversity data free and openly accessible on the web from publishers worldwide.”

They represent over 2,500 species of vertebrates – 18,000 mammals from 540 species, 17,500 birds and 7,000 bird eggs, and 1,600 reptiles and amphibians. The collection holds extensive, representative samples of nearly all species and most subspecies of British Columbia‘s terrestrial vertebrates and marine mammals.

The collection includes older specimens dating back to 1849, as well as rare specimens such as the red panda, the endangered Vancouver Island marmot, and even extinct species such as the passenger pigeon. Although mainly used for research, the collection also holds teaching specimens used by educators, artists, and others throughout the Lower Mainland.

The Marine Invertebrate Collection, started in the 1940s with alcohol-preserved specimens collected by Dr. C. McLean Fraser and Dr. Ian McTaggart Cowan, was primarily used for teaching purposes and eventually grew to several thousand specimens encompassing the major lineages of invertebrate animals.

Marine Invertebrate Collection

In 2006, due to the donation of the Alice Stein collection (consisting of thousands of shells and corals) by Kelly Norton, the collection was expanded and, in the following year, was further expanded with a large donation of shells from Evelyn Hebb Killiam.

Both donations, representing mostly tropical species, include some spectacular examples of global marine biodiversity, such as giant clams and some rare species of cowries.  Items in the collection, not yet been fully catalogued, represent the “major lineages of animals” and include cnidarians, mollusks, annelids, echinoderms, crustaceans, and sponges.

Burgess Shale

The Fossil Collection, part of the Pacific Museum of Earth, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, UBC,was began by Dr. Merton Yarwood Williams (co-founder of the UBC Department of Geology) in 1924.  An initial acquisition of specimens from local mining engineer William John Sutton was exhibited in the Geological Sciences Centre beginning in 1971 and was curated by Joe Nagel (curator from 1971 to 1995).

Permian Period

However, due to financial constraints, the exhibit was closed in 1995. In 2003, the collection became part of the holdings of the Pacific Museum of the Earth but, during its recataloguing process, is being housed in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum.

Comprising over 20,000 items, the Fossil Collection, is highlighted by its stromatolites (rock formations consisting of blue-green algae dating back 500 million years, some of the oldest extant fossils) and examples of the Burgess Shale. In 2018, the museum added, to its permanent exhibitions, 3 casts of early Cretaceous Period  dinosaur trackways from Peace Region area of British Columbia.

The Herbarium, the largest in Canada west of Ottawa, contains more than 650,000 specimens which are used to help researchers identify the plants, describe new species, and track changes in diversity over time. Among the Herbarium’s holdings are 498 type specimens.

In ground “excavation” where visitors can walk on at the Herbarium

Among the oldest collections at UBC, it was established in 1912 by John Davidson (at that time the BC provincial botanist) whose collection of mostly vascular plants was housed in downtown Vancouver at the Botanical Offices on West Pender Street (relocated to the university campus in 1925). This collection is critical to the identification, monitoring, and conservation of plant biodiversity in British Columbia, and is an important resource for scientific research and education.

It has five major collections.  The first, vascular plants of British Columbia (flowering plants, conifers, ferns, and their relatives) as well as Hawaiian plants, tropical prayer plants, and cyanolichens, comprises 223,000 vascular plants and their relatives. Two-thirds of the vascular plants collection is Canadian (45% from British Columbia and 22% from other provinces and territories) while 16% are American (9% from Hawaii and the Pacific coast and 7% from the other states) and 17% from other countries.

The second collection, the most comprehensive of any herbarium, particularly in its coverage of the northeast Pacific Ocean species, consists of 85,000 macroscopic algae (mostly seaweeds).  The third collection, of 242,000 internationally recognized bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts), is the largest in Canada.

The fourth collection, of 16,000 fungi, includes the largest research collection of macrofungi of British Columbia.  The last collection, of 40,000 lichens , is among the largest in western North America.

 

The Spencer Entomological Collection, the second-largest entomological collection in western Canada, was begun by Dr. George Spencer  (1888-1966) in the 1920s.  Including specimens from as early as the 1830s, it was not a university-recognized collection at the time of its creation but, by the time of Spencer’s retirement in 1958, it comprised over 300,000 items.

In 1953, it was officially founded as a university collection. In 1958, Dr. G.G.E. Scudder assumed the curatorship of the collection and, in his 40 years in that role (from 1958 to 1999), doubled the size of the collection.

Now comprising over 600,000 items (over 500,000 pinned insects, 25,000 on slides, and 75,000 in alcohol), the collection, a number of which have not yet been indexed, focuses on the spectacular insect diversity of British Columbia and Yukon.  In 2003, Dr. Wayne Maddison became the collection’s director and he enlarged the collection of jumping spiders into one of the world’s best through field work in tropical and temperate regions.

The collection has “particularly strong holdings of Hemiptera (true bugs), Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), Siphonaptera (fleas) and Anoplura and Mallophaga (lice).” It also includes 350 books and other printed materials relevant to the study of entomology.

There are also numerous holotype specimens, such as the plant hopper Achrotile distincta, which Dr. Scudder discovered in 1959 in the Cariboo-Chilcotin and described as a new species in 1963. It also holds historical specimens of species that have disappeared from the province, such as the Limenitis archippus (viceroy butterfly), last collected in Lillooet in 1930.

Fish Collection

The Fish Collection, begun by Dr. C. McLean Fraser, the first head of UBC’s Department of Zoology, the third largest fish collection in Canada.  It holds over 850,000 specimens, over 2,300 of which are included in FishBase, a web-based global fish relational database containing information on practically all fish known to science. The first to index the museum’s collection, FishBase is supported by a research consortium that includes the UBC Fisheries Centre.

They include whole fish stored in alcohol, skeletons, cleared and stained fish, fish X-rays and over 50,000 DNA and tissue samples, with particular strengths in freshwater and nearshore marine species. Locations covered include Canada, the Aleutians, the Malay Archipelago, Mexico, the Galapagos Islands, Panama, and the Amazon River Basin.

Some specimens date back as far as 1904, but cataloguing didn’t begin until 1945. Used in conservation efforts, environmental assessments, and numerous research projects, particularly by the Native Fishes Research Group, the collection has also served as an educational resource in training some of Canada’s leading fish biologists. Dr. Murray Newman was the collection’s first curator and Dr. Wilbur Clemens, G.V. Wilby, Dr. Casimir Lindsey, Dr. Norman Wilimovsky, and Dr. J. Donald McPhail each, over the decades, greatly expanded the collections.

The collection holds 11 holotype specimens (original specimens that were used to describe new species) as well as representatives of pairs of stickleback species, what may be the youngest fish species on Earth, that evolved only recently in British Columbia’s lakes.  The collection has been used in environmental assessments, conservation efforts, and numerous research projects, as well as in educating and training some of Canada’s leading fish biologists. Its specimens have also been used to document regime shifts in the Bering Sea, the formation of new species, and the extinction of others.

The Allan Yap Discovery Lab

Beaty Biodiversity Museum:  2212 Main Mall, Point Grey, University of British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Vancouver, British Columbia.  Tel: 604-827-4955. Fax: 604-822-0686.  Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10 AM – 5 PM.  Admission: C$14 (regular), C$30-45 (Family)  and free (students, staff and faculty).  E-mail: info@beatymuseum.ubc.ca.  Website:
www.beatymuseum.ubc.ca.   Coordinates: 49.2636°N 123.2514°W

 

Stanley Park (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

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Stanley Park

The 405-hectare (1,001-acre) Stanley Park, a public park  that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver‘s Downtown Peninsula, is surrounded by waters of  Burrard Inlet and English Bay. Bordering the neighborhoods of West End and Coal Harbour to its southeast, the park is connected to the North Shore via the Lions Gate Bridge. The park’s easternmost point is marked by the historic lighthouse on Brockton Point.

Jandy, Kyle and Grace strolling at Stanley Park

Stanley Park, while it is not the largest of its kind, is about one-fifth larger than New York City’s 340-hectare (840-acre) Central Park and almost half the size of London’s 960-hectare (2,360-acre) Richmond Park.  The pak is best toured via horse-drawn carriages.

Horse-Drawn Carriage

Originally known as Coal Peninsula, the land was originally used by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years before British Columbia was colonized by the British during the 1858 Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. One of the first areas to be explored in the city, it was, for many years after colonization, also be home to non-Indigenous settlers. The future park, with its abundant resources, was set aside for military fortifications to guard the entrance to Vancouver Harbor.

Stanley Park Map

Much of Stanley Park remains as densely forested as it was in the late 1800s, with about a half million trees (cedar, fir, hemlock, etc.), some standing as tall as 76 m. (249 ft.) and hundreds of years old. Thousands of trees were lost (and many replanted) after three major windstorms that took place in the past 100 years (the last in 2006).

One of the park’s cedar trees

Here’s the historical timeline of Stanley Park:

  • In 1886, when the city incorporated, the land was later turned into Vancouver’s first park and the Vancouver city council successfully sought a lease of the park which was granted for $1 per year.
  • In September 1888, Lord Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, a British politician who had recently been appointed Governor General, opened the park in his name.
  • On June 18, 2014, based on reviews submitted, Stanley Park was named “top park in the entire world” by TripAdvisor.

Unlike other large urban parks, Stanley Park is not the creation of a landscape architect but, rather, the evolution of a forest and urban space over many years. Under the influence of then superintendent W.S. Rawlings, most of the manmade structures present in the park were built between 1911 and 1937. Additional attractions, such as a polar bear exhibit, the Vancouver Aquarium and a miniature train, were added in the post-war period.

Stanley Park is home to one of the largest urban colonies of great blue heron (classified as a species at risk in British Columbia) in North America.  As far back as 1921, the birds have been documented nesting in various locations in Stanley Park. Since 2004, the Stanley Park Ecology Society has been monitoring the heronry in Stanley Park.  In 2013, an estimated 156 young Pacific great blue herons were fledged from the colony. Since monitoring started in 2007, the highest number of great blue herons fledged in a year was 258 (in 2007) and the lowest number was in 2011 with just 99 of the birds fledged.

A water feature at the park

Stanley Park also has children’s playgrounds, sandy beaches, gardens, tennis courts, an 18-hole pitch and putt golf course, a seaside swimming pool, a water spray park, forest trails, lakes, and among many other attractions.  It also has a large number of monuments, including statues, plaques, and gardens. Among these are the Japanese Canadian War Memorial, a cenotaph which has two rows of Japanese cherry (Prunus Shirotae ) trees, and statues of poet Robert Burns, Olympic runner Harry Jerome, and Girl in a Wetsuit.

Attractions found east of the causeway are:

Brockton Point Lighthouse

The square lighthouse at Brockton Point , designed by Thomas Hayton Mawson, was built in 1914 to replace one built in 1890. Painted white with a red horizontal stripe, has a red lantern and an arched base with a walkway underneath.

Brockton Oval

The fields of Brockton Oval has, since 1891, been used for athletics (including an oval running track), track sports, rugby and cricket. Brockton Oval Clubhouse, also known as the Cricket & Rugby Pavilion, was built in 1927.

Brockton Pavilion

The Nine O’Clock Gun, an 1816 naval cannon located near Brockton Point, is the oldest manmade landmark in the park.  Fired for first time in 1898, this tradition has continued for more than 100 years. Fired every day at 9 PM, the cannon was originally detonated with a stick of dynamite, but is now activated automatically with an electronic trigger.

Vancouver Aquarium

Vancouver Aquarium, the largest in Canada and one of the five largest in North America, was opened in 1956.  It houses a collection of marine life that includes dolphins, belugas, sea lions, harbour seals, and sea otters. In total, there are approximately 300 species of fish, 30,000 invertebrates, 56 species of amphibians and reptiles, and around 60 mammals and birds. The aquarium is also home to a 4D theatre.

Check out “Vancouver Aquarium”

Lumberman’s Arch, a children’s play area, water spray park and picnic area near the aquarium, the Lumberman’s Arch generally refers to a large clearing and picnic area on the park’s northeastern shore. There is also a Lumberman’s Arch landmark located across from the concession stand. The arch is a timber-and-stump structure erected in 1952 (a single log propped up by two others).

Lumberman’s Arch

It replaced the original arch that was built by lumber workers in 1912 as organized labor’s contribution to the celebration of a visit by the Duke of Connaught. The 1912 arch was a copy of the Parthenon’s front, using whole trees for the columns and gable, and was originally located on the Duke’s carriage route at Homer and Pender Streets before it was moved to the park. It was torn down in 1947 after succumbing to rot.

Beaver Lake, nestled in the forest northwest of Lumberman’s Arch, this is a restful space nestled among the trees. Almost completely covered with water lilies (introduced for the Queen’s Jubilee in 1938) and home to beavers, fish, and water birds, as of 1997, the surface area of the lake was just short of 4 hectares (10 acres), but the lake is slowly shrinking in size. Beaver Creek – one of Vancouver’s few remaining free-flowing streams, joins Beaver Lake to the Pacific Ocean and is one of two streams in Vancouver where salmon still return to spawn each year.

Stanley Park Pavilion

Stanley Park Pavilion, located at Brockton Point, is now home to Stanley’s Park Bar & Grill.  Built in 1911-12, it was designed by Otto Moberg. Architect Percy Underwood designed the addition, 1946–50, on the pavilion’s west side. It is close to the Vancouver Aquarium.  The Rose Garden,  located south of the Stanley Park Pavilion, was developed in 1920-21.

The Rose Garden

The Rock Garden, developed in 1911-1920 using stones excavated when the pavilion was built, encircles part of the Stanley Park Pavilion. The windstorm of 2006 revealed traces this long-forgotten rock garden which had once been one of the park’s star attractions and one of its largest man-made objects by area. Soon after its discovery, a section that encircles part of the Stanley Park Pavilion was restored (the garden had originally extended from Pipeline Road to Coal Harbour).

Stanley Park Railway, first started in 1947, is a diminutive steam train that pulls passenger cars on a circuit through the woods. In 1964, a new train and track opened. Located behind the Stanley Park Pavilion, the 508 mm. (20 in.) narrow-gauge, rideable miniature railway, with different seasonal themes, is a Vancouver tradition, especially for families with young children. The original railway featured a child-sized train. The current adult-sized railroad, opened in 1964 in an area leveled by Typhoon Freda, has an engine that is a replica of the first transcontinental passenger train to arrive in Vancouver in the 1880s.

James Pollard Pavilion

Located in front of the Stanley Park Pavilion is Malkin Bowl, a “shell” stage modeled after the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.  It was built in 1934 by former mayor W.H. Malkin  in honor of his late wife. On July 8, 1934, Malkin Bowl hosts its first concert, a free performance by the Vancouver Symphony that draws 15,000 people. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1982.  In summer, the outdoor theatre (James Pollard Pavilion) features events by Theatre Under the Stars and Live Nation (with their Concerts in the Park series).

Totem Poles

The totem poles at Brockton Point is the most visited tourist attraction in British Columbia.  Many of the original poles were moved to museums in order to preserve them. Several replicas were commissioned or loaned to the park board between 1986 and 1992. Nearby is the Legends of the Moon Café.

Legends of the Moon Cafe

Attractions found west of the causeway, in an area that includes Lost Lagoon and Prospect Point (a lookout at the highest point in the park located by the Lions Gate Bridge) include:

The Lost Lagoon, designed by Thomas Hayton Mawson, is a captive 17-hectare (41-acre) freshwater lake.  Located near the Georgia Street entrance to the park, it is a nesting ground to many bird species, such as Canada geese, and ducks. Its Jubilee Fountain was purchased to commemorate Vancouver’s 50th anniversary in 1936.  On the south shore of Lost Lagoon is the Lost Lagoon Nature House. Formerly a boathouse, it is run by the Stanley Park Ecology Society.

The 2.7 m. (9 ft.) bronze Statue of Harry Jerome (a local Olympic runner), located by Brockton Point, depicts the sprinter with his chest thrust forward into the finish tape. Sculpted by Jack Harman in 1986, it was unveiled in 1988.

Harry Jerome Statue

Replica of Figurehead of RMS Empress of Japan was cast, in 1960, from the original carving of the figurehead, restored in 1928, of what was once the fastest ship on the Pacific that operated between 1891 and 1922.

Replica of Figurehead of S.S. Empress of Japan

The Pitch and Putt Golf Course, built in 1932, is a par 3 course that takes 1–3 hours to complete. Architect Percy Underwood designed the Golf Course Ticket Booth, 1953-55.

Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden was not dedicated until 1989.  The shrubs here were donated in 1965.  The rhododendrons are planted in a roughly circular form around the pitch and putt golf course near Lost Lagoon. The best time of year to visit is March–May and the peak is usually early May.

The slightly hidden Two Spirits Sculpture is found just west of the crossroads of trails that enter into Stanley Park from the swimming pool located at Second Beach. The sculpture was created in the mid-1990s and depicts the silhouetted head of an aboriginal person against its own image. The sculpture was chiseled into a stump that remains from one the large trees in the area.

The  Air India Flight 182 Monument  and playground, located in Ceperley Meadow, near Second Beach, commemorates the victims of the  Air India Flight 182 bombing.  Built in 2006 and dedicated in 2007, the federal government spent approximately $800,000 to build the memorial and playground.

The  Chehalis Cross, a memorial commemorating the eight people who died when the Chehalis tugboat sank off Stanley Park after colliding with the MV Princess Victoria in 1906, is located west of Brockton Point.

Girl in Wetsuit

The  Bust of David Oppenheimer, a memorial bust of David Oppenheimer (Vancouver’s former mayor, 1888–91), is located at the English Bay entrance and was cast in 1911. The Statue of Girl in a Wetsuit, located by Brockton Point, represents Vancouver’s dependence on the sea.  It was created by Elek Imredy and unveiled on June 10, 1972.

The Sculpture of  Lord Stanley, created by Sydney March, was unveiled in 1960 and is located at the Coal Harbour entrance to the park.

The Japanese Canadian War Memorial, a large ceremonial column built by 1921 with private donations in memory of Japanese Canadians who gave their lives in World War I. The impressive monument, located near the Vancouver Aquarium, is joined by two rows of Japanese cherry trees (Prunus Shirotae) planted along an axial approach. The best time to view is fall and spring.

Check out “Japanese Canadian War Memorial”

Canadian-Japanese War Memorial

The SS Beaver Plaque, a commemorative cairn, located on the seawall below Prospect Point, next to the Windstorm Monument and the Prospect Point Café, commemorates the SS Beaver which ran aground on the rocks below Prospect Point in 1888. One of the walking beams from the original ship is also displayed at Prospect Point (unveiled in 1941).

The Warren G. Harding Memorial, commemorating Warren G. Harding‘s (the former 29th US president) visit to the park in the 1920s, a week before his death, it was designed by Charles Marega and unveiled in 1925. It is located between the Stanley Park Pavilion and Malkin Bowl.

The Air Force Garden of Remembrance, established by the Women’s Auxiliary to Air Services in 1948, commemorates the airmen who gave their lives in the World War II. A variety of plaques are placed throughout the shade rock garden, flagstone steps, path, small stream, and pond. A wooded area located on a knoll just west of the Stanley Park Pavilion, in 2019, the Park Board initiated plans to relocate the Garden of Remembrance to Queen Elizabeth Park.

Frances E. Willard Bush and Plaque, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Frances E. Willard, an American suffragist known for her efforts in winning the vote for women, was placed in 1939. A white camellia tree was planted too, but only a stump remains. It is located in the Rock Garden.

The  HMS Egeria Benchmark, located west of the Nine O’Clock Gun, notes a reference point used by the Royal Engineers in 1863 during their survey of Burrard Inlet and the Royal Navy survey ship, HMS Egeria, in 1898.

Hallelujah Point

Hallelujah Point, on the grass near the Nine O’Clock Gun, marks the site used by the Salvation Army.  The name derives from the Hallelujahs that could be heard across Coal Harbour during the Army’s meetings here.

The James Cunningham Plaque, inlaid cliffside on the seawall near Siwash Rock, is in remembrance of Jimmy Cunningham, the master stonemason who directed construction of the seawall for years. Stones were left out of the seawall near this spot, where Cunningham’s ashes were laid to rest.

The Stanley Park Centennial, located off the seawall on a knoll between Beaver Lake Trail and Lions Gate Bridge, has a plaque placed in 1988 to commemorate the official opening of the park, and marking the spot where Chaythoos once was.

A long-standing tradition in the park has been to plant oak trees to commemorate various persons and events. The first reported example was an oak tree planted at Brockton Oval by the Duke of York in 1901. Over the years other trees have been planted to recognize:

  • Brockton Point Association – planted by this association in 1902, this oak is still thriving in its location at the northeast corner of the Brockton Oval.
  • Canadian Forestry Corps– located by the Warren G. Harding Memorial, the corps is commemorated by a plaque and three oak trees from Windsor, England.
  • King Edward VII– this monarch is commemorated by an oak and plaque near Brockton Pavilion.
  • Queen Elizabeth II– Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is commemorated by a plaque and oak tree, planted in a small grassed area near the golf course.
  • John DrainieMemorial – The Canadian Shakespearean actor and broadcaster John Drainie is commemorated by a plaque and dogwood tree in the Shakespeare Garden.
  • Peter Z. Caverhill – also located by the Warren G. Harding Memorial, this memorial consists of a plaque and commemorative fir tree.
  • William ShakespeareGardens – located near the Rose Garden Cottage, this garden consists of a relief statue and trees and plants mentioned in the Bard’s plays. Created in the 1930s.

Inside the park are also more than 27 kms. (17 mi.) of forest trails patrolled, on horseback, by members of the Vancouver Police Department whose Mounted Unit’s youth outreach includes offering guided tours of the stables and the ‘Collector’s Trading Card Program,’ which encourages children of all ages to approach a constable on horseback and request a card.

Most of the forest trails bear the names of individuals who were instrumental in the city’s or Stanley Park’s early history:

  • Avison Trail – named after Henry Avison, Stanley Park Superintendent, 1888-1895
  • Eldon Trail – named after G. Eldon, Park Board Superintendent, 1896-1909
  • Lees Trail – named after A.E. Lees, Park Commissioner, 1902-1917
  • Merilees Trail – named after Harold Merilees, General Manager of Tourism Vancouver in the 1960s
  • Rawlings Trail – the longest trail, named after W.S. Rawlings, the Park Board’s longest serving Superintendent
  • Tatlow Trail – named after R.G. Tatlow, Park Commissioner, 1888-1905
  • Thompson Trail – named after C.W. Thompson, Park Commissioner, 1937-1938; 1940-1942
  • Tisdall Trail – named after C.E. Tisdall, Park Commissioner, 1904-1909; 1926-1934

A park trail

The near-century-old  Vancouver Seawall,  which can draw thousands of people to the park in the summer, is popular for walking, running, cycling, inline skating and even fishing (with a license).  It has two paths, one for skaters and cyclists (goes one-way in a counterclockwise loop) and the other for pedestrians. Walking the entire loop around Stanley Park takes about two hours while biking takes about one hour.

Vancouver Seawall

Based on the view that it is already saturated, the park board has banned the erection of any further memorials to ensure that Stanley Park is kept in a more natural state.

The Vancouver Centenary Cairn

Stanley Park: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Coordinates: 49.30°N 123.14°W. Open daily.

The Bus Loop located just up Pipeline Road from the traffic circle, next to the Miniature Train and Air Force Garden of Remembrance

How to Get There:There is a bus loop in Stanley Park and only one public bus (No. 19 Stanley Park) goes to the loop year round.

Vancouver Chinatown (British Columbia, Canada)

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Vancouver Chinatown, Canada’s largest

On our 35th day in Vancouver, Jandy and I returned (the first was in August 10 when we visited the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden and Park) to Vancouver Chinatown, Canada‘s largest Chinatown, which is home to important cultural heritage assets and many community organizations with deep historical roots in Vancouver and Canada.

Check out “Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden and Park”

Across 130 years of change, the district, one of the most significant urban heritage sites in Canada, has experienced recent decline as newer members of Vancouver’s Chinese community dispersed to other parts of the metropolitan area.  However, it still maintains a strong community and cultural identity.

Jandy, Kyle and Grace at Vancouver Chinatown

Centered around Pender Street, this popular tourist attraction is one of the largest historic Chinatowns in North America.  Its approximate borders, as designated by the City of Vancouver, are the alley between Pender and Hastings Streets, Georgia Street, Gore Avenue and Taylor Street.  Unofficially, the area extends well into the rest of the Downtown Eastside.

East Pender Street

The principal areas of commercial activity are Main, Pender and Keefer Streets. Chinatown is surrounded by Gastown to the north, the Downtown financial and central business districts to the west, the Georgia Viaduct and the False Creek inlet to the south, the Downtown Eastside and the remnant of old Japantown to the northeast, and the residential neighborhood of Strathcona to the southeast.

Due to the large ethnic Chinese presence in Vancouver (especially represented by mostly Cantonese-speaking multi-generation Chinese Canadians and first-generation immigrants from Hong Kong), the city has been referred to as “Hongcouver.”  In recent years, however, most immigration has been Mandarin-speaking residents from Mainland China.

In 2011, the neighborhood was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.  Many of the substantial buildings here were built in a distinct “Chinatown architectural style,” with vertical proportions, four storeys (with one or more of the upper floors featuring recessed balconies and others fully glazed) and with a classical metal cornice.

Vancouver Chinatown Millennium Gate

Our tour of Chinatown began when we entered the Chinatown Millennium Gate which straddles Pender Street, near the intersection with Taylor Street.  It marks the western boundary of Chinatown.  Designed by local architect Joe Y. Wai (1940–2017), whose work and contribution can be seen throughout Chinatown.

One of two guardian lions at the gate

The gate was approved on September 20, 2001 and erected in 2002 at the same site as a temporary wooden arch built to celebrate the 1901 royal tour by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York. The Millennium Gate recalls gates you may find at the entrances to villages in southern China. On the eastern face are Chinese characters which read “Remember the past and look forward to the future.”

Past the gate, at the right, is the Sam Kee Building (8 West Pender Street) credited, by the Guiness Book of World Records, as “The world’s shallowest (not the narrowest) freestanding building in the world.” The building’s namesake, the Sam Kee Company, was run by successful business leader Chang Toy, one of the wealthier merchants in turn-of-the-20th-century Chinatown.

Sam Kee Building

One of the largest Chinese merchant firms in Vancouver, the company, established in 1888, manufactured charcoal, operated a herring saltery in Nanaimo and contracted Chinese labor to various industries. It also imported and exported food products to and from China, served as agents for the Blue Funnel Steamship Line and possessed sizable real estate holdings throughout Greater Vancouver.

The narrow 1.8 m.(6 ft.) side of the building

In 1903, Chang Toy bought the standard-sized lot for the building. The lot was the previous home to Shanghai Alley, an early Vancouver red light district which collaboratively hosted 105 brothels with Canton Alley. However, in 1912 the city widened Pender Street, expropriating (which Toy’s lawyers negotiated a fair market price) all but 6 ft. of the Pender Street side of the lot. In 1913, he hired architects Bryan and Gillam to design this narrow steel-framed free-standing building for offices, business and bath houses on the remaining narrow 6-ft. strip, costing just $8,000 to erect.

View of the room at the narrow side of the building

To maximize use of the property, the building basement (such basements in Vancouver were once common and zoned as “areaways”), much wider than the rest of the building, extended under the sidewalk and housed public baths. On the ground floor were shops while offices were located above. In the 1980s, the building was rehabilitated for Jack Chow and completed in 1986. Designed by Soren Rasmussen Architect, the glass prisms that were set in a tight grid across the sidewalk to light the basement, were replaced with modern glass.

Chinatown Heritage Alley (Shanghai Alley)

At the end of Shanghai Alley (or Chinatown Heritage Alley), near West Pender Street, is the Allan Yap Circle.  Here, hangs a replica Western Han Dynasty bell, a gift to Vancouver from sister city Guangzhou and a symbol of the historic connection between the two cities and their urban settlements, which was dedicated on June 26, 2001.

Allan Yap Circle

Also on this corner is S.U.C.C.E.S.S., created in Vancouver in 1973 to assist new Canadians of Chinese descent to overcome language and cultural barriers. The organization is now one of BC’s largest social services organizations with locations also in Taiwan and Korea.

Across the Sam Kee Building is the Chinese Freemasons Building (3-9 West Pender Street).  Originally the site of a Methodist church (in 1888, the first to minister to the Chinese community in Vancouver) from 1889 until 1907 when the Chee Kung Tong (a traditional Chinese fraternal organization which provided welfare assistance to the earliest Chinese immigrants during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858) constructed the current building. In 1920, the organization adopted the English name the Chinese Freemasons in order to forge links with European Freemasonry.

Chinese Freemasons Building

Like many overseas organizations, it was deeply involved in Chinese politics. The building was even mortgaged to help fund Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s (whose efforts the Freemasons supported to bring democracy to China) 1911 rebellion. The building also served as the original home of the successful business, Modernize Tailors, one of many tailors (a profession available to Chinese Canadians in an era of employment restrictions in the area). After a fire in 1975, the building was repaired and, in the early 2000s, a careful restoration was completed by Joe Wai for the Wong family.

Facing the Freemason Building is the two-storey, brick Chinese Times Building (1 East Pender Street).  Commissioned by successful businessman and community leader Yip Sang, it was designed in 1901 by architect W.T. Whiteway. From the 1930s to 1990s, the building was home to The Chinese Times, an important source for local and Chinese political news, managed by the Chinese Freemasons.

Chinese Times Building

When the newspaper moved in, a mezzanine floor was added to accommodate the typesetters who used the 5,000 different Chinese characters to create each edition. Since the typesetters sat all day, the ceiling is only 6 ft. high.  Through the ground floor windows, the printing presses could be viewed and men gathered to read the paper pasted to the Carrall Street wall.

Around the corner, from Sam Kee Building, is the Lim Sai Hor (Kow Mok) Benevolent Association Building (525-531 Carrall Street).  The earliest surviving association building, it was constructed in 1903 for the Chinese Empire Reform Association (focusing to bring about political reform in China, its members included Chang Toy, Yip Sang and Alexander Won Cumyow, the first person of Chinese descent born in Canada), the most influential association in Chinatown at the time. At its height (it faded with the fall of the Qing Empire and the emergence of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen-led republic in 1911), the building housed a school and published a newspaper.

Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Benevolent Association Building

In 1926, the newly formed Lim Sai Hor (Kow Mok) Association rented the space and, in 1945, bought the building to serve as headquarters for its members (defined by the common surname Lim or Lam). In 2017, a rehabilitation project restored the exterior balcony details, lighting and other distinctive features that reflect the exchange between China and Canada, influencing the traditional village house style and blending it with modern western design trends. The use of green as an accent color in the interior and exterior is a nod to the members’ surname which means “forest.” The building also houses an ancestral altar, built in 1993 and used by society members.

The four-storey, brick Ming Wo Building, at 23 East Pender Street, was designed by W.H. Chow, the only identified Chinese-Canadian architect practicing at the time, and built in 1913 for Wong Soon King, a real estate developer and co-founder of the Chinese Board of Trade. 

In 1917, opened as Ming Wo Hardware store, making it the oldest retail outlet in Chinatown and one of the oldest in the city. The company was founded by Wong Chew Lip, who moved to Canada from Kwong Chow (Canton) in southern China about 1908.  The Wong Chew Lip family descendants lived above the store. The company supplied Chinatown’s businesses and evolved into a restaurant supply business that has numerous cookware stores in Metro Vancouver.

Ming Wo Building

The use of space within the building conforms to the representative pattern in Chinatown.  On the ground floor are the retail space while on the upper floors are offices, meeting rooms and small residential rooms designed to accommodate “married bachelors.” In the first third of the twentieth century, organizational tenants included the Kong Chow Benevolent Association and the Hong Kong Club.

Yue Shan Society Building

Further along East Pender Street is the three-storey, brick Yue Shan Society Building (33-39 East Pender Street).  Designed in 1920 by architect W.H. Chow (who also designed many others for the community from 1908 to 1922), it became home, in 1943, to the Yue Shan Society, an organization formed in 1894 for people from Poon Yue County near Guangzhou. The Society also owns the two-storey brick Hon Hsing Athletic Association Building to the right (dating to 1889) and the three-storey residential building at the rear of the property facing Market Alley.

Wong’s Benevolent Association/Hon Hsing Athletic Club Building

The Wong’s Benevolent Association/Hon Hsing Athletic Club Building, at 29 East Pender Street, was designed by architect R.J. MacDonald and built 1910 for the Wong’s Benevolent Association.  It is home to the Hon Hsing Athletic Club, a Chinese martial arts (a crucial element of intangible cultural heritage in Chinatown and a fundamental part of the performance of the lion dances that anchor the annual Chinese New Year Parade) school established in 1938.

Wing Sang Company Building

The two-storey, brick Wing Sang Building, at 51 East Pender Street, part of the Yip family complex, is the oldest (built in 1889) standing building in Chinatown.  It served as the office and ticket agency of Vancouver businessman Yip Sang (instrumental in a number of social endeavors, including bringing the CBA to Vancouver and establishing a Chinese hospital, and he was a lifetime governor of the Vancouver General Hospital).

Founded in 1888, the Wing Sang Company was engaged in a variety of enterprises including labor contracting and a trans-Pacific import and export business, and was the Canadian Pacific steamship ticket agency for travel to China. The door, on the second floor, opened to the upstairs warehouse (goods were hoisted in and out through that door). In 1901, the complex grew to accommodate a growing family and business with an expansion on top and besides the original building. The family residence was located at the upper floors while the ground floor was home to a variety of businesses, including a saloon and a cigar store. In 1912 a six-storey building, facing Market Alley, was added to the complex to accommodate the growing extended family. Today, this building houses offices and the Rennie Museum.

The Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver (CBA) Building, at 104 -108 East Pender Street, was built in 1909 by Vancouver’s branch of the CBA (formed in 1895). Its architectural style, a good example of the influences from southern China, features recessed balconies, ornate ironwork and decorative tiles. .

Wah Chong Family (1884)

Snapshots of History, a three-panel mural that decorates the side of a building at 490 Columbia Street (northwest corner of Pender & Columbia), was installed in 2010 by Shu Ren Cheng. One panel depicts the 1884 Goon family.

Silk Merchant (1905)

Men in Barbershop (1936)

The other two panels of the mural feature a reproduction of a 1905 photo of a silk merchant in Chinatown and a rendering of a 1936 photo of men sitting outside a barber shop at Carrall and Pender.

Chinese Cultural Centre Museum and Archives

The Chinese Cultural Centre Museum & Archives, at 555 Columbia Street, provides a home for Chinese heritage and culture. A competition-winning design by James K.M. Cheng Architects and Romses Kwan & Associates, the concrete building, built in 1986, incorporates the elements of traditional Chinese post and beam architecture. The Museum and Archives building, built in 1998 as the home to the Chinese Canadian Military Museum, was designed by Joe Wai in a style inspired by the Ming Dynasty, with its flared eaves, screened windows and tile roof.

The Chinese Railroad Workers and Chinese Veterans Memorial, at the Chinatown Memorial Plaza, at the northeast corner of Keefer Street and Columbia Street, recognizes those who built the Rocky Mountain and Fraser Canyon portions of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1881-1885) and those who fought in World War II (1939-1945). On Remembrance Day, a ceremony for Chinese Canadian veterans takes place at the site.

China Gate

The China Gate, next to the Chinese Cultural Centre, facing Pender Street, near the intersection with Carrall Street, was donated to the City of Vancouver by the Government of the People’s Republic of China and was originally on display during the Expo 86 world’s fair. After being displayed at its current location for almost 20 years, the gate was rebuilt and received a major renovation of its façade employing stone and steel. Funding for the renovation came from government and private sources.  On October 2005, during the visit of Guangdong governor Huang Huahua, the renovated gate was unveiled.

Wong’s Benevolent Association (Mon Keang School)

Back at East Pender Street is the Wong’s Benevolent Association (Mon Keang School) Building, at 121 East Pender Street.  Originally a two-storey building developed in 1908 by Loo Gee Wing, in 1921, it became the headquarters for Wong’s Benevolent Association, a newly amalgamated association that was formed out of three existing organizations, who had the top floor removed and replaced with two new storeys designed by architects G.L. Southwell and J.A. Radford.

In 1925, the Mon Keang School, teaching the Chinese language and customs to the tousang (children born in Canada to Chinese parents) was established on the second floor. In 1947, after the repeal of the Chinese Immigration Act and the reunification of many families, the school began offering the first high-school level Chinese classes in Canada. Today, Saturday morning Cantonese classes are again offered in the school room.

Mah Society of Canada Building

The Mah Society of Canada Building, at 137-139 East Pender Street, was constructed in 1913 with ground floor retail and three floors of rental rooms. In 1921, the Mah Society purchased this building for the purpose of mutual assistance for people with the family name Mah or Ma (to this day, people with this surname are invited to stay here if they don’t have a place to live or if they need introductions for where to find work), providing the society with a steady revenue stream.

An extra floor was added for an assembly hall as well as lounge and socializing space for residents. In 2017, the society undertook an extensive restoration and upgrade.  New windows were added to match the originals and the elaborate cornice, with its lanterns, and the restaurant’s storefront were reinstated. The Mah Society of North America’s building continues to provide much needed affordable housing in the neighborhood.

The Chin Wing Chun Tong Society of Canada Building, at 158-160 East Pender Street, was designed by R.A. McKenzie for the society (popularly known as the Chan Society) in 1925.  Its impressive assembly room follows the Arts and Crafts style. Today, a faithful recreation of the original 1950s neon sign for the Sai Woo Chop Suey restaurant (which operated here from 1925 to 1959) advertises the modern reincarnation of the restaurant.

May Wah Hotel

The May Wah Hotel, at 254-262 East Pender Street, with its impressive classical pilasters designed by W.F. Gardiner, was started in 1913 and opened in 1915 as the Loyal Hotel. After four name changes, it was renamed the May Wah in 1980. More than 100 low-income seniors, mostly women, as well as a few businesses call the single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel home. Today, the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation operates the building as affordable and seniors housing for the neighborhood.

Kuomintang Building

Seemingly orphaned on the corner but the other side of Gore Avenue (529 Gore Avenue) is the Kuomintang Building, once the site of society buildings and wholesale grocers and built in 1920 by W.E. Sproat for the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist League of Canada). The design once featured an open balcony on the Gore Avenue façade, and a corner pagoda on the roof. During a restoration in the 1980s, the balconies were closed. The fictional American Steam Cleaners was located in the Kuomintang Building.

The Royal Bank of Canada Building, at 400 Main Street (Westminster Avenue until 1910) cor. Hastings Street, was built around 1907 as the East End Branch of the Royal Bank of Canada. In 1947, the building was extended east along Hastings Street to the lane to designs by the Royal Bank’s Montreal-based former chief architect, S.G. Davenport. In 1975, an addition was built to the south along Main Street (on the site of the former Merchants Bank).

Royal Bank Building

An early use of reinforced concrete for the structural frame, it was faced with cut ashlar stone on both principal elevations. A good example of Beaux-Arts Classicism, its façade features Classical Ionic columns along Main Street, pilasters along Hastings Street, a continuous entablature above the columns (including a frieze and cornice), arched ground-floor windows and rectangular second-floor windows.

Carnegie Public Library

Across is the Romanesque Revival-style Carnegie Public Library (410 Main Street cor. Hastings Street). One of the many Carnegie Free Libraries built with money donated by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, it was Vancouver’s main library from its official opening in 1903 until 1957, when a new library was built on Burrard St. The building also operated as the Vancouver Museum. The building has a curved staircase within the portico and stained-glass windows with panels commemorating William Shakespeare, John Milton, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Sir Thomas Moore

Bank of Montreal Building

The Bank of Montreal Building, at 601 Main Street cor. Broadway Street, was built in 1929 and was designed by architects J. J. Honeyman and George Curtis – partners who had ties to the bank and who were responsible for designing many of its branches in Vancouver during the 1920s and 30s. Built with stone and yellow or brownish bricks from the Clayburn Brick Plant in Abbotsford, British Columbia, its small size and single-storey stature would be emblematic of the bank’s attempt to create an image.

Chinatown: Vancouver, British Columbia.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden and Park (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

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Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

On our 30th day in Canada, Grace, Jandy, Kyle and I visited the tranquil Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden,  the first full scale classical Chinese Garden (which strives to achieve harmony and a balance of opposites by employing the philosophical principles of Feng shui and Taoism) in all of Canada.

From Holdom Station, we took the Millennium Line SkyTrain to Commercial-Broadway Station then took the Expo Line train to the Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain Station.  From here, it was just a short 600-m. walk, via Keefer Place, to the Garden.  We entered the Garden through a whitewashed wall behind the Chinese Cultural Center and passed through a doorway marked Yi Yuan (“Garden of Ease or Lingering Garden.”

Both the garden and the park were named in honor of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (1866-1925), a Western-educated nationalist leader (considered the “father of modern China”) who, while traveling the world to raise awareness of, and funding for, the Chinese nationalist movement (as well as to hide from the Empress), stayed, for extended periods, in Vancouver on three occasions (1897, 1910 and 1911).

There are accounts of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen staying at the Hotel Pennsylvania (412 Carrall St.) and also the Chinese Freemasons Building (5 West Pender St.) in Chinatown.

Bust of Dr. Sun Yat Sen

The significant presence of Chinese nationalists in British Columbia (in the early 1900’s, Chinese in Vancouver donated more money per capita than any other North American city) helped finance the Xinhai Revolution that overthrew the Ch’ing/Qing Dynasty in 1911. Subsequently, Sun Yat Sen became the first president of the Republic of China.

The site of both, where Vancouver’s Chinatown first began, at the edge of False Creek, was once home to Chinese association buildings including a sawmill, brothels, opera house, opium factory and, until 1920, the Great Northern Railway train station. In the late 1960’s, plans were underway for a freeway to go through Chinatown but these plans were thwarted and part of the reclaimed land was then designated for a Chinese Cultural Centre and an adjoining park and Chinese garden.

China Maple Hall

Anticipating the costs to continually maintain a Classical Chinese Garden, the area was divided into two spaces.  In 1976, the planning and fundraising for the park and garden began with the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Garden located just west of the public Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park.  The park and garden covers just over 2.5 acres, with the Classical Garden covering approximately 1/2 an acre.

China Maple Hall – Interior

The outer park was designed by Vancouver architect Joe Wai and  landscape architect Donald “Don” Vaughan, working with the Suzhou team to ensure authenticity but still accommodate Vancouver’s building code and current technological requirements.  The inner garden, conceived by Wang Zu-Xin as the chief architect, was built with the help of experts from the Landscape Architecture Company of Suzhou, China.

The larger free Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park (a public park built in a Chinese style, with mostly North American materials) administered by Vancouver Parks Board, was completed in 1983.

The smaller Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, requiring admission fees, was completed in 1986, expanded in 2004 and is managed by the non-profit, Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden Society. These two separate entities are linked by the artificial pond.

The mandate of this freely accessible public park and garden is to “maintain and enhance the bridge of understanding between Chinese and western cultures, promote Chinese culture generally and be an integral part of the local community.”  Embodying the Taoist philosophy of yin and yang (where every element-light, texture, vegetation is balanced and symbolic), this home garden offers serenity, history and great chi.

Of the three types of Classical Chinese Gardens (the Imperial Garden, the Monastery Garden and the Scholar Garden), the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is a “scholars” (who often became the Ming Dynasty emperor’s senior administrators) garden, the first built outside of China.

Tai Hui rocks amidst foliage

The characteristically small scholars’ gardens, adjoining the scholar’s residence, were surrounded by high walls (to prevent distraction from the outside world and to provide a peaceful space for scholarly reflection on philosophy and truth) and have no single vantage point where one can obtain a total view of the garden.

Water lilies

This small intimate garden-home, a registered museum and one of Vancouver’s top tourist attractions, is ideal for people who don’t want to do a lot of walking and is a recommended place to visit year-round (especially if you take the guided tour).  It features beautiful pavilions, covered walkways, a jade green pond with koi fish, and a collection of 150-year-old miniature trees.

The guided tour

Purposely designed as a series of unfolding scenic vistas (like displaying multiple landscape paintings), the garden has winding walkways and corridors that ensure the entire path cannot be seen. The zigzag paths have a dual purpose.  First, they slow one’s steps so that the garden can be fully appreciated and, second, they ward away evil spirits.

Weeping willows

The project, a joint collaborative effort funded by the Chinese and Canadian governments, the local Chinese community and other public and private sector sources, was built, at a cost $5.3 million, in 13 months (March 1985-April 1986) by a team of 52 Suzhou artisans (e.g. masons, carpenters, painters, carvers, tilers) arranged by the Suzhou Garden Administration from China.

It  was constructed using 14th century methods (no glue, screws or power tools were used). The materials, tools and techniques used to construct the garden were almost identical to those used in the Ming Dynasty.

Jade Water Pavilion

Modeled after private gardens in the city of Suzhou (because the winter climate in Vancouver is similar), Chiangsu province in China, 70% of the same plant varieties are found in the garden as in its Suzhou counterparts. The garden opened on April 24, 1986, in time for Expo 86. The Garden’s China Maple Hall was built to signify the friendship cooperation between Canadians and Chinese.

Moon Gate at Jade Water Pavilion

Much of the architectural components (carved woodwork; the limestone rocks; the courtyard pebbles; and the roof tiles fired in China’s Imperial Kilns) came from China. They were prepared in Suzhou packed into 965 wood crates and brought to Vancouver in 70 steel containers.

Wooden beams and columns at China Maple Hall

The wood all came from China – the Chinese fir for the structural components; camphor for the curved rafters (whose scent also helps repel insects); gingko wood for the screens and nan wood (a species used in China for over 2000 years) for the columns of the China Maple Hall and Scholar’s Study. The floor tiles are made of pebbles form riverbeds in China and broken Chinese porcelain.

Floor Tiles

In order to emphasize seasonal changes (especially the “awakening” in spring), the plants were chosen for their symbolism, their season, their blossom schedules, the mood they create and the space they define. In contrast to western gardens, plants do not have a dominant role and are used sparingly and are meant to complement the garden.

They are also selected to invoke the symbolic, historical, and literary meaning of each plant and to provide color through all the seasons. Winter-flowering plum depicts renewal and rebirth; the bamboo symbolizes resiliency and flexibility; the ginkgo represents China; the maple represents Canada; and the pine symbolizes steadfastness and longevity.

Chinese Banyan tree (Ficus Retusa)

The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden also has a collection of penjing (an art form dating back to the 8th Century AD and a precursor to Japanese bonsai and suiseki) plants (landscapes in small trays/bowls) that were donated by a Hong Kong benefactor in 1992.  To ensure that there is a sense of relationship and balance among all the garden’s elements, all the plants are regularly and carefully pruned.

Orange Jasmine (Hurraya painculata)

The architecture of the beautiful pavilions, courtyards, covered walkways, terraces, corridors, bridges and viewing platforms is based on and evokes the Classical design of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Symbolic motifs of plants and animals are incorporated into the floors, tiles, windows and door pulls. The 45 intriguing leak windows each have a different lattice pattern from the other.

Leak Windows

Those along the corridors maintain privacy and allow light and air to come into the garden. The symbolic, circular Moon Gate represents heaven and perfection. It is important that the architecture, such as the Ting (Yun Wei Ting or “Cloudy and Colorful Pavilion”) and rocks and pebbles, are seen and not hidden by overgrown trees or bushes.

Leak Window

The key elements of a Chinese Classical Garden, used to reflect Confucian ideals as well as the Tao (Dao) principles of yin (having more ephemeral, feminine qualities) and yang (being more solid, permanent and masculine), are architecture, rocks, water, plants and calligraphy.

Craggy, weathered, water-worn and unique limestone rocks, symbolizing nature’s rugged landscape and force (yang), are found only at the bottom of Suzhou’s famous Lake Tai (Tai Hui) and imported to the site.  Strategically placed and juxtaposed against delicate foliage, they are intended to represent “false mountains” (with multiple crevices for the good spirits to live in), concealing and revealing park elements.  The Yun Wei Ting gazebo perches atop one such mountain.

Water, representing the ‘yin’ of nature and the flow of life, offers stillness, sound, a reflection of the sky, and helps to unify the other elements. A Classical Chinese Garden is centered on a pond.  Large ponds are made purposely opaque, with a clay liner so that it can reflect the surrounding and create a sense of tranquility.  The jade color symbolizes purity.

Both water and rocks are important integral elements.  Trees, plants and the fish and turtles that live in the garden, all have symbolic connotations and purpose.  Throughout the garden, bats (representing good fortune, they are in the design of the door handles and roof’s drip tiles), dragons and phoenixes are represented in objects.

Items are carefully placed to ensure a flow of positive energy (ch’i/qi) and to create harmony. The garden exemplifies the balance between opposites, with white walls topped with dark roof tiles; floor tiles, with smooth stones, contrasting with rough porcelain; and flexible bamboo located next to rigid rocks.  The north side of the garden, exhibiting yin qualities, with rounded designs in the leak windows and floor tiles, contrasts with the south side of the garden which has yang qualities, with more straight-edged patterns.

Calligraphy is an integral part of a Chinese Garden and some of the top Chinese scholars in Canada contributed their works for the signs, couplets and poetry which add insight and mood.  To add diversity, the Sun Yat-Sen Classical Garden uses four different styles of script. What the words say and how they are written were carefully selected.

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Park plaque

One of the scrolls in the Main Hall states “An exquisite garden built in Vancouver to commemorate the accomplishments of the past ages” Even the sign at the main entrance way to the public park is significant as it is a carved version of calligraphy by Madam Sun Yat-Sen.  For its pavilions, the Garden uses poetic names such as “Cloudy and Colorful Pavilion,” “Study of the Four Seasons” and “Hall of One Hundred Rivers.”

Wooden bridge over lily pond at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Park

Over the years, the Garden, truly a place of urban Zen, has received several honors and designations.  It was named one of Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s “Places That Matter,” and the “World’s Top City Garden” by National Geographic in 2011 and was voted “Canadian Garden of the Year” by the Canadian Garden Tourism Council in 2012.

Moon Gate at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Park

The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden was used as the backdrop for many episodes of Season 4 of Falling Skies and also appears in Season 5 Episode 1 of Psych, titled “Romeo and Juliet and Juliet.”  It was also the site of a calligraphy task during the second episode of The Amazing Race Canada 1.

Jandy, Kyle and Grace at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Park

The wheelchair accessible and family friendly (entry includes a scavenger hunt for children) Garden, a unique venue for cultural programming and events, including concerts, festivals, exhibitions, author readings, receptions, and educational programs, offers free guided tours (which provide perspectives on Chinese culture, life during the Ming Dynasty, architecture and plants) and complimentary sips of traditional Chinese tea as well as one of a kind finds at the Eight Treasures Shop.

Pathway at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Park

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden: 578 Carrall cor. Keefer St., Chinatown, Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 5K2.  Tel: 604-662-3207.  Open Wednesdays – Sundays, 10 AM to 4 PM (last entry time at 3 PM).  Admission: $16 (adults), $12 (students age 6-17 or over 17 with valid student I.D.), $13 (seniors) and $32 (family, 2 adults and up to 3 children under the age of 17).

How to Get There: Chinatown-Stadium Sky Train. From downtown, you can walk directly down Pender Street going East and you will find the Garden.

Granville Island (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

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Granville Island

The 14 hectare (35-acre) Granville Island, a peninsula (originally used by the Musqueam First Nations as a fishing area)and shopping district in the Fairview neighborhood, across False Creek from Downtown Vancouver, is under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge.

Granville Island Ferry Dock

Granville Island Marina

In the 20th century, the peninsula was an industrial manufacturing area named after Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville. Technically a sandspit and not an island, the neighborhood sits just south of the downtown peninsula, right under the Granville Bridge.

Artsclub Theater Company

Waterfront Theatre

The Improv Centre

It includes a public market, an marina, a hotel, the False Creek Community Centre, as well as various performing arts theatres including the Arts Club Theatre Company, Carousel Theatre, Arts Umbrella, Axis Theatre Company, Boca Del Lupo, Carousel Theatre for Young People, Ruby Slippers Production Company, and the Vancouver Theatre Sports League.

Cheska and Grace strolling along Duranleau Street

Jandy, Grace and Cheska at Tap & Barrel – Bridges Restaurant

Granville Island was used as the finale of the film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011). The Vancouver International Children’s Festival, the Vancouver Fringe Festival and the Vancouver Writers Fest are all held here.

Festival House

Gallery

One of the best ways to get to Granville Island is one of the adorable mini-tugboat ferries that crisscross False Creek. False Creek Ferries and Aquabus, favorites among young and old, provide ferry service from Granville Island to Downtown Vancouver, Yaletown, False Creek, the West End, and Vanier Park.

Boat Rentals

Waterbike Rental

Other water transportation options include a water taxi service to Bowen Island provided by English Bay Launch. WESTCOAST Sightseeing and Vancouver Trolley Hop-On, Hop-Off services both have stops located at Granville Island.

Artisan District

Artisan District

Between 1998 and 2011, the Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway operated between Granville Island and Science World. The streetcar is now permanently shut down.

The old streetcar tracks. The railway between Granville Island and Olympic Village Station was discontinued in 2012 after the City of Vancouver decided to end its $100,000 annual subsidy for the volunteer-related service. For 15 years, it ran on weekends and holidays, from May to October, carrying 133,000 passengers over its lifespan.

Once you’re there, the biggest attraction on Granville Island is the year-round Granville Island Public Market.  For the food-focused, a walking tour of the market can be a great way to get an insider’s insight.

Granville Island Public Market

Established in 1979 as a location where farmers and other food vendors could sell to consumers, it operates in an enclosed facility where customers can purchase, in endless rows of stalls, fresh produce, meat, smoked salmon, exclusive teas, gourmet foods, baked goods, seafood, cheeses and other products, many locally sourced.

Granville Island Public Market

Attracting both local residents and tourists, the market generally has 50 vendors including retail food vendors that sell a range of items from Mexican, Asian, Greek and deli food to candy and snacks. The market includes a “kids market” designed for children.

Tap & Barrel – Bridges Restaurant

My Island Cafe

Often described as a “food lover’s paradise,” an impromptu picnic is easily picked up between vendors offering cheese, charcuterie, bread and fresh produce. The popular food court, at the end of the market building, is where you’ll find something casual but already put together. If you prefer restaurants, there are some great restaurants offering seafood down there and there’s nothing like dining by the waterfront.

Dalbergia Wood and Fine Objects

Amy Stewart Art and Shira Gold Photography

The area is home to an artisan sake maker (the first in Canada), a spirits distillery, and two breweries.  Granville Island Brewing Co. is the name of a beer company which originated on Granville Island in 1984, but whose main base of operations was moved to Kelowna, British Columbia, some time later.

Granville Island Brewing

JN Glass

In 2009 it was purchased by Molson’s Brewery and continues to brew small batches of its varieties at the Granville Island brewing original site, and offers beer tasting and tours of their brewing facilities.

Pressure Group 6 (1982) by Barry Cogswell. A Corrosion-resistant weathering steel sculpture along path S.E. of Community Center

Ocean Concrete is the longest-established tenant on the island, having set up shop there in 1917. In 2014, OSGEMEOS (Portuguese for THE TWINS), consisting of brother duo Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo, revamped the concrete silos with their ongoing mural project, ‘Giants’.

Materna Ceramics Studio

The Liberty Distillery

Canada’s only hammock shop, the Hamuhk Hangout Place, has been operating on Granville Island since 1995.In the early 1900s, Granville Island was home to factories, plants and sawmills. Things are a little different today—Granville Island is both a locals’ favorite and a huge draw for visitors. The Granville Island Public Market acts as a hub of activity, but it’s also one of the city’s most important cultural districts with theatres, artisan workshops and craft studios.

Railspur Park Playground

Granville Island, with a mix of unique crafts, skilled artisans, outdoor outfitters and deluxe gourmet stores, is one of the best places in the city to purchase souvenirs for back home. At the Net Loft Building, check out the stores for First Nations artworks, B.C. wines, and other unique gifts.

S&R Apron Co.

Performance Works

Along Railspur Alley and the far end of the island, you can peek into artisan studios where glassblowers, potters, jewellers and even a broom maker ply their crafts.  Outside of the market, catch a show at one of the many theatres on the island, browse an art gallery show, or appeal to your outdoorsy side with a kayaking or paddleboarding tour.

Kids Market

Craft Council of British Columbia

Granville Island: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.Website: www.granvilleisland.com. Coordinates: 49°16′15″N 123°08′03″W.

Lynn Canyon Park (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

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Lynn Canyon Park

On our 27th day in Canada, our whole family (Grace, Jandy, Cheska, Bryan, Kyle and I, with dog Luffy) decided to visit the 250-hectare (617-acre) Lynn Canyon Park, one of the gems of the  District of North Vancouver’s Parks system and a great place to learn about North Vancouver’s eco-system.

 

This public park, operated by the  District of North Vancouver, is located on the unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations people who called the Lynn Creek area Kwa-hul-cha, referring to a settlement in the area.

Bryan and Cheska on their way to the Lynn Canyon Cafe and Ranger Station

When settlers moved to North Vancouver, they began to log the old growth forests as part of Vancouver’s growing logging industry. The Lynn Valley area, along with Lynn Creek and Lynn Canyon were renamed after sapper John Linn (1846-1876), a British pioneer and member of the Royal Engineers who, in 1869, moved his family onto 65 hectares of land on the mouth of the Lynn Creek near Burrard Inlet.

Lynn Canyon Cafe and Ranger Station

While the creek has been dubbed Fred’s Creek after fellow pioneer Fred Howson, the name Lynn, a corruption of the original spelling, soon became the common designation.  Lynn Valley Park and Canyons, as it was known in the 1950s, soon gave way to the current Lynn Canyon Park.

Waterfall seen on the way to the suspension bridge

In 1912, after the bulk of the Lynn Canyon’s old growth forests were logged by the Lynn Valley Lumber Company under Julius M. Fromme, the McTavish Brothers donated a 5 hectare piece of land around the newly constructed Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge in the hopes that a park would attract people to the real estate development.

Bryan (with Luffy) and Cheska crossing the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge

The  District of North Vancouver added another 4 hectares to create the original Lynn Canyon Park. On September 14, 2012, the park was formally opened.  In 1991, the District of North Vancouver added another 241 hectares to the park, making it one of the largest and most popular parks in Metro Vancouver.

View of Lynn Creek from the suspension bridge

This forested park features stunning creek and waterfall views and hiking trails through the temperate rainforest, a relatively rare ecosystem that extends along the coast of Alaska and British Columbia down to northern California. In the rainy months of the year, mist rises from the canyon and the creek rises dramatically.

Grace and the author at Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge

Rangers are on site in July and August to offer walking tours and information about the area’s flora and fauna. For advanced hikers, there are trails that lead directly to Grouse or Seymour Demonstration Forest, in addition to nice cycling trails.  Due to its natural landscape many TV series such as Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis used the area for filming.

Cheska and Grace hiking the dirt trail

From Holdom Station, we took the SkyTrain to Gilmore Station, then took Bus 28 to Phibbs Exchange and, finally, the 20-min., 4-km. Bus 227, from Bay 12 Station, to the Westbound Peters Road@Duval Station.  From there, it was just a short walk to the entrance of Lynn Canyon Park.

Moss-covered trees

Past the entrance, we passed by the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre (has over 80 informative nature videos, on a large screen, about the plants and animals of the temperate rainforest and environmental issues, plus a nature-themed gift shop) on the left and Lynn Canyon Cafe (they serve fresh siphon coffee, lattes and more, crepes for breakfast and burgers, hot dogs, pasta, fish and chips for lunch) on the right.

A large boulder amidst tall stands of trees

A very popular area for hiking, we tried the 2.6-km. Lynn Canyon loop trail (one of 7 easy hiking trails), open year-round, which is generally considered a relatively easy route to hike (though not wheelchair or stroller friendly), taking an average of 50 mins. to complete.

In this free, self-guided adventure, there are three major attractions along this loop – the  Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge, Twin Falls and the 30-Foot pool. Dogs are welcome here, but must be on a leash so we did just that for Luffy.

While exploring the trail that was surrounded by second growth western red cedar, Douglas-fir, and Western hemlock trees draped with moss, we encountered a lot of people. Although there are quite a number of wooden stairs (a bit challenging for beginners), it was still a great family friendly trail, with lots of options for different level hikers. There were multiple photo-worthy stops along the route, especially as it was summer.

The first major attraction we encountered was the  Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge.  On the way to the bridge, we espied a small, thin waterfall.  The bridge was used in Disney’s Descendants (as part of Auradon) that leads to Lynn Canyon’s 30 Foot Pool (used as the Enchanted Lake).  The bridge was also featured in the MacGyver episode “The Invisible Killer.”

Though not as long as the one at the widely-advertised Capilano Suspension Bridge, this 40-m. (130-ft.) long, wooden plank suspension bridge, built in 1912, is a good one and a different experience than its complement, offering a rustic and jiggling adventure, and the views from it are equally spectacular.

The author

If you want to see a suspension bridge but don’t want to pay for the one at Capilano Suspension Bridge, then this is the place to go as it’s less commercial and some people actually prefer it. About 50 m. (167 ft., the height of a 15-storey building) above the beautiful clear pools and rivers of Lynn Creek, it was just wide enough for two people to pass each other. Originally, visitors paid 10 cents (later reduced to 5 cents) to cross the bridge. Today, it’s free to cross the bridge.

The 30 Foot Pool

On the north side of the suspension bridge, the trail to the left lead us northwest through the park and a short walk took us to the popular 30-Foot pool, one of the most popular locations among tourists and locals and a safe place to swim compared to some of the river’s other sections. It was a very large area, with great spots for a picnic, and featured a beautiful swimming hole.

Visitors getting ready to dive, off rocks, into the 30 Foot Pool

As it was summer, a number of visitors were taking a quick refreshing swim to cool off. Others were also jumping off rocks and into the water (it looked extremely dangerous).  However, even in the summer months, the water is almost always extremely cold. If you are looking for a quiet place to sit by the river, this is the spot.

L-R: the author, Jandy, Grace, Cheska, Kyle and Bryan (with Luffy)

Beginning at the 30-Foot pool, we ascended one big flight of stairs and ended up at the start of the trail heading to the Northern region of the park, the Seymour Demonstration Forest and Rice Lake entrance (another beautiful location for walking around and fishing) which is about a further 20-min. walk away.

Stair leading up to the northern part of the park

As we did not wish to venture into these areas, we took the wooden boardwalks and trails that loops back towards the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge.

East of the suspension bridge is Twin Falls  which can be accessed from either side of the suspension bridge.  If we did not cross the bridge from the main entrance, we could have proceeded east, past the Lynn Canyon Café, and followed the trail down towards the river.

Twin Falls Bridge

Twin Falls is less accessible than the 30-Foot pool and not as popular among visitors but we still wanted to get to Twin Falls so, right after the bridge, we headed south (south is right and north is left) followed a series of boardwalks, steps and staircases to Twin Falls. There was a sign that pointed us in the right direction.

View of Lynn Creek from Twin Falls Bridge

In less than 20 mins., we descended down to Twin Falls Bridge where we had a beautiful view of  Twin Falls, below the bridge, which is not large or high but rather just a section of rapids that drop a bit just under the bridge.   The hike back up the canyon took us up two large flights of wooden stairs back up the canyon on the other side (just a short walk back to where we started).

Twin Falls below the bridge

A diverse hiking experience along wooden stairs and boardwalks, the river and dirt trails, Lynn Canyon truly is a nice place for everyone.  Here, you can take your time hiking and enjoy the fresh air.  Even late in the day, the sun stayed with us most of the time.

From Twin Falls Bridge, ascending another flight of stairs

Lynn Canyon Ecology Center: 3663 Park Road, North Vancouver, British Columbia V7J 3G3, Canada.  Tel: 604-990-3755.  Email: ecocentre@dnv.org.  Website: www.ecologycentre.ca and www.lyncanyon.ca.  Open Mondays to Fridays, 10 AM to 4 PM, and weekends, 12 noon to 4 PM. Coordinates: 49°20′02″N 123°01′03″W. Walk in visits are accepted if space is available (maximum 15 people inside at a time). Proof of Vaccination required for ages 12 and up. Masks required for ages 5 and up. Admission is free but donations are accepted (suggested $2 per person).

How to Get There: the nearest bus stations are Eastbound Peters Rd @ Duval Rd. (a 492 m./7-min. walk), Northbound Lynn Valley Rd. @ Burrill Ave. (a 715 m./10-min. walk) and Northbound Underwood Ave. @ Evelyn St. (a 1.219 km./16-min. walk). Buses leave Lonsdale Quay about once every 15 mins. on weekdays (or 30 minutes on weekends and holidays). The ride on Bus #228, from Lonsdale Quay, takes just over 30 mins.

Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre (British Columbia, Canada)

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Port of Vancouver Discovery Center

The exciting, high tech Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre, serving multiple arms of the Port Authority, offers a space that converts from visitor Discovery Centre to education centre, to town hall meeting space, to event venue, and at times, all in the same 24 hours.

Entrance

Located on the waterfront at Canada Place, below Fly Over Canada, at the north end of the pier, it is one of the facility most used spaces and a great place to learn about Canada’s largest and busiest port in a fun and interactive wayas well as engage in the stories and ideas that have shaped the port city.

Through the integration of interactive panels, projection mapping surfaces, digital informational kiosks, and broadcast-quality equipment, Eos Lightmedia helped transform the Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre into a highly flexible space, working with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority as well as designers Waddell & Conder, content producers Burnkit, Resolve Design for the history wall, and fabricators Three Dimensional Services to design, supply and integrate the layers of lighting, audiovisual, software and controls technology.

It features interactive touch screens; animated graphics and informative videos; historical artifacts and ship models; west-facing views of Vancouver harbor and access to the Canada Place promenade.

The stunning historical display case spanning the length of the facility

The Discovery Centre is also the venue for a school program designed especially for local elementary students in grades four to six, who use interactive, projection driven benches with embedded touch sensors that provide hands on education about the busy goings on of Canada’s largest port. Eos Lightmedia’s custom control software allows facilitators of the space to change the vocabulary and content to make it suitable for both younger and more mature student groups.

With hundreds of square feet of projection mapped surfaces for interaction and digital informational kiosks, here you can experience the sights and sounds of a busy harbor while learning about Canada’s largest and most diversified port.

St. Roch

You can also learn about early port development; trade, innovation and shipbuilding; harbor operations today; working on the waterfront; environmental programs; and facts and statistics.  In contrast to the cutting edge technology, there’s also stunning historical display case, spanning the length of the facility, that is replete with artifacts from the ports long history in the city.

A Regal Heritage

The entire atmosphere of the room can also change, from its public setting, to a sleek professional meeting room setting with just a click of a button on the facility’s sophisticated control system.

SS Beaver

The interactive touch panels break apart into bench seating for over 100 and, for the Port Authority’s many meetings, announcements, and group functions, the large digital map wall becomes the presentation screen for keynote speakers.

Pacific Gateway

Broadcast quality lighting and audio equipment also allows for events to be live-streamed, in high definition, with professional results without the need for off-site equipment rentals.

Shipbuilding for the Wars

Within the center, every function has its own custom lighting look controlled by DMX over the dedicated exhibit network within the space. The central control system links the benches, their projectors, and the audio systems, automatically turning on and off with a preset, adjustable schedule. The facilities operations team can also instantly recall the various ‘scenes’ within the center.

The Container Revolution

Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre: 100 The Pointe, 999 Canada Place, Vancouver, British Columbia. Admission is free. Open daily, 8 AM to 8 PM. Download the Port of Vancouver community map to follow along during the virtual harbout tour.

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada)

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Fairmont Vancouver Hotel

After our exploration of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Jandy and I visited the historic Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.  Formerly and still informally called the Hotel Vancouver, it is situated within the city’s Financial District in Downtown Vancouver, bounded by Burrard Street to the northwest, West Georgia Street to the northeast, and Hornby Street to the southeast. To the southwest, the hotel property is bounded by two buildings, including 750 Burrard Street.

Check out “Vancouver Art Gallery” and “Former Vancouver Law Courts Building”

Jandy and the author with the hotel in the background

This  17-storey building, opened in May 1939 and currently managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, is considered one of Canada’s grand railway hotels (it was initially built by Canadian National Railway). Standing 112.47-m. (369.0 ft) high, the hotel was also the tallest building in Vancouver until the completion of TD Tower in 1972.

The view of the hotel from the Vancouver Art Gallery

Located close to several attractions in Downtown Vancouver, the hotel is situated directly northwest of the aforementioned Vancouver Art Gallery and Robson Square (a public square adjacent the art museum). Christ Church Cathedral, the oldest church in the city, also lies north of the hotel  and two SkyTrain rapid transit stations (Burrard station, and Vancouver City Centre station) are also situated near the hotel.

Heritage Building Plaque

The third hotel in the city to use the name “Hotel Vancouver,” the first and second Hotel Vancouver were both located along West Georgia Street, southeast of the present hotel. The first, a crude four-storey structure, debuted in 1888 after the arrival of the Canadian National Railway in the region. In an effort to prevent competition with the new Hotel Vancouver, Canadian National Railway closed its hotel operations at the second Hotel Vancouver once the new hotel opened and, in 1949, it was torn down after Canadian National Railway sold the property to Eaton’s in December 1948.

Bas reliefs

This Châteauesque-styled hotel (part of series of Chateauesque grand railway hotels built throughout Canada in the late-19th and early 20th centuries), designed by two Canadian architects, John Smith Archibald, and John Schofield, incorporates elements from Renaissance-era chateaus found in France‘s Loire Valley.

The spectacular copper pitch roof outfitted with many dormers

Its Châteauesque features include its prominent and spectacular copper pitched roof, outfitted with many dormers, and extensive amount of carved stonework encompassing a steel frame. Hotel Vancouver also incorporates Renaissance Revival architectural detailings, gargoyles and relief sculptures. The decorative work for the building was done by a number of artists including Olea Marion Davis, Charles Marega, Beatrice Lennie, Valentine Shabief, and Lilias Farley.

Here’s the historical timeline of the hotel:

  • In the 1920s, plans to develop a railway hotel at the present site of Hotel Vancouver first emerged.
  • In December 1928, as a result of a land deal between the city, and Canadian Northern Railway (a company later acquired by Canadian National Railway), work on the present Hotel Vancouver commenced.  Shortly after the erection of the building’s steel frame however, work on the hotel was halted, as a result of the Great Depression.
  • In 1937, work resumed on the building
  • In 1938, a joint investment into the property from Canadian Pacific Hotels (a division of Canadian Pacific Railway) and Canadian National Railway made possible the completion of the new hotel.
  • In May 1939, the hotel was completed in time for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth‘s 1939 royal tour of Canada.
  • In 1962, Canadian National Hotels (a division of Canadian National Railway) acquired Canadian Pacific Hotels’ share of the property, gaining full ownership of the hotel.
  • On January 1, 1964, Hilton Hotels International assumed management of the hotel for CN, though it was never branded as a Hilton.
  • On January 1, 1984, after the management contract with Hilton ended, CN Hotels resumed management of the hotel.
  • In 1988 Canadian National Hotels sold its remaining nine properties, including Hotel Vancouver, to Canadian Pacific Hotels.
  • In 2001, Canadian Pacific Hotels was reorganized as Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, adopting the name from an American company it had purchased in 1999. As a part of this re-branding effort, the hotel’s name was changed to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.
  • In 2007 Fairmont Hotels and Resorts sold 25 hotel properties, including Hotel Vancouver, to Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, although Fairmont continues to manage the hotel.
  • In 2015, the property was sold to Larco Enterprise for C$180 million.
  • In 2014, in preparation for the building’s 80th anniversary, the hotel underwent a C$12 million renovation which saw a reworked main lobby and guest rooms and restoration of the 14th floor of the hotel to its original decor from 1939. Restored items on the 14th floor include English harewood doors with bronze doorplates, bronze hallway doors, sapele-panelled walls with bronze strips at its elevator lobby.
  • In 2018, the four-year hotel renovation project was completed.

Check out “80 Years of Iconic Moments“

Hotel lobby

The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, with 557 guest rooms and suites (including the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite and the Royal Suite), has a restaurant (Notch8 Restaurant + Bar which also hosts the hotel’s afternoon tea service), a gym, swimming pool and spa. The Lieutenant Governor’s Suite, designed with Art Deco stylings, features black walnut veneer-paneled walls.

Notch 8 Restaurant

Aside from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, other famous people who stayed there include:

Front Desk

In movies and television the hotel was featured in:

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver: 900 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia VC 2W6, Canada. Tel: +1 604 684 3131.  Fax: +1 604 662 1929.  E-mail: hvc.concierge@fairmont.com.

Vancouver Art Gallery (British Columbia, Canada)

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Vancouver Art Gallery

The 15,300 sq. m. (165,000 sq. ft.) Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG), the largest art museum, by building size, in Western Canada, serves as a repository of art for the Lower Mainland region. Its permanent collection consists of approximately 12,000 works (as of December 2018) by artists from Canada and around the world. Aside from exhibiting works from its collection, the museum has also organized and hosted a number of travelling arts exhibitions.The gallery connects to the rest of Robson Square via an underground passage below Robson Street.

“Uninvited – Canadian Women in the Modern Moment” Exhibit

Here is the historical timeline of the museum:

  • In April 1931, in order to establish and maintain a museum for the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Art Gallery Association was established under the provincial Society Act.
  • On October 5, 1931, the Association opened the art museum to the public in a building, designed by architectural firm Sharp and Johnston and costing approximately CA$40,000 to construct, at 1145 West Georgia Street. It featured four galleries (one of which included a sculpture hall), a lecture hall and a library. At the time of its opening, works exhibited at the museum were dominated by British, and other European artists.
  • In 1938, during a sitdown strike in the weeks leading up to Bloody Sunday, the museum was the one of the buildings occupied by unemployed protesters. Luckily, paintings were not damaged while the protesters occupied the building.
  • In 1950, the museum expanded its first building.To reshape the design of the building towards an International Style of architecture, the building’s Art Deco façade was removed. To accommodate the 157 works bequeathed to the museum by Emily Carr, renovations, costing approximately CA$600,000 (funded by the City of Vancouver government, and funds raised by Lawren Harris) were also conducted
  • In 1951, the building was reopened to the public.
  • In 1983, the institution was relocated to its present location, the former provincial courthouse adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver.It was renovated by architect Arthur Erickson, at a cost of CA$20 million, as a part of his larger three city-block Robson Square The Annex Building was the only part of the building complex that was not converted for museum use.
  • In 2004, a result from its need for more exhibition and storage space for its collections, plans to build a new building for the museum were undertaken.
  • In November 2007, the museum publicly announced plans to move, seeking approval from Vancouver City Council to build a new building at Larwill Park, a block formerly occupied by a bus depot on the corner of Cambie and Georgia streets.
  • In May 2008, the museum and the City of Vancouver government announced its intention to relocate to an area occupied by the Plaza of Nations.
  • In April 2013, the Vancouver City Council later reversed its decision, opting to approve the original proposed site in Larwill Park.
  • In September 2013, the museum formally issued requests for qualifications to construct the new building, receiving responses from 75 architectural firms from 16 countries.
  • In April 2014, the bid of Herzog & de Meuron (the first project for the architectural firm in the country) was selected by the museum.  Perkins and Will‘s Vancouver branch was contracted as the project’s executive architects. The cost to construct the building has been estimated to be CA$330 million, with the federal and provincial governments expected to provide CA$200 million, and the museum expected to raise the rest from public and private donors.  The building was originally planned to be completed in 2020. However, developments for the project stalled due to a funding dispute between the federal and provincial governments.
  • In November 2021, to help fund the new building, the museum received a $100 million donation (the largest cash donation to a public art museum in Canadian history) from Michael Audain.
  • As of November 2021, the museum still needed to raise another $160 million to fund the project.

“The Imitation Game” Exhibit

The former provincial courthouse building, designed by Francis Rattenbury, after winning a design competition in 1905, was opened as a provincial courthouse in 1911, and operated as such until 1979 when the provincial courts moved to the Law Courts south of the building.  In 1980, the building was was designated as the Former Vancouver Law Courts National Historic Site of Canada. Both the main and annex portions of the building are also designated “A” heritage structures by the municipal government.

Check out “Former Victoria Law Courts Building”

“Kids Take Over” Exhibit

It continues to be owned by the Government of British Columbia, although the museum occupies the building through a 99-year sublease signed with the City of Vancouver government in 1974 who, in turn, leases the building from the provincial government. The museum’s permanent collection is formally owned by the City of Vancouver, with the museum acting as the custodians for the collection under a lease and license agreement. Should the museum secure its relocation to its proposed site at Larwill Park, the museum would occupy the building under similar arrangements as the former courthouse, with the museum leasing the property from the City of Vancouver.

“Everything Under The Sun: In Memory of Andrew Gruft” Exhibit

The Vancouver Art Gallery has organized and hosted a number of temporary and travelling exhibitions. A select list of exhibitions held at the museum since 2005 include:

  • Brian Jungen (2006)
  • Monet to Dali: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art (2007)
  • KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art (2008)
  • Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art Masterpieces from The Rijksmuseum (2009)
  • Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man (2010)
  • The Color of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art (2011)
  • Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore (2012)
  • Beat Nation: Art, Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture (2012)
  • Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life (2013)
  • Charles Edenshaw (2013)
  • The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors (2014)
  • Unscrolled: Reframing Tradition in Chinese Contemporary Art (2014)
  • Cezanne and the Modern: Masterpieces of European Art from the Pearlman Collection (2015)
  • How Do I Fit This Ghost in My Mouth? An exhibition by Geoffrey Farmer (2015)
  • Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven (2015)
  • Douglas Coupland: Everywhere Is Anywhere Is Anything Is Everything (2015)
  • MashUp: The Birth of Modern Culture (2016)
  • Picasso: The Artist and His Muses (2016)
  • Claude Monet’s Secret Garden (2017)
  • Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats its Own Leg (2018)
  • French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850-1950 (2019)
  • Alberto Giacometti: A Line Through Time (2019)
  • Cindy Sherman (2020)
  • Growing Freedom: The instructions of Yoko Ono/ The art of John and Yoko (2022)

“Restless: Recent Acquisitions” Exhibit

During our visit, there were five ongoing exhibits – “Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment” Exhibit in the ground floor; “The Imitation Game: Visual Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” Exhibit at the second floor; and “Kids Take Over” Exhibit, “Everything Under the Sun: In Memory of Andrew Gruft” Exhibit and “Restless: Recent Acquisitions” Exhibit at the third floor.

Check out “Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment” Exhibit, “The Imitation Game: Visual Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” Exhibit, “Kids Take Over” Exhibit, “Everything Under the Sun: In Memory of Andrew Gruft” Exhibit and “Restless: Recent Acquisitions” Exhibit“

Self-Portrait of Emily Carr (1938-39, oil on wove paper)

The Centennial Fountain, on the Georgia Street side of the building, was installed in 1966 to commemorate the centennial of the union of the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia.  In 2017, it was later removed as part of the Georgia Street plaza renovations.

Are You Talking to Me

The Neo-Classical-style building, replacing the previous courthouse at Victory Square, wasconstructed using marble imported from Alaska, Tennessee and Vermont.  It has Ionic columns, a central dome, formal porticos and ornate stonework. Construction for the building, which contained 18 courtrooms, began in 1906. In 1912, an annex, designed by Thomas Hooper, was added to the western side of the building. Declared as a heritage site, it still retains the original judges’ benches and walls as they were when the building was a courthouse.

Clear Cut to the Last Tree (Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, screenprint on paper)

The front lawn and steps of the building has hosted a number of public gatherings and protest rallies, serving as the monthly meeting spot for Vancouver’s Critical Mass, as well as flash mobs, the Zombie Walk, pro-marijuana rallies and numerous environmental demonstrations. The steps on both the Robson Street and Georgia Street sides of the building are also popular gathering spots for protest rallies. In the summertime, the Georgia Street side is also a popular place for people to relax or socialize.

Amauti (Anne Maria Kigerlerk, 1937)

In March 2007, the 2010 Olympic countdown clock, placed in the front lawn of the building, was  opened for free for the public to see. Now disassembled, one half of the clock went to BC Place and the other to Whistler Village.In June 2021, Cheryle Gunargie created a vigil(consisting of 215 pairs of shoes) to honor the 215 children whose remains were discovered in unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Caffeinated Diversions (Scott Eaton, 2018-19, inkjet print on paper) (1)

The permanent collection acts as the principal repository of works produced in the Lower Mainland region, with museum acquisitions typically focused on historical and contemporary art from the region. Approximately half of the works in its collection were produced by artists from Western Canada. In addition to art from the region, the collection also has a focus on First Nations art, and art from Asia. The museum’s collection is organized into several smaller areas, contemporary art from Asia, photography and conceptual photography, works by indigenous Canadian artists from the region, and artists from Vancouver and British Columbia.

Baskets (Panier)

The museum’s photography and conceptual art collection includes photographs from the 1950s to the present, and includes photos by the N.E. Thing Co. artist collective, photographers of the Vancouver School of conceptual photography, and other artists including Dan Graham, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, Robert Smithson, and Thomas Struth. The museum’s collection of contemporary Asian art includes works by Eikoh Hosoe, Mariko Mori, Fiona Tan, Jin-me Yoon, Reena Saini Kallat, Song Dong, Wang Du, Wang Jianwei, Yang Fudong, and O Zhang.

Children Playing (Thomas Kakinuma, ca. 1960)

Serving as a repository for art for the region, the museum holds a number of works by artists based in the Lower Mainland, in addition to artists based in other regions of British Columbia. The museum’s collection includes works from Canadian artists, including members of the Group of Seven, Gathie Falk, Michael Snow, and Joyce Wieland.

Kitwancool Totems (Emily Carr, 1928, oil on canvas)

The museum’s collection also features a significant number of works by Emily Carr, dating from 1913 to 1942. The painting Totem Poles, Kitseukla, by Carr, was among the original set of works acquired for the museum’s collection prior to opening in 1931. The permanent collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery, along with the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, hold the largest number of works by Carr of any collection in the world.

Patriotism (Joyce Wieland, 1967, vinyl, textile,photograph, paper, cotton, wood, thread)

The museum’s also features a collection of indigenous Canadian art from the region, including works from Haida, Heiltsuk, Inuit, Kwakwakaʼwakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, Nuxalk, and Tlingit artists. Regular acquisitions of indigenous Canadian works was undertaken by the museum beginning in the 1980s; with the museum’s practices prior to the 1980s typically leaving the acquisition of indigenous Canadian works for the collections of ethnographic, or history museums.

A Descent of Lilies (Pegi Nicoll MacLeod, 1935, oil on canvas)

In 2015, George Gund III bequeathed to the museum 37 First Nations works, including totem poles by Ken Mowatt and Norman Tait, drawings by Bill Reid, and thirteen carved works by Robert Davidson. Other works in the museum’s indigenous Canadian collection includes works by Sonny Assu, Rebecca Belmore, Dempsey Bob, Dana Claxton, Joe David, Reg Davidson, Beau Dick, Brian Jungen, Marianne Nicolson, and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.

Actual Photo Series (Laurie Simmons and Allan McCollum, 1985, azo dye prints)

The Vancouver Art Gallery Library and Archives is a non-circulating library that specializing in modern, contemporary and Canadian art. Its holdings include more than 50,000 books and exhibition catalogues, 30 journal subscriptions, 5,000 files that document various artists, art forms, and works. Access to the museum’s library and archives require a scheduled appointment.

Sea and Shore (Florence Wyle, ca. 1950, marble)

The museum’s archives contain the institution’s official records since its founding in 1931. In addition to institutional documents, the archives also includes files from B.C. Binning, and the books and serials where Bill Bissett’s concrete poetry was published.

In a Food Court (Evan Lee, 2019, oil pigment, pastel on canvas) (1)

The Vancouver Art Gallery offers a wide range of public programs throughout the year, including live performances marketed under the FUSE program, scholar’s lectures, artist’s talks, as well as dance and musical performances. In its most recent year, the gallery has featured over 60 presenters, including historian Timothy Brook, writer Sarah Milroy, and Emily Carr scholar, Gerta Moray. In May 2015, the gallery welcomed architect Jacques Herzog as he presented his first lecture in Canada on architecture and the new Vancouver Art Gallery building.

Neri Oxman and the MIT Mediated Matter Group

Vancouver Art Gallery: 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6Z 2H7, Canada.    Open Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10 AM – 5 PM, Tuesdays and Fridays, 12 noon to 8 PM. Admission: $24.00 (adults), $20.00 (seniors), $18 (students), $6.50 (children, 6 – 12 years old) and free (children 5 years old and under).  Tuesdays, from 5 – 9 PM are “donation nights” (pay whatever you want or can afford). Coordinates: 49.282875°N 123.120464°W.

 

Former Vancouver Law Courts Building (British Columbia, Canada)

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Former Vancouver Law Courts Building

The three-storey, grand Former Vancouver Law Courts Building, situated on a city block bounded by Georgia, Howe, Hornby and Robson Streets, is a good example of Neo-Classical design in the Beaux-Art tradition, widely promoted for public buildings in North America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Replacing the previous courthouse at Victory Square, it was designed by noted Victoria architect Francis Mawson Rattenbury (responsible for many prominent public buildings in British Columbia including the Legislative Building in Victoria), after winning a design competition in 1905.  Construction began in 1906 and the provincial courthouse,containing 18 courtrooms,was opened in the fall of 1911, at which time it was praised as the finest building of its kind in Canada.

Check out “”Legislative Assembly of British Columbia”

By 1914, the city had outgrown the original building and a large new wing, connected to the main building by an enclosed two-storey corridor, was added to the western side of the building according to the 1912 designs of Thomas Hooper. It operated as such until 1979 when it was decided that the building could no longer accommodate the needs of the court and the decision was made to construct new facilities.

Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson was commissioned to design the new Law Courts House,located across the street south of the building,and to convert the former Court House into the Vancouver Art Gallery.In 1980, the building was designated as the Former Vancouver Law Courts National Historic Site of Canada.

Entrance to Vancouver Art Gallery

Both the main and annex portions of the building are also designated “A” heritage structures by the municipal government. As a heritage site, it still retains the original judges’ benches and walls as they were when the building was a courthouse.

The massive staircase

The building continues to be owned by the Government of British Columbia, although the Vancouver Art Gallery occupies the building through a 99-year sublease signed with the City of Vancouver government in 1974 who, in turn, leases the building from the provincial government.

Check out “Vancouver Art Gallery“

One of two granite guardian lions

The building consists of three parts with two wings on west and east facades faced with inset Ionic columns flanking a massive projecting central pediment. The latter features an imposing formal portico supported by four columns and surmounted by a flat roof and a copper-clad central dome(with four semicircular occuli) on an elevated base.

On the north and south facades are granite pilasters. Rusticated Nelson Island granite cladding was used for the base section and smooth Haddington Island stone cladding for upper levels.Marble was imported from Alaska, Tennessee and Vermont.

Throughout the facade are decorative stone and plaster scrollwork with acanthus leaf, garland and wreath motifs and stone balustrades along the roof line.Some of the recessed and symmetrical fenestration have protruding granite sills and canopies.Cast iron grates are found above the foundation. Also on the west and east facades are massive granite stair entrances. The twin, ca. 1910 granite lions, on pedestals, symbolize British justice.

Rotunda

 

The original interior layout features a twinned, marble clad staircase with ornamental wrought iron balustrades; a central rotunda, beneath the dome on the mezzanine level, with a series of two-storey arcades; terrazzo flooring in fan and Greek key motif;tapered marble columns on the mezzanine level;plaster egg and dart,garland and wreath motifs on the ceilings, cornices and walls; British Columbia fir and oak for the paneling,cornices, wainscoting and architraves; and British Columbia and Alaskan marble for foyer, floors, baseboards, vestibule halls, stairs and risers.

Marble staircase

Original signs identifying “OFFICES,” “LAND REGISTRY,” “POLICE” (with accompanying “Sheriff” signage) are still incised into offices on the north and south first floor level.

The front lawn and steps of the building has hosted a number of public gatherings and protest rallies, serving as the monthly meeting spot for Vancouver’s Critical Mass, as well as flash mobs, the Zombie Walk, pro-marijuana rallies and numerous environmental demonstrations.

Dome and oculus

The steps on both the Robson Street and Georgia Street sides of the building are also popular gathering spots for protest rallies. In the summertime, the Georgia Street side is also a popular place for people to relax or socialize.

Former Vancouver Law Courts Building: 800 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6z 2E1, Canada.