Saturday, July 13th, 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm
Downtown Vancouver
$35 (including tax)
SOLD OUT! Join VHF and celebrate Historic Places Days this July with an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the Vancouver Block – a landmark on the Vancouver skyline since 1912. The tour will begin with an hour-long walking tour with heritage consultant Donald Luxton exploring the economic growth of Vancouver. The second half of the tour will end with a guided tour of the Vancouver Block building (736 Granville Street), including the clock tower and viewing platform, as well as a presentation by Ray Saunders of Landmark Clocks.
Photo Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Details:
About Historic Places Days
Historic Places Days is a platform for individuals and organizations to showcase the places and stories important to them in their own words. As the presenter, the National Trust for Canada recognizes that Canada’s history and heritage is complex and contentious, dominated by settler perspectives, and that individually or collectively the stories may lack diversity.
About the Vancouver Block
Characterized by the large, illuminated clock tower set atop its fifteen-storey height, the Vancouver Block, which slightly predated the adjacent Birks Building by Somervell & Putnam, helped establish Georgia and Granville as the commercial core of early Vancouver and serves as a symbol of the rapid growth in Vancouver’s economy and urban fabric in the early twentieth century. Completed in 1912, this Edwardian Commercial building is one of the most impressive structures designed by the prolific architectural firm of Parr & Fee. Throughout its history, numerous upgrades have been made to the building to protect the building’s structure, comply with modern safety requirements, and preserve its heritage character.
About the Speakers
Donald Luxton is a heritage consultant, advocate, educator and author. He has worked on numerous heritage and cultural resource management projects throughout western Canada since 1983. A leading proponent of heritage conservation in BC, Donald was instrumental in the creation of VHF’s True Colours historical paint palette and among his book credits is Building the West: The Architects of Early British Columbia.
Raymond Saunders is a Canadian clockmaker who has been designing and building clocks for the past 64 years. Best known for the Steam Clock in Gastown that he was commissioned to build in 1977, he is Vancouver’s most famous horologist.
Friday, July 19, 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street
Free
Join us in July for our first Summer Storytelling event - all are welcome! Enjoy an evening with local community organizations, a heritage storytelling presentation, free food and non alcoholic beverages, and live music. The heritage presentation will feature the story of how the Henry Hudson Elementary school house was saved from demolition and donated to the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nation for their Language Nest, an early years education center for Squamish language.
Photo Credit: Renewal Development