Vancouver History: Before and After Commercial Buildings

It took me a while to figure out a theme for this first “Then and Now” series installment of 2010. Last year I featured hotels, apartments, wintery scenes and even dogs in the city. I’ve come to the conclusion that the most effective “Then and Now” features buildings and streets, which are the easiest to research. Thanks as always to the Vancouver Archives and Google Street Views, the following is a collection of commercial buildings, then and now.

1910s
Granville & Hastings

Major Matthews Collection, Item#: Str P43.2

2009
Granville & Hastings

1929
Broadway & Granville

Photographer: W.J. Moore, Item#: Bu N505, Archives Location#: 183-D-1

2009
Broadway & Granville

1940s
3036 West Broadway

Photographer: Jack Lindsay, Item#: CVA 1184-3184

2009
3036 West Broadway

1940s
2152 Main Street

Photographer: Jack Lindsay, Item#: CVA 1184-2758

2009
2152 Main Street

1976
2106 West Broadway & Arbutus (formerly McGavin Bakery)

Item#: CVA 780-196, Archive Location #: F14-E-1 file 7

2009
2106 West Broadway

Should you have a favourite old building and would like to see how it looked decades ago, feel free to submit it as a suggestion for next week’s installment.

As a side note, I was in the store the other day and noticed Chuck Davis has a book called Vancouver: Then and Now (2001). It’s filled with photographs along with Chuck’s commentary and would be great for a visitor, resident, history buff, or just to have around as a coffee table book.