Vancouver Icons: Flack Block

On November 11th each year a poignant and concise banner is raised on the Flack Block that states: We Remember. Looking at the photos from this year’s ceremony at Victory Square’s cenotaph, I got the idea to add the Flack Block to the Vancouver Icon photo series. Aside from standing on a very important corner that saw much local history play out over the last century, the building (and its rejuvenators, The Salient Group) received a 2010 Heritage BC award for exemplary conservation of a designated landmark structure built between 1898 and 1900.

Photo credit: Doug Farmer on Flickr

Flack Block

The Flack Block was built in 1898 by Thomas Flack, one of the first prospectors to strike it rich in the Klondike Gold Rush. Located at the commercial centre of the city and across from the first courthouse, this building was the original home to the Bank of Vancouver. In later years it hosted men’s clothier E.A. Lee, but as Hastings Street around Victory Square declined, it became home to a series of pawnshops and varied illegal activities. [Source]

1900s: Flack Block, northeast corner of Hastings and Cambie. Archives# M-3-27.5.

Photo credit: Roland Tanglao on Flickr

One of Vancouver’s most important turn-of-the-century buildings, the revitalized Flack Block is the western ‘keystone’ property in the Woodward’s Block. It re-opened in 2008 after an intensive two-year, $20 million restoration.

Photo credit: Philip Tong on Flickr

Photo credit: colink. on Flickr

Photo credit: Bootup Labs & Dave Shea on Flickr

Photo credit: Ralph Giles on Flickr

1939 & 1940: Photo by Leonard Frank. VPL# 10937 & VPL# 5582.

Photo credit: Clayton Perry on Flickr

Previous Vancouver Icons posts: The Drop, Prospect Point Lighthouse, Engagement, Ovaltine Cafe, The English Bay Slide, Freezing Water #7, Cleveland Dam, Heritage Hall, School of Theology Building at UBC, Gate to the Northwest Passage, St Paul’s Hospital, Capilano Lake, Stawamus Chief, Nine O’Clock Gun, Malkin Bowl, Search, Vancouver Rowing Club, Echoes, Point Atkinson Lighthouse, English Bay Inukshuk, Hollow Tree, Hotel Europe, Lions Gate Bridge Lions, LightShed, Granville Bridge, 217.5 Arc x 13′, Canoe Bridge, Vancouver Block, Bloedel Conservatory, Centennial Rocket, Canada Place, Old Courthouse/Vancouver Art Gallery, Dominion Building, Science World, Gastown Steam Clock, SFU Burnaby, Commodore Lanes, Siwash Rock, Kitsilano Pool, White Rock Pier, Main Post Office, Planetarium Building, Lord Stanley Statue, Vancouver Library Central Branch, Victory Square, Digital Orca, The Crab Sculpture, Girl in Wetsuit, The Sun Tower, The Hotel Vancouver, The Gassy Jack Statue, The Marine Building, and The Angel of Victory. Should you have a suggestion for the Vancouver Icons series please feel free to leave a note in the comments. It should be a thing, statue, or place that is very visible and recognizable to the public.