ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Director of Current Planning

SUBJECT:

Heritage Register Update

 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of A, B, C and D.

COUNCIL POLICY

On September 23, 1986, Council resolved that the Vancouver Heritage Register (formerly the Vancouver Heritage Inventory) be kept up to date and that amendments be referred to Council on an annual basis.

PURPOSE
This report recommends that Council adopt amendments to the Vancouver Heritage Register including the addition of publicly-nominated buildings, and deletion of buildings demolished over the past year. Also recommended in this report is the deletion of buildings from the Heritage Register that were found to have been demolished between 1986 and 2001, and those found to be included in error from when the inventory was first created. Address changes are recommended for consistency of by-law administration.

BACKGROUND
The Vancouver Heritage Inventory was adopted by Council in August 1986. In December 1994, Council approved the motion that the Inventory be continued as the Vancouver Heritage Register under the provisions of new provincial legislation.

Council last amended the Heritage Register on June 11, 2002, with the addition of three buildings as part of a rezoning application. The last comprehensive "housekeeping" report on the Heritage Register for the year 2001 was presented to Council in May 2002.

This report includes the buildings that have been nominated to the Heritage Register since that time, and those that were demolished or have had address changes in 2002. Further, a more thorough review of the Heritage Register occurred since last May, resulting in several housekeeping amendments involving demolitions and addressing errors dating as far back to the creation of the Inventory in 1986. These are presented for Council's approval.

The Heritage Register is the basis by which buildings may be considered for protection through heritage designation or a Heritage Revitalization Agreement (HRA), including incentives to encourage retention and restoration. Over the last year, a total of 21 heritage buildings were protected. In addition, one interior space of heritage value was protected through designation. Of these 22 buildings, 15 benefited from an HRA. By comparison, in 2001 10 buildings were designated, of which 2 included an HRA.
DISCUSSION

Nominations to the Heritage Register

It is recommended that a total of five buildings listed in Appendix A be added to the Heritage Register. Four of these are as B-listings, and one is as a C-listing. All nominations have been evaluated against established criteria which includes architectural, historical and contextual significance, and the building's integrity. The nominations are supported by the Vancouver Heritage Commission. They are:

· Hastings Elementary School at 2625 Franklin Street dating from 1912 with a 1925 addition
· a Victorian cottage known as the Borland House at 656 East Georgia Street built in 1892
· the McMaster Building at 1180 Homer Street in Yaletown, dating from 1910

· the George Leslie Lane Cottage, built circa 1901, and moved in 2001 from Hornby Street to 1117 Pendrell Street in Mole Hill
· the Franks Building at 42-46 Water Street in Gastown, built circa 1887.

Four nominations were initiated by the owners. Hastings Elementary School was not initiated by the owner, the Vancouver School Board. As a result, the School Board was informed of the nomination and was asked for comments. The School Board has confirmed in writing that there are no concerns regarding the nomination of this building as a B-listing.

Deletions From the Vancouver Heritage Register
Between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2002, a total of 3 demolition permits were issued for buildings listed on the Heritage Register. The loss during this period represents 0.14% of a total of 2147 buildings on the Heritage Register as of May 2002. This is consistent with the number of demolitions in 2001. These are summarized in Appendix B.

In accordance with Council's direction resulting from last year's report on the Heritage Register, a comprehensive review of demolition permits was undertaken. Following a review of past Council reports, it was discovered that 19 demolitions occurred between 1986 and 2001 that have not been formally removed from the Heritage Register (Appendix C). In addition, it has been discovered that 3 address listings in the Heritage Register were entered in error when the inventory was created in 1986 (Appendix D). Council is requested to approve the removal of these address listings from the Heritage Register.

Address Changes
A number of address changes have taken place over the past year. In addition, the comprehensive review by staff uncovered addresses in the Heritage Register document that required updates based on address changes from previous years or multiple buildings on a single site. In order to maintain consistency with Enquiry Centre data, it is recommended that Council amend the Heritage Register by adopting the address changes of the 29 buildings listed in Appendix E.

Summary of Additions and Deletions

The recommended changes to the Heritage Register, other than pre-2002 demolitions, addresses listed in error, and address changes, are as follows:

Heritage Register Listings

Buildings on Heritage Register

as of May 2002 *

Buildings Added to Heritage Register - June 2002**

Buildings Proposed to be Added to Heritage Register

Heritage Register Buildings Demolished
in 2002

Revised Total ***

"A"

255

-

-

-

255

"B"

1125

1

4

2

1128

"C"

767

2

1

1

769

Total

2147

3

5

3

2152

* These numbers have been adjusted to exclude the buildings demolished between 1986 and 2001, and those listed in error on the original heritage inventory

** These have already been approved by Council

***Subject to Council's approval of recommendations

Since the Heritage Register was established by Council as the Heritage Inventory in 1986, there has been a marked decline in the total number of buildings, particularly C-listings. A-listings have increased from 237 to 255. Between 1986 and 2003, the net total number of buildings on the Heritage Register declined by 637, or 22.8%, led by C-listed buildings with a decline of 577, or 42.9%. This significant decline was the result of a Council decision in 1988 to remove 430 isolated C-listed buildings. That is, those C-listings that were not in areas of other heritage buildings but were seen as anomalies within their street. The reasoning behind the removal of these buildings was Council at that time desired to streamline the number of buildings on the Register in an effort to assist property owners in redevelopment.

Since 1989, the trend is still evident, though not as significant. The total number has declined by 144, or 6.3%. Again, C-listed buildings have experienced the greatest drop, 116 or 13.1%, while B-listed buildings have declined by 49, or 4.2%. Over the past two years, the number of additions (8) has slightly exceeded the number of demolitions (6). The following graph charts the trends from the creation of the Heritage Inventory in 1986 to the present Heritage Register.
215227891346
12061128769255237

CONCLUSION

It is recommended that the Heritage Register be amended to add 5 publicly-nominated buildings, to delete 3 buildings demolished in 2002, to delete another 19 buildings demolished between 1986 and 2001, and to remove 3 addresses listed in error from the original heritage inventory. It is also recommended that 29 address changes be incorporated to reflect changes that have occurred to the City's street files over the past year.

- - - - -

APPENDIX A

PUBLIC NOMINATIONS TO BE ADDED TO THE
VANCOUVER HERITAGE REGISTER

EVALUATION GROUP A None

EVALUATION GROUP B 2625 Franklin Street Hastings Elementary School

EVALUATION GROUP C 42-46 Water Street Franks Building

APPENDIX B

BUILDINGS DEMOLISHED IN 2002 TO BE DELETED FROM
THE VANCOUVER HERITAGE REGISTER

EVALUATION GROUP A None

EVALUATION GROUP B 8982 Hudson Street Marpole C.C.C.

EVALUATION GROUP C 2745 West 38th Avenue

APPENDIX C

BUILDINGS DEMOLISHED BETWEEN 1986 AND 2001 TO BE DELETED
FROM THE VANCOUVER HERITAGE REGISTER

EVALUATION GROUP A None

EVALUATION GROUP B 2133 West 3rd Avenue (c. 1990)

EVALUATION GROUP C 327 West 18th Avenue (1998)

* Heritage Register document reads as 6225 Churchill, which was a typographical error. The actual heritage house was at 6925 Churchill.

** Heritage Register document reads as 3701 St. George, an error transcribed from the original evaluation sheets prepared in 1985. The actual heritage house was at 3710 St. George.

 

APPENDIX D

ADDRESSES LISTED IN ERROR ON THE ORIGINAL
HERITAGE INVENTORY TO BE REMOVED FROM
THE VANCOUVER HERITAGE REGISTER

EVALUATION GROUP A None

EVALUATION GROUP B 2995 West 27th Avenue

EVALUATION GROUP C 2214-2216 West 6th Avenue

APPENDIX E

ADDRESS CHANGES FOR BUILDINGS ON THE
VANCOUVER HERITAGE REGISTER DOCUMENT

ORIGINAL ADDRESS SPECIFICS REVISED ADDRESS

2870 West 3rd Avenue 2876 West 3rd Avenue
304-306 West 6th Avenue Two buildings on same lot 304 West 6th Avenue
304-306 West 6th Avenue (addressed as 304 & 306) 306 West 6th Avenue
4242 West 13th Avenue 4246 West 13th Avenue
238 East 15th Avenue 236 East 15th Avenue 234 East 15th Avenue

54 Alexander Street 52 Alexander Street *

144-146 Alexander Street Supplemental Address 118 Alexander Street

Alexandra Park Haywood Bandstand 1755 Beach Avenue
2318 Bayswater Street General Gordon School 2896 West 6th Avenue

280 Carrall Street 1 East Cordova Street *

290 Carrall Street 1 East Cordova Street *

519 Carrall Street 513 Carrall Street *

523 Carrall Street 521 Carrall Street *

535-573 Carrall Street 555 Carrall Street *

37 East Cordova Street 1 East Cordova *

47 East Cordova Street 11 East Cordova *

 334-350 West Cordova Street 318 Homer Street *

500 Glen Drive 1106 East Pender Street

3 West Hastings Street Pioneer Square Park 399 Carrall Street *

76-96 Kingsway Supplemental Address 76-86 Kingsway

1019-1051 Pacific Street Identification of each of 1019 Pacific Street

50 East Pender Street 10 East Pender Street *

 89 East Pender Street 87-89 East Pender Street *

101-107 East Pender Street 490 Columbia Street *

113-117 East Pender Street 115 East Pender Street *

175-185 East Pender Street 173 East Pender Street *

 26 Powell Street 28 Powell Street *

86 Powell Street 80 Powell Street *

732-750 Princess Avenue Two separate buildings 732 Princess Avenue

* Provincially designated but without a formal "A", "B" or "C" evaluation as part of the Vancouver Heritage Register

 

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