1932 Alberni Street

1932 Alberni Street – Detail from Bu P508-104 – [Residences in 1900 block of Alberni Street] -Vancouver City Archives; http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/residences-in-1900-block-of-alberni-street;rad.

 

1932 Alberni Street was on the south side of Alberni Street, just west of Gilford Street.

Legal Description: District Lot 185, Block 65, Lot 20.

 

1900 block Alberni Street, detail from Insurance plan – City of Vancouver, July 1897, revised June 1901 – Sheet 43 – Coal Harbour to Comox Street and Bidwell Street to Stanley Park.

 

 

1900 block Alberni Street, detail from Insurance plan – City of Vancouver, July 1897, revised June 1903 – Sheet 43 – Coal Harbour to Comox Street and Bidwell Street to Stanley Park.

 

Probable Architects

In 1900, Robert Mackay Fripp and Samuel Maclure announced that they were building a house on Alberni Street for Gilbert Finlay. Since the Finlay family members were living at 1932 Alberni Street shortly afterward, it appears that Mr. Fripp and Mr. Maclure were the architects for this house.

 

Vancouver Province, March 28, 1900, page 12, column 4.

 

In 1900, Gilbert Finlay applied for a sidewalk on Alberni Street.

 

Vancouver Province, September 25, 1900, page 2, column 3.

 

 

1900 Block Alberni Street – Detail from Goad’s Atlas of the city of Vancouver – 1912 – Vol 1 – Plate 7 – Coal Harbour to Barclay Street and Cardero Street to Stanley Park.

 

1952 Alberni Street, 1942 Alberni Street and 1932 Alberni Street; detail from Goad’s Atlas of Vancouver, Volume 1, Plate 48 [Denman Street to Georgia Street to Chilco Street to Haro Street]; https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/plate-48-denman-street-to-georgia-street-to-chilco-street-to-haro-street.

 

There is one reference to this property in Heritage Vancouver Society’s database of historic building permits: http://permits.heritagevancouver.org/index.php?cID=1 [searched January 11, 2019].

 

Municipality:	Vancouver
Permit:	6470
Owner:	Cook
Architect:	Cook
Builder:	Cook
Legal Address:	DL: Block: Sub: Resub: Lot:
Date (Y-M-D):	1914-04-03
Street Number:	1932
Street Name:	Alberni Street
Value:	$100.00
Remarks:	Office/store
Reference ID:	VN-3500-3501-409

 

Vancouver directory listings for 1932 Alberni Street from 1907 to 1955.

 

1903 to 1904	Finlay, Gilbert Hunter
1905	Tait, John Spottiswood
1906 to 1909	Cronyn, Verschoyle Francis
1910 to 1911	Taylor, Edwin David
1912 to 1918	Cook, James F.
1919 to 1920	Draney, Charles Robert
1921	Cowdry, Augustus Nathaniel (son of John Cowdry)
1922 to 1923	Wetmore, John Allen
1924 to 1925	Marpole, Mrs. Catherine (widow of D. P. Marpole)
1926 to 1927	Doidge, Harold Lees
1928 to 1929	Vacant
1930 to 1934	Griffin, Mrs. Ellen Jane
1935 to 1937	Cook, James F.
1937 to 1940	Cook, Mrs. Bertha Jane (widow of James F. Cook)
1941 to 1946	Hutchinson, Walter
1947 to 1948	Ward, Harry
1949 to 1955	Galloway, William Matthew

 

In its early years, the house was for rent from time to time.

 

Vancouver Province, August 15, 1903, page 10, column 6.

 

In 1909, the house was for sale.

 

Vancouver Province, July 9, 1909, page 20, column 2.

 

By the 1920s, the house was a rooming house.

 

Vancouver Province, September 11, 1927, page 27, column 5 [Furnished Rooms].

 

Vancouver Province, November 30, 1929, page 19, column 7 [Unfurnished Suites and Rooms].

 

In 1939, the house was for sale.

 

Vancouver Province, April 29, 1939, page 27, column 2.

 

From the 1940s to the 1960s, the house continued to be a rooming house.

 

Vancouver Province, June 25, 1948, page 28, column 3 [Housekeeping Rooms].

 

In March 1959, the lots at 1932 Alberni, 1942 Alberni and 1952 Alberni were for sale as sites for multi-storey apartments and commercial developments. The advertisement below referred to a proposed freeway system through the West End. For many reasons, the freeways did not go ahead.

 

The Vancouver Sun, March 9, 1959, page 11, columns 4-5.

 

Vancouver Sun, September 19, 1960, page 30, column 1 [Housekeeping Rooms].

 

Vancouver Sun, June 5, 1963, page 45, column 6 [Housekeeping Rooms].

 

In 1965, the Briarcrest Apartments appeared on lot 20, with a street address of 1932 Alberni Street.

 

1932 Alberni Street; source map: City of Vancouver, Vanmapp; http://vanmapp.vancouver.ca/pubvanmap_net.

 

Vancouver Sun, September 25, 1965, page 43, columns 3-4.

 

1932 Alberni Street, Google Streets, searched January 11, 2019; image dated August 2018.

 

Sources

Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950; FRIPP, Robert MacKay (1858-1917); FRIPP & MACLURE (works in Vancouver) ,. . . ALBERNI STREET, near Gilford Street, residence for Gilbert Findley, 1900 (Province [Vancouver], 28 March 1900, 12); http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/1577.

Ken MacKenzie, Freeway Planning and Protests in Vancouver, 1954-1972; Master of Arts Thesis, Simon Fraser University, 1984, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56370103.pdf.

“The Streets Belong to the People”: Expressway Disputes in Canada, c. 1960-75; by Danielle Robinson, B.A., M.A.; Doctor of Philosophy Thesis, McMaster University, 2012; https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/bitstream/11375/12753/1/fulltext.pdf.