786 Gilford Street

786 Gilford Street – 1966 – City of Vancouver Archives – CVA 1348-25 – [Robson Street at Gilford]; http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/robson-street-at-gilford;rad.

 

786 Gilford Street, 1978; City of Vancouver Archives; CVA 786-3.15; http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/786-gilford-street.

 

786 Gilford Street was at the north-east corner of Robson Street and Gilford Street.

This house had a dormer that evoked, although it was not identical to, the “Lunenburg bump,” which appears in many houses in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

 

26 Hopson Street, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia; Google Streets, searched May 7, 2019; image dated October 2016.

 

Legal Description: District Lot 185, Block 65, Lot 36.

 

1800 Block Robson 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.

 

778 Gilford Street and 786 Gilford 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 May 7, 2019]. [Another reference to Lot 36 in the database relates to 778 Gilford Street.] The architect was probably William Tuff Whiteway.

 

District:	Vancouver
Permit:
Owner:	Springer, Fanny M.
Architect:	Whiteway
Builder:	Sjolander
Legal Address:	DL: 185 Block: 65 Sub: Resub: Lot: 36
Date (Y-M-D):	1902-10-20
Street Number:
Street Name:	Robson Street
Value:	$3,000.00
Remarks:	Frame dwelling s.f.
Reference ID:	VN-8302-8303-30

 

Vancouver directory listings for 786 Gilford Street.

 

1905	Springer, Mrs. Fanny Mary
1906 to 1908	Springer, Frank Benjamin
1909	Springer, Mabel Ellen (daughter of Fanny Mary Springer)
1910 to 1911	McLennan, Peter Andrew
1912 to 1914	Springer, Hugh Edward Nelson (son of Fanny Mary Springer)
1916	Gwyn, William Trevor
1917	Leach, Francis Easton
1918	Banks, William A.
1919	Dobrin, Jacob
1919 and 1920	Telford, John Neil and Telford, Mrs. Lily

 

The house was a private residence and rooming house until the early 1980s.

 

Vancouver Daily World, January 20, 1921, age 6, column 1.

 

Vancouver Sun, December 7, 1922, page 6, column 7.

 

Vancouver Sun, October 27, 1928, page 21, column 2.

 

Vancouver Sun, July 8, 1966, page 43, column 8.

 

Vancouver Sun, March 4, 1977, page 52, column 5.

 

The lot has been vacant for many years.

 

Northeast corner of Gilford Street and Robson Street; Google Streets; searched May 7, 2019; image dated April 2009.

 

Northeast corner of Gilford Street and Robson Street; Google Streets; searched May 7, 2019; image dated October 2018.

 

 

Sources

Vanishing Vancouver: The Last 25 Years, Michael Kluckner, Vancouver, Whitecap Press, 2012, page 135, includes a colour photograph of 786 Gilford Street, describing it as “a rooming house at Robson and Gilford in 1982.”