1972 Robson Street

1972 Robson, 1908; detail from View of the 1900 Block and 2000 Block of Nelson Street; Vancouver City Archives, AM54-S4-: PAN P103; https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/view-of-1900-block-and-2000-block-of-nelson-street.

 

1972 Robson Street – detail from National Air Photo Library BC 12.25; reproduced in Above Canada: Then and Now, John McQuarrie, Ottawa, Magic Light Publishing, 1999, page 193.

 

1972 Robson Street, detail from Skaters on Lost Lagoon, about 1930; Vancouver City Archives, CVA 260-269; https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/skaters-on-lost-lagoon [best available image].

1972 Robson Street, 1937; detail from An excavation for a pedestrian subway near the entrance to the park during the causeway and bridge construction, Vancouver City Archives, St Pk P178.3; https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/excavation-for-pedestrian-subway-near-entrance-to-park-during-causeway-and-bridge-construction-3 [best available image].

1972 Robson Street was on the south-east corner of Robson Street and Chilco Street.

Legal Description: District Lot 185, Block 66, Lot 13.

 

1900 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.

 

1972 Robson 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 17, 2019].

 

District:	Vancouver
Permit:
Owner:	Dolton, W. G.
Architect:	Dolton, W. G.
Builder:	Crowe & Wilson
Legal Address:	DL: 185 Block: 66 Sub: Resub: Lot: 13
Date (Y-M-D):	1904-01-01
Street Number:
Street Name:	Chilco Street & Robson Street
Value:	$2,500.00
Remarks:	Frame dwelling
Reference ID:	VN-8184-8185-1

 

NOTE: the reference to “W.G. Dolton” as the owner and architect should probably be to W.T. Dalton. William Tinniswood Dalton (1854-1931) was an architect who lived at 1972 Robson Street from 1904 to 1919.

 

Vancouver directory listings from 1904 to 1920:

Dalton, William Tinniswood	1904 to 1918
Connell, Jasper Spence	1919 to 1920

 

Vancouver Daily World, September 30, 1912, page 21, column 4.

 

In 1920 and 1927, the contents of the house were for sale by auction.

 

Vancouver Province, October 9, 1920, page 31, column 4.

 

Vancouver Sun, July 19, 1927, page 14, column 5.

 

In 1933, the house was for rent as a “private residence only.”

 

Vancouver Province, September 30, 1933, page 23, column 6.

 

The house continued to offer rental accommodation until the early 1950s.

 

Vancouver Sun, November 13, 1939, page 16, column 1.

 

Vancouver Sun, March 3, 1950, page 40, column 5 [selected portions and edited image]

In April 1953, house wreckers were demolishing the house.

 

Vancouver Sun, April 6, 1953, page 29, column 6.

 

By May 1953, a new apartment building was under construction on the site.

 

Vancouver Sun, May 30, 1953, page 29, column 2.

 

The contractor was Menlo Everett Giddings (1897-1954).

The new building had a provisional address of 1990 Robson Street, although the address later reverted to 1972 Robson Street.

 

Vancouver and New Westminster City Directory, 1953, page 947 (Robson Street).

 

1972 Robson Street, detail from First Beach, 1954; BO-54-211; http://vintageairphotos.com/bo-54-211/.

 

The building used the cooperative association method of ownership.

 

Vancouver Sun, September 13, 1957, page 38, column 8.

 

1972 Robson Street; Google Streets, searched May 16, 2019; image dated May 2009.

 

Sources

William Tinniswood Dalton (1854-1931): Memorable Manitobans; http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/dalton_wt.shtml

William Tinniswood Dalton, Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, http://www.dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/813

1972 Robson Street, Vancouver; https://www.condoinvancouver.ca/1972-robson

1972 Robson Street; https://bccondos.net/1972-robson-st

Exploring Vancouver: The Architectural Guide, by Harold Kalman and Robin Ward; Vancouver, Douglas and McIntyre, 2012, page 177: “A softer form of 1950s modernism is 1972 Robson Street, in the manner of Semmens & Simpson, who designed numerous blocks like this in the area.”

 

Menlo Everett Giddings (builder of apartment building at 1972 Robson Street)

“British Columbia Death Registrations, 1872-1986; 1992-1993”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FL5Y-6FS : 8 November 2017), Menlo Everett Giddings, 1954; http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/7f8f52e7-9241-461c-9053-662a52df3f5d.

“British Columbia Death Registrations, 1872-1986; 1992-1993”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FLLM-5L4 : 8 November 2017), Jean Grace Giddings, 1985; http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/916e948a-bfaa-4182-b3c1-5250f091078d [wife of Menlo Everett Giddings].