Michael Sasges
Sun

CITY OF VANCOUVER ARCHIVES Str N165 The way we were: Beatty Street in 1929 and (below) Simonds Canada Saw Co. Ltd. and employees.

DOMINION PHOTOS, VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY VPL 27419

The 1927 photograph of the east side of Beatty, between Dunsmuir and Pender, that claims pride of place in Jeff Gruber’s home shows how little has changed on this block in almost 80 years — and how much is changing.

The 550 Beatty building in which Jeff, Tony Wade-Cooper and Shirley and Stan Langtry make their homes is the fourth warehouse “down” the block, from the intersection of Beatty and Dunsmuir where the photographer would have stood in ’27.

Beyond 550 Beatty, going north towards Pender, is the Crane plumbing-supply warehouse, at 540 Beatty. The Townline/Metroliving group of companies is selling lofts there. Next to theTownline/Metroliving project is a warehouse awaiting its inaugural residents after conversion by the Salient Group.

Between the Salient conversion and the “Bekins” — and, earlier, World, and, later, Sun — tower is the second loft conversion in the history of the block, the Storey & Campbell building. (Such a young town we live in! Frederick McLean Storey, son of one of the builders of that building, only died five years ago, aged 96, his son, Douglas, reports.)

Between 1927, the year of the streetscape’s creation, and 1947, the year the saw-shop employees were photographed outside 554 Beatty, 550 Beatty Street had changed, unlike the block.

550 Beatty, in the 1927 city directory, had only four tenants, including Vancouver Warehouses Ltd. In the 1947 city directory, however, 550 Beatty had at least 30 tenants, mostly manufacturers’ agents or wholesalers.

Once almost exclusively a warehouse, 550 Beatty over 20 years had become as much an office building.

One constant in those two years was the Simonds saw shop — or retail on the ground. A tunnel under Beatty connected the storefront and either the actual saw shop or a second saw shop, now occupied by a parking garage owned by the residents of 550 Beatty. The tunnel entrance is still visible.

The conversion of 550 Beatty into homes occurred in the early 1980s and, in the opinion of one involved (after the fact), made new law in Canada.

”As counsel for the developer in 550 Beatty Street Limited Partnership v. Markwood Construction and Guarantee Company of Canada, he successfully upheld the obligation of the guarantor under a performance bond to provide funding for project completion, creating new law in this field,” lawyer Dale Pope’s Internet bio reads.

The developer was an architect, and experienced real-estate practitioner by the name of Bob MacIntyre. A receiver eventually finished construction and marketing.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 8th, 2006 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Real Estate Related. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.