In the Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs, we have historic photographs depicting street scenes in Vancouver in the early 1900s. In this post, we will introduce some of our favourite photographs, showing the heritage buildings in Downtown Vancouver. We hope you can identify these buildings and how they have changed since then!
Carnegie Library
Carnegie Library, Vancouver, B.C., [between 1910 and 1920?]
Holy Rosary Cathedral
The Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Vancouver, B.C., [between 1910 and 1920?]
Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Vancouver, B.C., [between 1901 and 1910?]
Sanctuary of R.C. Cathedral, Vancouver, B.C., [1906]
Hotel Europe
Hotel Europe, Vancouver, B.C., [between 1905 and 1915?]
The building was constructed in 1908-1909. Situated on a triangular area formed by Powell Street and Alexander Street, beside the Maple Tree Square in Gastown, it is designed in the “flatiron” style. The name “flatiron” derives from the building’s resemblance to a cloth iron. (Source: Wikipedia).
Dominion Trust Building
Another flatiron-style heritage building is the Dominion Trust Building at the corner of West Hastings and Cambie Streets, across the street from Victory Square. There are a few postcards in the Uno Langmann collection depicting the building in different times.
A Busy Corner in Vancouver, B.C., [not after 1909]
Dominion Trust Block, [not after 1910]
Dominion Trust Building, Vancouver, B.C., [1910]
The Dominion Trust Building, Vancouver, B.C., [between 1920 and 1930?]
Vancouver Block
The Vancouver Block sits near the intersection of Granville and Georgia Streets. Constructed between 1910 and 1912, it was one of the grandest skyscrapers at that time (source: Canada’s Historic Places).
The Vancouver Block, one of the newest skyscrapers
Here is a double postcard with the second connected card depicting a typical floor plan for the building.
Vancouver Block, [between 1912 and 1915?]
Clock on the observation deck of the Vancouver Block building, [1921]
Post Office Building and Winch Building
New Post Office, Vancouver, B.C., [1910]
Post office, Vancouver, B.C., [between 1920 and 1935?]
Winch Building, Vancouver, B.C., [not before 1911]
We hope you enjoyed this post! In the Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs we also have photographs from other cities and towns in BC, such as Victoria, New Westminster, Penticton, and Fernie. To view more historic photographs, please visit Open Collections.
I would like to find out some images of old building in 1920s to 1940s vancouver for my design Project. Could you supply the right print I could buy?
Hello Raymond!
Thank you for reaching out.
The ability to print items from our collections depend on the specific collection or even individual items within a collection, primarily due to copyright considerations. For each item in our Open Collections, you can find information about its Rights on the right side of the item page. It’s important to note that most items have some form of usage restrictions, but there are also items in the public domain.
Once you’ve identified the items you’d like to print, you can submit a reproduction request to our Rare Book Special Collections department. If your intention is to publicly display these images, please be sure to select the “Commercial Use” on the top of the page, when making your request. Following this, RBSC will be in contact with you to discuss the details further.
Links you might find useful:
Reproduction Request: https://rbsc.library.ubc.ca/visiting/reproduction-requests/
Reproduction Fees: https://rbsc.library.ubc.ca/visiting/fees/
Photographs from Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs which is featured in this blog post: https://open.library.ubc.ca/search?q=&collection=langmann
To view more historic photographs check Open Collection website: https://open.library.ubc.ca