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
The building is located on the corner of Main Street and Hastings Streets and is now the Vancouver Public Library, Carnegie Branch.Holy Rosary Cathedral
The Holy Rosary Cathedral is located at the intersection of Richards and Dunsmuir streets. It opened on December 8, 1900. It is listed on the Vancouver Heritage Register and is a legally protected building (source: Wikipedia). Here is a photo of the altar in the Holy Rosary Cathedral.Hotel Europe
The caption on the postcard reads, “The only ABSOLUTELY fireproof hotel in the Dominion – when in Vancouver, visit us”.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.
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).
Here is a double postcard with the second connected card depicting a typical floor plan for the building.
The building features a large clock tower on the top. Let’s have a close look at how big the clock is!Post Office Building and Winch Building
Completed in 1910, the old Post Office Building is located at the corner of Granville and Hastings Streets. Vancouver’s main post office was housed here from 1910 to 1958. Adjoining the old Post Office Building is the Winch Building, completed in 1911. The two buildings are now part of the Sinclair Centre. (Source: Wikipedia).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