100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #23
. The Royal Bank Building On 30th April 1924, a $5,000 contract was granted to F.T. Sherbourne to build a branch of the Royal Bank at 1575 Commercial Drive. (Sun, p.3). It was expanded in 1946 and rebuilt in 1949. It operated as a bank until 1972 when the building was repurposed for retail.
Commercial Drive’s Own Piano Man
In May 1924, John Thomas Guy, a 40-year old Englishman, arrived in Vancouver seeking a site for his dream of building a piano making factory. After a brief exploration, he met with the Board of Trade and announced himself impressed with the possibilities, and noting that most of the materials he would need were available…
100 Years Ago Today in Grandview #22
A joint meeting of the Grandview Rate-Payers Association and the Parent-Teacher Association held at the Grandview Dancing Academy was told by the principal, H.B. Fitch, that attendance at Grandview School had jumped from 330 to 650 pupils. The school was seriously overcrowded. The principal urged everyone to get behind a new School Board By-law that…
Commercial Drive Buildings
. Access to the newly-enhanced illustrated Inventory of every building that has existed on Commercial Drive since the beginning can be found at:
100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #21
. In September 1911, the BC Electric Company purchased most of the block at McLean and E. 2nd Avenue, and over the next few years built a full-scale gas works on the block. By 2nd February 1924, the Grandview gasworks had become a fully integrated part of Vancouver’ power supply, and the company proudly advertised it…
100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #19
The Belmont Building at 1433-37 Commercial is architecturally unique on the Drive, with the open archway between the two bays. The lot was owned by Mrs Gamble and she paid $265 to Wylie & Ross to have a small shack-like store erected here from 1904. In 1912, major Grandview developer James Guinet purchased the property…
100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, # 18
. Labour Strife In the late fall of 1923, the Vancouver waterfront was the scene of labour strife that occasionally turned violent. During the weekend of November 24-25, some of that violence spilled over into Grandview. Several strikers were alleged to have attacked several men, and they were also responsible for breaking a window in…
100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #17
. William T. Oates ran the Grandview Stationery store at 1150 Commercial Drive from 1921-1924. He and his wife, Elizabeth, lived with their son Cresswell in three rooms above paying $50 a month. Not only was he a stationer but he also ran a kennel for cocker spaniels. On this day in 1923, he ran…
100 Years Ago Today in Grandview #16
. Armed Robbery of a Boy Jack Sherlock was a delivery boy for White’s Grocery at 2657 Commercial Drive. He received a telephone order to deliver groceries to a house in the 1300 block of E. 8th Avenue. He was specifically requested to make sure he had change with him. He was unable to find…
100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #15
. At a meeting on Friday 28th September 1923, the members and supporters of the Little Theatre approved “with much enthusiasm” the purchase of the Palace Theatre, 637 Commercial Drive. Built in 1913 as the Alcazar, it is now the York Theatre. For the previous two years, the Little Theatre — described as “a true…
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