The historic Beaverdell Hotel burned to the ground on March 28 in circumstances which officials called “suspicious”.  The home of the owner of the hotel had burned the previous month.  Opened as the Smith Hotel in 1901 when Beaverdell was the centre of a busy mining industry in the southern Okanagan, it had since changed hands many times. There have been fires before but the old hotel managed to survive into its second century...
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Vancouver’s Pantages Theatre was finally doomed when City Hall issued a 
demolition permit on April 6, citing public safety concerns.  A number of schemes for the historic East Hastings theatre were put forward over the years, but none made it to the starting gate.  Meanwhile, the building slowly decayed.  A few years ago the roof failed and water started to come in, signaling the beginning of the end.  The interior...
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Carleton Elementary in Vancouver has received a reprieve, along with several other schools, after a majority of school board trustees have confirmed this week that they will vote not to close any of them. Sir Guy Carleton School includes at least three buildings of heritage value.  The oldest of them has been closed for a few years following a fire. Heritage BC wrote to the Vancouver School Board last spring when demolition was threatened. ...
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On July 5 the Vancouver School Board (VSB) voted to approve a rehabilitation plan for Kitsilano Secondary.  At cost of $66 million, the plan calls for the retention of three facades of the original 1927 block, and the demolition of the rest of the structure.  
The concept proposal is before the provincial Ministry of Education which must 
approve the funding.  Kitsilano Secondary is on the City of Vancouver Heritage Register.
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Last spring an intense campaign was underway to save the original two-room 
schoolhouse at Sir Guy Carleton Elementary in Vancouver from demolition.  
Now the fight has expanded to the entire complex of buildings as the Vancouver School Board (VSB) threatens to close them all.The first building that went up at the Carleton Elementary site was built in 1896.  Originally called the Vancouver East School, it is said to be Vancouver’s...
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