The City of Vancouver voted Wednesday to deem the Waldorf Hotel a heritage site, but a City Hall spokesperson says that won’t necessarily save the former cultural hot spot from being torn down.
The city took the unusual step of ordering a heritage assessment evaluation in January after learning the hotel’s family owners had sold the property to the condo development firm Solterra.
While they have received no rezoning or development permit application or a formal inquiry on the Waldorf, the City said building retention discussions are anticipated to happen in the near future.
When it was announced the property had been sold, members of the public launched a “Save the Waldorf” campaign, which prompted the assessment. An online petition in support of the campaign had, as of mid-April, attracted almost 19,000 signatures.
The assessment was carried out by James Burton of Birmingham and Wood Architects and Planners and found significant reason to deem the Waldorf a heritage site.
“The Waldorf Hotel is valued for its location on East Hastings Street in the blocks east of the old downtown, its 1949 and 1950s exterior and interior detailing, its commercial history as a family-run full-service hotel and drinking establishment, and its persistence as a hospitality venue over six decades since the Second World War,” the report posted on the City of Vancouver’s website stated.
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The Tiki Bar and Polynesian theme of the Waldorf was also noted as a rare and authentic record of the Tiki/Polynesian movement in Vancouver.
Most recently, the space was recognized for its diverse cultural activities and programming, something that was lost when the business group who ran the venue was ousted in January.
Former design director of Waldorf Productions Danny Fazio said that the heritage designation misses the point.
“I think it’s great, but it also isn’t really the issue,” he said. “The issue is that we keep losing cultural spaces. Part of that problem has to do with the increasingly high rents in the city the issues with getting liquor licenses and maybe an overall lack of importance being placed in the arts. But, overall it’s a great thing that the space is being recognized.”
The new heritage designation does not protect the building from being demolished by developers. It simply means that Solterra will need to jump through extra hoops if they plan to develop the building as part of the City’s community plan to look at opportunities for residential and commercial development, and make enhancements to local services, public realm, and streetscape improvements.
The hoops include extra permits, and provisions that may include options to consider alternatives that may include retaining the original structure or a heritage revitalization agreement.
Fazio, whose team is now working under a new name – the Arrival Agency – are still committed to bringing the same type of world-class cultural programming to Vancouver, just at a different venue.
“One of our big projects is we’ve taken over the Fox Theatre, which was the last remaining porn theatre in Vancouver, and we’re turning it into a live music venue,” Fazio said.
“We’re trying to get our licensing and the city has been really cooperative. There’s a lot of support going on there.”
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