Heritage Vancouver is calling for a better balance of preservation and improving lives when it comes to the future of single-room occupancy hotels (SROs) in the Downtown Eastside.
The group released its annual watch list of “10 places or themes of interest” and the hotels topped the list.
“This list we have been publishing for more than 20 years now used to be focused just on buildings throughout the city, Jurian ter Horst said, Heritage Vancouver Society’s vice-president.
“Now we are looking at places, buildings, topics and themes that deserve a bit more attention.”
Heritage Vancouver said there are concerns the loss of SRO buildings can equate to the loss of “a defining architectural character in the city.”
But, it also described SROs as “dangerous and deteriorating” and notes many people have had terrible experiences inside them.
Many are over 100 years old and are extremely run down.
“To highlight historical and architectural perspectives alone omits the lived experience of thousands of people who continue to live in these often dangerous and deteriorating structures,” Heritage Vancouver said in its watch list.
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“This could be viewed as privileging the past at the expense of the present.”
The group says any new facilities that support the community should also value the physical history of the neighbourhood.
“We’re not against new housing because it is necessary,” Horst said.
“But, (building) for just for the sake of housing, neighbourhoods can lose its character and it’s going to be very generic.”
Another concern of Heritage Vancouver is the loss of affordable housing if older buildings are taken down in favour of more expensive condo towers.
“Neighbourhoods” is the third category on the group’s 2022 watch list.
Heritage Vancouver is worried that some neighbourhoods are losing their character with new developments.
“Vancouver has often been called a city of neighbourhoods,” Horst said.
“We believe that every neighbourhood has its own heritage value. They have character.”
An emphasis of concern has been expressed by the group for the Broadway neighbourhood and the incoming new SkyTrain line.
“It’s going to be a very generic (area) where you can’t distinguish Fairview, you can’t distinguish Kitsilano, and you can’t distinguish Mount Pleasant anymore,” said Horst.
But, the Broadway neighbourhood plan does make a note of conserving certain areas within those neighbourhoods, which include heritage sites.
Conserved areas include parts of south Kitsilano, with many properties on the heritage registry, a ‘rare cluster of early houses in unique quiet streetscape’ on the Fairview slopes, and in Mount Pleasant — early working-class houses and apartment buildings.
All of these communities have their own neighbourhood-specific plans, created with input from residents.
“These plans provide a foundation, a historic testament towards the aspirations of those who live in the neighbourhood and really enable those aspirations,” said Andy Yan, an SFU city program director
The other topics, themes or places listed on the watch list include Vancouver Heritage’s registry, 6495 Main Street, Hastings Park and Interment, Heather Lands, Winters Hotel, 800 block of Granville Street, heritage businesses and historic districts.
People can read the full watch list on Heritage Vancouver’s website.
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