2005
Top Ten Endangered Sites
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(Updated)
There's still work to be done to ensure that the redevelopment of the
Woodward's Building honours the building's heritage within its community.
Woodward's has anchored the Victory Square district
since Charles Woodward chose the northwest corner of Hastings
and Abbott to build his second department store in 1903. Despite
12 additions occupying almost an entire city block, the building
maintains a strong sense of architectural cohesion. Its muscular
massing, red brick facade, and continuous streetwall define
the area's historic character.
The red neon 'W', atop an 80-foot steel tower,
is a city icon. Hidden, but no less significant, is the massive,
first growth, 'heavy-timber' structure supporting the original
building. The department store closed in 1993, the building
received City heritage designation in 1996, and in 2003 the
City finally purchased it, re-lighting the neon 'W' as gesture
of its commitment to revitalization of the landmark site and
the wider neighbourhood.
Unfortunately the city did not build that commitment
into its call for redevelopment proposals - there was no specific
requirement for retention of this designated building. In
the end, Council shortlisted three development proposals.
In its communications to Council, HV favoured
the Concert/Holborn proposal, because it emphasized significant
heritage conservation, an appropriate scale of new development,
and respectful interventions. We were dismayed when, in September
2004, Council selected Westbank; while recognizing that the
Concert/Holborn proposal "represented the most preferred
heritage and urban design and architecture scheme," the
City concluded that Concert/Holborn "posed the biggest
concerns in the area of financial performance."
From a heritage and urban context perspective,
the current Westbank scheme is a disaster: token heritage
retention, pastiche facadism, and insensitive interventions
- not to mention the sprouting of a 30+ storey tower in the
middle that ignores the site's context in a low-rise historic
area.
From what we can determine, Westbank would demolish
virtually ALL of the existing Woodward's building outside
of the small 1903/08 structure at the corner of Hastings and
Abbott - it is doubtful that even facades would remain. We
would thus lose more than an historic landmark; there's a
serious risk of losing the district's historic streetscape
and ambience if the building's exterior, or major parts of
it, are destroyed.
There is one last glimmer of hope: in selecting
Westbank, Council instructed the developer to "improve
heritage conservation" in its detailed design development.
This directive must be taken seriously, and we urge Westbank
and the City to find ways to incorporate the existing landmark,
to delete or reduce disrespectful interventions, and to scale
down the height of the proposed tower.
Updated 01 May
2006: The Woodward's development is currently going
forward, with a recent pre-sale of condos slated for the property.
The original corner 1903/08 building will be restored, along
with the "W", and the remaining building structure
on the property demolished. Key features have been identified
throughout the entire structure (both exterior and interior),
and will be retained for potential incorporation into the
new developments.
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