B.C. Electric Showroom
City of Vancouver
Heritage Building
B.C. Electric Showroom
Architects: Hodgson & Simmond
This elegant and urbane building features two-story cast-bronze window frames bracketed by decorative bronze balconies and opera-house style décor. The simplicity of its neoclassical design reflects the modernizing influence of the 1920s. The B.C. Electric Company built it in 1927-28 to showcase newly-invented electrical appliances, such as cooking ranges, ringer washers, refrigerators, ‘electric fires’ and vacuum cleaners. Homes at the time typically had wood stoves, scrub boards, ice boxes, wood-burning fire places and brooms. The Showroom featured a large auditorium where thousands of consumers were trained how to operate the new appliances. In 2004 the building was incorporated into a new mixed use redevelopment that extends south to the Hudson’s Bay Company building.
More information: https://changingvancouver.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/dunsmuir-and-granville/
Attribution: Jennie Eggleston