21 E Hastings St

Built in 1914 by Gray Brothers for Mrs. Cole Dawson to house Henry D. Rae’s clothing store, this building is an example of the type of structures that were constructed to house the many firms that serviced the growing population of the area (a constantly changing population of loggers and other resource industry workers). By 1916, the building was a retail shoe store; by 1935, it was the site of a shoe manufacturing business – a use which continued until the late twentieth century.

The building was built for a specific retail purpose and was not intended as a masterpiece of architectural design. However, the building represents Gastown’s history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as a mixed-use district and the centre for Vancouver’s trade and manufacturing.

The Edwardian design speaks to the change in public taste from the extensive ornamentation of the Victorian era to a more restrained form in the early years of the twentieth century.

Source

Canada's Historic Places

More information

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=8269&pid=0