Overview
Address
518 Richards St, Vancouver BC
Neighbourhood
Downtown
type
Commercial
Significance
B: Significant
Description
The Marble Arch Hotel, originally built as the Canada Hotel in 1913, is a single-room-occupancy hotel, and has recently undergone an extensive renovation by BC Housing. It was designed by Emil Guenther for T.B. Hyndman, and built by E.J. Ryan.
In 1937 it became the Merritt Gordon Hotel, and in 1941 it became the Marble Arch Hotel. The hotel became increasingly run down over time, with the beer parlour being associated with biker gangs and drug deals. A new owner closed the bar in 2002.
By 2013, the building had major structural issues, but the recent major renovations have given the hotel new life and a hopeful future, and the hotel has returned to its original name, the Canada Hotel. Ghost signs on the side of the building also reveal its past, and a new sign harkens back to the days of “light bulbs”, pre-neon.
Source
Changing Vancouver blog
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