56 Powell St

56 Powell was likely constructed in the early or mid 1890s.

The building is a good example of the transition from the busy Victorian Italianate and Richardsonian Romanesque Styles to the much plainer Commercial Style.

When the building was constructed it was likely owned by John Babcock Lovell of Victoria who invested in real estate in Vancouver in the 1880s and 1890s. By 1904 the building was owned by Angelo Calori, owner of the nearby Europe Hotel. For a period the upper floors of this building were used as an annex for the hotel.

The ground floor was used for retail shops and services that included a leather goods merchant, a barbershop, a pool hall, and a café, typical of the area.

In the late 1960s and the 1970s, a noteable tenant was the Georgia Straight newspaper. A key institution of Vancouver’s vibrant youth counter culture, the ‘Straight’ was constantly in trouble with ‘authorities’, who viewed it as a threat to civilization.

Source

Canada's Historic Places

More information

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=7878&pid=0