Dunn Block (1908)

The Dunn Block is valued for its association with the original owner, Thomas Dunn, a city councillor on the first Vancouver City Council and a leading pioneer businessman. It was built as a hardware and ship chandlery warehouse, and housed the offices of the Union Steamship Company for several decades.

It has a handsome Romanesque Revival façade, fine patterned red brickwork and corbelled cornice on the main block with continuous granite sill and lintel courses. A four storey addition, constructed in 1907-1908 to the east of the building, is characterized by the innovative use of continuous ribbon windows.

Progressive in their use of evolving technology, the firm of John Edmeston Parr (1856-1923) and Thomas A. Fee (1860-1929) were successful and prolific architects who had a profound effect on the look of Edwardian Vancouver. The addition displays a simplified but sympathetic response to the older building, and is characterized by the innovative use of continuous ribbon windows.

The main floor also contains handsome oak store fittings dating from c.1897, designed by prominent local architect Thomas Hooper. This woodwork was originally installed in the E.A. Morris Tobacconist shop on Hastings Street, and moved here after a fire in 1982.

Source

Canada's Historic Places, Exploring Vancouver: The Architectural Guide by Harold Kalman and Robin Ward

More information

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=2506