855 Thurlow St

The Cameron building, a multi-family residential building, was constructed in 1926 and designed by architect Alexander Henderson. Henderson is credited with designing many prominent buildings around Vancouver such as the nursing wing for Saint Paul’s Hospital in 1921. The building, composed of brick and standing only two stories high (a common zoning restriction for the time), features a simple cornice around the perimeter of the facade and a bay window above the main entry. Much of the original ornamentation remains such as the plaquette displaying “1926” (the year of construction) above the entrance, with only slight changes, such as the entryway and cornice being painted to a darker colour.

The building is located between Thurlow Street and Rosemary Brown Lane. The lane is dedicated to Ms. Brown, who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in B.C. beginning in 1972 and was the first Black woman to ever be elected to a Canadian provincial legislature. She later taught at Simon Fraser University as a professor of Women’s Studies and additionally became the Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Past residents of the Cameron building include Edward Davis, an accountant who lived with his wife Sara, and Thomas Donovan. Thomas immigrated with his wife from the United States in 1908 and later went on to work as a waiter at the Vancouver Hotel.

The West End originally served as a neighbourhood for the upper class. From the 1890s onwards, many new homes, predominantly Victorian-style in early years, were erected. The neighbourhood began to redevelop again around two decades later with the construction of apartment buildings along the original streetcar lines. Due to building codes at the time, these apartments were only six stories high, a large height differential to the condominiums that surround these structures today. Today, the West End thrives as a densely populated residential area. It also encompasses Davie Street Village, which became a hub for the LGBTQ+ community in Vancouver beginning in the 1970s and is steps away from retail shops and Stanley Park.

Source

British Columbia City Directories 1860-1955, VanMap, Heritage Vancouver Building Permits Database, VHF’s House Style Webtool, Elizabeth Walker: Street Names of Vancouver, Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950