Todays sketch - "The Residency" at 1049 Chilco Street isn't the prettiest building in the West-end, just one ugly oblong block of concrete but it has been my home since April 2000. The Residency located at Chilco and Comox, was built in 1956 as a low cost development project. The building has 4 claims to fame: Firstly, it was built on the site of some really steamy celebrity party's in the early 1950's. Secondly the building has huge almost floor-to-ceiling and room-width windows. Thirdly, Chilco is blocked off to vehicular traffic at that point and so the building looks onto a beautiful parkette. Lastly it was built and designed by the famous Vancouver Architect Arthur Erickson (his first building) with his partner Geoffrey Massey. The Residency has been described as a white concrete six-storey Modernist shoebox with large letterbox windows. Erikson was quoted as saying "I'm sure we didn't want to repeat it, or even own up to it," and "I guess the challenges were technical, not artistic.". "It had to fit the rectangular site and the six storey maximum zoning by-laws (which were amended to allow even higher structures in the same year that The Residency was completed). There wasn't much we could do. Make the façade as simple as possible, have as many windows and as much floor space as possible."
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"The Residency" [Click on image for larger view] |
Other Arthur Erickson buildings include the following: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; Government of Canada pavilion, Expo '70, Osaka; University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada; Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Eglinton West Subway Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Yorkdale Subway Station, Toronto; Robson Square, Provincial Law Courts, and Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver; Bank of Canada Building addition, Ottawa, Canada (with Marani Rounthwaite & Dick); Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto; Napp Laboratories, Cambridge, England; King's Landing, Toronto; One California Plaza, Los Angeles, California; Canadian Chancery, Washington, DC; Markham Civic Centre, Markham, Ontario (with Richard Stevens Architects Limited); Convention Center, San Diego, California; The Kingbridge Centre, King City, Ontario; Fresno City Hall, Fresno, California; McGaugh Hall, University of California, Irvine, California; Two California Plaza, Los Angeles, California; Walter C. Koerner Library, University of British Columbia; Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington, USA; Waterfall building, Vancouver; RCMP Heritage Centre, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada; Ritz-Carlton Vancouver, Vancouver (cancelled); and The Erickson, Vancouver.
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