An ink on paper drawing submitted by Louise Phillips dating back to November 30th, 2005. Louise writes:
I thought of this drawing today, a few years after it was made, but the map of Vancouver and my impression of Richmond remain true to the time of its making.
The drawing is in ink on the cover of an environmentally friendly notebook found on sale in a Steveston shop. I was newly arrived from Toronto and experiencing a strange kind of culture shock. Drawing and writing were a guarantee of sanity.
Perhaps it is timely in this year, 2012 - the Queen’s Jubilee Year, to look back at the past!
Thanks Louise!
Swing City, a utopian fantasy concept of a city, imagined by Roger Kemble, with P. Stephen Babiak and John R. Chislett as contributing assistants. From the October 1968 issue of Canadian Architect, pp 58-65. Presented here in post number 3 are 2 of the 4 full layouts from this article, with explanatory text to provide some context for these drawings.
Actually, I just realized this entire series of drawings can already be found online, along with a 1600 word essay to accompany the article, posted on Roger Kemble’s own personal webpage. Roger has also indulged in a few more of his architectural fantasies, including a some conceptual sketches showing what he would have liked to do with the North Shore of False Creek, given half a chance. He also shows one of his more recent award winning projects, the Vivo Gallery Residences in Nanaimo, recipient of the 2008 City of Nanaimo Design Award for a multi-purpose development. For more on Roger’s work, see this 2002 article in this Heritage Vancouver newsletter.
And incidentally, Roger’s own daughter is now an architect. According to the about page at Architrave.ca, she funded her University studies in Art, Art History and Architecture working as a model builder and draftsman for Arthur Erickson Architects and in her father’s firm Roger Kemble Architects in Vancouver.
I was impressed to see Swing City referenced in this U of T history of architecture course back in 2007: ARC 3033: Manifesto and Ethos through Postwar Architecture History in Canada. I wish I could have heard the professor discuss this work in class! I should also mention that this entire magazine article was originally printed on a special blue paper, a fitting tribute to blue sky thinking.
It was purely coincidental that I posted this series of drawings the very same week the City of Vancouver announced it was seeking a new director of planning. Will Swing City make a comeback and gain the approval of the next director of planning? Or will we dare to dream up even more fantastical plans for our fair city in the years to come? Time will tell…
ps: I also just learned that the domain SwingCouver.com is taken - it’s dance conference that just took place here last month! Have no fear, however; looks like they host an event once a year! Check out their videos from last year for some fancy footwork!
Swing City, a utopian fantasy concept of a city, imagined by Roger Kemble, with P. Stephen Babiak and John R. Chislett as contributing assistants. From the October 1968 issue of Canadian Architect, pp 58-65. Presented here are a couple closer detailed cross sections of the concept, post number 2.
Think back to 1968 if you will, and imagine a city filled with ambition, idealism, and poised to begin an explosion of vertical construction. It was the year Vancouver’s International Airport terminal opened, the Pacific Coliseum, as well as the Centennial Museum and H. R. MacMillan Planetarium, and Arthur Erickson’s MacMillan Bloedel Building too. SkyTrain was still almost 2 decades away, but the second drawing prominently features a monorail system, an integral transportation choice in a city which seems to have left the traditional street behind. This plan radically challenges all prior conventions, seeking extremely modern and modular solutions. It seems obsessed with scalability, and not so concerned with feasibility or sustainability. Would these ideals allow uninhibited human achievement, or would it transform the city into the Borg? A final post will include some of the explanatory text that accompanied these drawings.
Swing City, a utopian fantasy concept of a city, imagined by Roger Kemble, with P. Stephen Babiak and John R. Chislett as contributing assistants. From the October 1968 issue of Canadian Architect, pp 58-65. Presented here are a couple long range landscape sketches of the project.
From a distance, it almost looks like something out of District 9! In future posts, I’d like to show more detailed cross sections of this fantastical concept, followed by a final post with explanatory text. It’s certainly one of the most surreal concepts I’ve seen for the city, and yet, there’s more than meets the eye with this particular project!
Proposed pagoda for Pender Street, from the October 1968 issue of Canadian Architect. In a 1969 article from the Calgary Herald, ‘Corny’ Architecture Rapped at Meeting, it mentions that Vancouver is importing a genuine pagoda from the Orient, to be used as a pagoda; I presume this is the pagoda they are are referring to. Instead of the extravagant pagoda seen here, the city would eventually get the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden, which was built in 1985 and completed just in time for Expo 86. I for one am glad we got the garden over the pagoda; in this particular location, the pagoda seems clearly out of proportion to the street and surrounding buildings. One final detail to note; as you can see in the second photograph, Pender Street was once a one-way street heading west at this junction.
Cedar Cottage Station as sketched by a Grade 7 student at Lord Selkirk Elementary School. From Chuck Davis’ website:
In 1910 Vancouver’s Cedar Cottage neighborhood got its name from an Interurban train stop there. The station, in turn, was named for the Cedar Cottage Brewery.
And more from the Gibby’s Field Group site:
1902 (ca.) Cedar Cottage Brewery established by John Benson at Westminster Road (Kingsway) and Knight, on the banks of Gibson Creek at the site of the present-day Safeway building King Edward Village.
According to the book House of Suds: A History of Beer Brewing in Western Canada by William A. Hagelund, five other local breweries in Vancouver circa 1900 included:
- Stanley Park Brewery
- Red Cross Brewery
- Royal Brewery
- Columbia Brewery
- Doering & Marstrand (Vancouver) Brewery
Again, thanks for your submissions, Sid!
On the bus with Llewellyn Petley-Jones, the late British-Canadian artist (1908-1986) whose name lives on in a Vancouver commercial art gallery. This sketch is believed to be from around 1952 when he lived in Vancouver. Transit aficionados, can you determine which bus #264 is from? A Brill perhaps? And did Vancouver transit vehicles used to say “Cigarette Smoking only” (as opposed to pipes & cigars!?) From the collection of artist Tom Carter.
UPDATE! I asked the bus numbers man himself, and Michael Taylor-Noonan had this to say about bus #264:
It looks like a Fageol Twin Coach, with its tell-tale 4 piece windscreen.
VIN/SERIAL: 38S 1077C
UNIT: 5942
OWNER/LESSEE: BC Hydro & Power Authority (BC)
MANUFACTURER: Fageol
MODEL: Twin Coach 38S
BUILT: 1950-06
SECONDARY ENTRIES (VEHICLE HISTORY):
UNIT OWNER/LESSEE NOTES DATE
264 Pacific Stage Lines Ltd. (BC) Assigned to Pacific Stage Lines 1950
264 Pacific Stage Lines Ltd. (BC) To BCER, Oakridge, #M94 1958
M94 BCER (BC) Transferred to BC Hydro & Power Authority 1962-04
M94 BC Hydro (BC) Renumbered 3131 1964
3131 BC Hydro (BC) To New Westminster, 5942 1966
5942 BC Hydro (BC) RETIRED
The Twins were an American Design built in Kent Ohio, so called because they originally had two engines (for power). They were gasoline powered. The ‘C’ in the serial tells you that this Twin was built in Canada, (Windsor I think).
Super details! Thanks, Michael! I love the fact that we can track down the entire history of a bus some 50 years after it left service! And with a bit more searching, I’ve just learned about the Canadian Pacific Transport Company, a division of CP Railways. Seems they operated their own bus line which had a Fageol Twin Coach 38S in their fleet, the all-time favourite bus of this guy! Neat!
Visions of Metrotown, 1971. Via Gordon Price’s post on SpacingVancouver.ca, this was the caption below the illustration:
Multi-level Central Area: The main activity level is the pedestrian platform. Underneath is vehicular access, car parking, loading facilities and public transportation. Above are shops, offices and residential clusters.
The drawing was originally published in the 142 page book, “Urban Structure: A study of long range policies which affect the physical structure of an urban area”, written by a staff member in Burnaby’s Planning Department. I’m not sure if the illustrations are actually credited in the book; I’ll have to take another look at the book if I get a chance. David Pereira has brought this vintage publication back into the spotlight, and he has used it as inspiration for his own Master’s project thesis. Further context is provided in the comments by David:
…the rendering…was intended to be a theoretical mock-up of all the elements that Burnaby Planners at the time believed should be placed into these Town Centres. It was never an actual blueprint. It was more of a dreamscape, if you will. To find out more about which elements were planned for Metrotown, and why they didn’t make the cut, stay tuned for a future update on the story behind Metrotown…
Angelo Colari and the Hotel Europe, 1908, by Frank Lewis, 1976. As mentioned in his bio, Frank painted the mural on the side of the Maritime Museum in 1986, and he painted the hoardings at the old Vancouver Court house at some point as well. More about the drawing from Gastown.org:
Angelo Colari built the Europe on this triangular-shaped lot near the steamship docks that used to be located at the foot of Columbia and Carrall Streets. Colari was born in Italy in 1861 and immigrated to British Columbia in 1882 when he was 21 years old. He spent four years in Victoria before coming to Vancouver in 1886.
This drawing was the front cover of yesterday’s historical map, a pre-Expo96 Downtown Historical Association Historical Trek.
