Vancouver's Art Deco history

OLGA LIVSHIN

On Sept. 8, the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia held a talk on Vancouver's Art Deco Bridges: Lions Gate and the Burrard Bridge. Presented by well-known Vancouver heritage consultant Donald Luxton, the presentation continued the series of events started by the opening of the museum's latest exhibit, Vancouver: Bridging its History, 1895-1980.

The boardroom of the museum was packed. "I'm not surprised Donald Luxton drew such a large crowd; he is a very engaging speaker," said Molly Winston, the museum's education coordinator. Luxton didn't disappoint.

An ardent advocate of architectural preservation, he is passionate about Vancouver's history, its buildings, streets and bridges. "Bridges reflect their time," he said at the beginning of his talk. "Sometimes they're utilitarian. Sometimes, they're poetry in steel." In his opinion, both of Vancouver's art deco bridges are poetic, transmitting the stories of people who built them and the people who have been using them.

Luxton began his presentation with the Burrard Bridge. One of the best examples of Art Deco bridges in the world, the bridge was opened for traffic in 1932. Its engineer, J. R. Grant, designed the bridge with six lanes, which was considered overkill in those times. The bridge has caught up to its traffic capacity by now, faithfully serving Vancouver as one of the main connections to Downtown. As an architectural landmark, it looks like a distinctive crisscross gateway: welcoming both ships sailing under it and cars driving over it. The summer 2009 has also seen the opening of an experimental cycling lane across the bridge, which, so far, seems to be a success.

Luxton shared rare photographs with the audience that showed the imposing concrete towers, the connecting galleries and the sculptural busts of Capt. George Vancouver and Sir Harry Burrard-Neale in ship prows. Both sculptures were created by prominent Vancouver sculptor Charles Marega, who was also responsible for the famous lions at the entrance to the Lions Gate Bridge.

Luxton shared that unlike the Burrard Bridge, which was built by the city of Vancouver and heartily approved by those giants of local industry, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), the Lions Gate Bridge was a private endeavor of British financiers – the Guinness family – and the CPR vehemently opposed its construction.

Although Luxton provided his listeners with fascinating statistical and engineering details, more riveting were his comments on the human controversy surrounding Lions Gate Bridge. After extensive research, he discovered that the history of the bridge is forever connected with the extraordinary man who had first envisioned it and later made his vision reality – Alfred Taylor. Taylor's short biographical sketch was one of the highlights of the presentation.

A graceful arch across the First Narrows, the Lions Gate Bridge was opened for traffic in 1938. One of the local newspapers called it "the bridge to better times," because it drastically improved the accessibility of the North Shore, resulting in the development booms of North and West Vancouver.

The fantastic footage of the construction of the Burrard Bridge crowned the evening, with people gasping in amazement. Luxton could have entertained them for hours: his knowledge of the subject seemed boundless. Born and raised in Vancouver, he considers it his mission in life to preserve as much as he can of his beloved city. "Like any modern city, Vancouver changes," he said, "but sometimes we lose important parts of the city in the name of progress." Trying to minimize the damage, he has been active at the forefront of the heritage movement in British Columbia since 1983. His company undertakes various projects to that effect, including evaluation and restoration of old sites, consulting municipalities in their heritage programs and creating heritage management plans. He also teaches at the B.C. Institute of Technology and gives numerous public lectures. "Old buildings tell stories of our past," he said. Luxton is passing those stories on to his audiences and his students.

Over the years, Luxton's enthusiasm for the preservation of architecture has led to involvement with several heritage societies, including the Arthur Erickson Conservancy, the Victoria Heritage Foundation, the Canadian Art Deco Society and the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. Currently, he is the president of Heritage Vancouver.

Despite his multiple duties, Luxton also finds time to write books on architectural history. In 1999, he and co-author Lilia D'Acres published Lions Gate, which was the basis of his presentation at the museum. In 2003, Luxton edited Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia. In that book, he and 56 other contributors outlined the biographies of nearly 400 architects who practised in British Columbia between 1858 and 1938. Luxton's latest book, Vancouver General Hospital: 100 Years of Care and Service, was released in 2006. It is a unique architectural perspective of the hospital, and is replete with remarkable photographs. All three books have received multiple awards.

In 2009, in recognition of Luxton's contribution to the preservation of Vancouver's heritage, he was awarded the British Columbia Heritage Award. He has designated Heritage Vancouver as the recipient of a $10,000 grant, which was part of his award.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer.

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