Domtar Salt Building - 1931
85 West 1st Ave, Vancouver, BC.
The building was renovated to the present configuration just prior to 2010 Olympics.
Historic Place:
The historic place, a familiar local landmark, is the large, red, wood industrial building at 85 West 1st Avenue, Vancouver, built in or around 1930 and located on city-owned land in South East False Creek.
Heritage Value:
The Vancouver Salt Company Building has heritage value for representing the secondary food-processing industry and the diversification of the local economy to meet the needs of the fishery; for its architectural and structural qualities; as a rare intact survivor of the industrial buildings that once dominated South East False Creek (SEFC); and as a neighbourhood landmark. SEFC was, through much of the twentieth century, a beehive of industrial activity. Most industries located here for access to water, rail, and road transportation. Heavy industrial uses, such as sawmills and steel fabrication, prevailed. The subject site was used from the early 1900s for gravel storage.
The Vancouver Salt Co. operation was important technologically for the means of
extraction, for using False Creek to transport goods, for its contributions to other
industries, and for the way in which ownership changes illustrate patterns of international trade and corporate acquisition. Unrefined salt was shipped to Vancouver from the San Francisco Bay Area, where it had been recovered from brine by solar evaporation. This unusual technique was traditional to the Bay Area, originating with the Ohlone Indians and continued by the Spanish missionaries. The Vancouver-bound salt was extracted by the Leslie Salt Refining Co. of Newark, California (acquired in 1978 by Cargill Inc.), which owned the Vancouver Salt Co. The operation changed to Arden Vancouver Salt Co. Ltd. in 1970 and was later acquired by Domtar Ltd. By the late 1980s the building was used for paper recycling: first by Belkin Paper Stock Ltd. and then by Paperboard Industries. Raw salt was unloaded at Burrard Inlet and brought by scow to False Creek, where the Vancouver Salt Co. ‘semi-refined’ it by washing, drying, grinding, and sifting it into a coarse product fit for human consumption. The original market was as a preservative for the fishery, particularly the area’s Asian-Canadian fish-packers. Subsequent uses included other kinds of food-packing, tanneries, cold-storage plants, and highway ice removal. By 1950 rail and then trucks replaced boats for receiving and shipping the salt, reflecting changes brought about by the development of wheeled transport.
The building has heritage value as a pragmatic and attractive response to the needs of the salt operation and the site. It was built about 1930, squeezed between two lumber operations and mostly on a City-owned water lot, with only the southwest corner situated above the historic high water line. The original structure, a block about 90 by 145 feet, is supported on piles. A complex roof truss system directs the loads onto columns in the lateral walls and down the centre, creating a large open space. A raised monitor roof has a clerestory to admit light and air. The expansion of the building to the north in 1954-55 (Wright Engineers Ltd.) speaks to the growing demand for salt and the evolving refinery technology. New equipment was accommodated in part by building a roof over the existing 35-foot-deep apron at the rear, the former loading dock. The gable-roofed eastern portion held four large brine tanks, and the shed-roofed western part became a dry storage shed. A new hopper and conveyor were installed by the 1st Avenue loading dock, since the raw salt now arrived by truck. The conveyor may have necessitated raising the roof, which would date the tall silo-like cap at the front to this time. Minor alterations were made in 1970 for the Arden Vancouver Salt Co. Ltd. (Richard E. Cole, Engineer). The replacement of the salt-processing machinery with paper-shredding equipment in 1987 reflects the growing importance of the recycling industry. Belkin Paper Stock Ltd. also clad the sides with galvanized steel and cut new doors in the north elevation (De Guriby Ltd., Engineers, and Amundson Construction Co. Ltd). The building stands empty today, displaying physical evidence of its evolution and its uses.
Character-defining Elements:
- Broad building with a medium-sloped roof and gable at the front (south)
- Monitor roof, with a clerestory containing a row of 15-pane windows and cedar
ventilation louvres
- Taller, silo-like, gable-roofed feature at front of monitor
- Small-paned windows on the front elevation
- Loading dock at the front, protected from the weather by a shed roof
- Wood stud walls, covered externally with diagonal sheathing and horizontal
finished siding
-
- Large, open interior space, interrupted only by a row of columns down the centre
- Elaborate roof truss and knee braces, composed of wood members with metal
fastenings and hardware
- Two salt hoppers along the side wall (inside the building)
- Profile of main gable and monitor roof seen from the rear (north)
- Location on the axis of Manitoba Street
- Wetland beneath building
- City of Vancouver
Domtar Salt Building - 1931
85 West 1st Ave, Vancouver, BC.
The building was renovated to the present configuration just prior to 2010 Olympics.
Historic Place:
The historic place, a familiar local landmark, is the large, red, wood industrial building at 85 West 1st Avenue, Vancouver, built in or around 1930 and located on city-owned land in South East False Creek.
Heritage Value:
The Vancouver Salt Company Building has heritage value for representing the secondary food-processing industry and the diversification of the local economy to meet the needs of the fishery; for its architectural and structural qualities; as a rare intact survivor of the industrial buildings that once dominated South East False Creek (SEFC); and as a neighbourhood landmark. SEFC was, through much of the twentieth century, a beehive of industrial activity. Most industries located here for access to water, rail, and road transportation. Heavy industrial uses, such as sawmills and steel fabrication, prevailed. The subject site was used from the early 1900s for gravel storage.
The Vancouver Salt Co. operation was important technologically for the means of
extraction, for using False Creek to transport goods, for its contributions to other
industries, and for the way in which ownership changes illustrate patterns of international trade and corporate acquisition. Unrefined salt was shipped to Vancouver from the San Francisco Bay Area, where it had been recovered from brine by solar evaporation. This unusual technique was traditional to the Bay Area, originating with the Ohlone Indians and continued by the Spanish missionaries. The Vancouver-bound salt was extracted by the Leslie Salt Refining Co. of Newark, California (acquired in 1978 by Cargill Inc.), which owned the Vancouver Salt Co. The operation changed to Arden Vancouver Salt Co. Ltd. in 1970 and was later acquired by Domtar Ltd. By the late 1980s the building was used for paper recycling: first by Belkin Paper Stock Ltd. and then by Paperboard Industries. Raw salt was unloaded at Burrard Inlet and brought by scow to False Creek, where the Vancouver Salt Co. ‘semi-refined’ it by washing, drying, grinding, and sifting it into a coarse product fit for human consumption. The original market was as a preservative for the fishery, particularly the area’s Asian-Canadian fish-packers. Subsequent uses included other kinds of food-packing, tanneries, cold-storage plants, and highway ice removal. By 1950 rail and then trucks replaced boats for receiving and shipping the salt, reflecting changes brought about by the development of wheeled transport.
The building has heritage value as a pragmatic and attractive response to the needs of the salt operation and the site. It was built about 1930, squeezed between two lumber operations and mostly on a City-owned water lot, with only the southwest corner situated above the historic high water line. The original structure, a block about 90 by 145 feet, is supported on piles. A complex roof truss system directs the loads onto columns in the lateral walls and down the centre, creating a large open space. A raised monitor roof has a clerestory to admit light and air. The expansion of the building to the north in 1954-55 (Wright Engineers Ltd.) speaks to the growing demand for salt and the evolving refinery technology. New equipment was accommodated in part by building a roof over the existing 35-foot-deep apron at the rear, the former loading dock. The gable-roofed eastern portion held four large brine tanks, and the shed-roofed western part became a dry storage shed. A new hopper and conveyor were installed by the 1st Avenue loading dock, since the raw salt now arrived by truck. The conveyor may have necessitated raising the roof, which would date the tall silo-like cap at the front to this time. Minor alterations were made in 1970 for the Arden Vancouver Salt Co. Ltd. (Richard E. Cole, Engineer). The replacement of the salt-processing machinery with paper-shredding equipment in 1987 reflects the growing importance of the recycling industry. Belkin Paper Stock Ltd. also clad the sides with galvanized steel and cut new doors in the north elevation (De Guriby Ltd., Engineers, and Amundson Construction Co. Ltd). The building stands empty today, displaying physical evidence of its evolution and its uses.
Character-defining Elements:
- Broad building with a medium-sloped roof and gable at the front (south)
- Monitor roof, with a clerestory containing a row of 15-pane windows and cedar
ventilation louvres
- Taller, silo-like, gable-roofed feature at front of monitor
- Small-paned windows on the front elevation
- Loading dock at the front, protected from the weather by a shed roof
- Wood stud walls, covered externally with diagonal sheathing and horizontal
finished siding
-
- Large, open interior space, interrupted only by a row of columns down the centre
- Elaborate roof truss and knee braces, composed of wood members with metal
fastenings and hardware
- Two salt hoppers along the side wall (inside the building)
- Profile of main gable and monitor roof seen from the rear (north)
- Location on the axis of Manitoba Street
- Wetland beneath building
- City of Vancouver