Across The Shore From Yaletown

Mix together 2 months of Expo'86, half a dozen hectaires of a dilapidated and rundown warehouse district and billions of construction dollars and the result is Vancouver's Yaletown district. This area has proven to be quite interesting to watch evolve and over the past few decades, as each glittering glass tower has risen from the next vacant lot a futuristic micro-city has emerged in the heart of Vancouver.

This photo is from the north east tip of Granville Island looking across False Creek towards Yaletown. Having watched this area evolve for 16 years what I've noticed is that the hi-rise construction in Yaletown seemed to pass through a series of phases with the current phase being nothing short of spectacular.

Phase one included several stark and utilitarian monoliths that looked to be about as inviting to live in as a futuristic prison would be. The idea of having to get a bar code tatooed on the back of your neck in order to qualify for a mortgage must have erked many condo buyers. I'm just kidding of course ... I think. Fortunately the city revolted at the prospect of turning the south east side of Vancouver into a massive prison camp and instead turned 180 architectural degree's and phase two arrived.

During this short lived second constrution burst rather than massive ugly buildings that looked like they'd been designed by a summer co-op student who just clicked on Auto-CAD's MyNewProject wizard what we got was low-rise (10 to 15 story) brownstones and enough metro-sexual funk to choke one those micro-apartment-dogs. It was all very nice and was certainly a welcome switch from phase one but the construction proved to be both a shame and a sham. Many of the new buildings were constructed with building standards that assumed it never rained in Vancouver. Ooops. You mean this isn't Phoenix Arizona? A decade and many millions of dollars and lawsuits later the last of these leaky condos are about to loose their green construction covering and return to daylight. Welcome back.

Phase three saw a burst of construction that stamped out semi-pleasant but derivative 40 story high-rises. The new kids on the blocks filled in the core of Yaletown and extended themselves down to nearly the water's edge at False Creek. But, sigh, each of the cookie cutter buildings lacked enough character to ever receive an appreciative second glance. On the upside however the new buildings have made what was to come in the next phase shine even more.

Phase four, which we're deep into at present, has unleashed one unique and beautiful building after another. As the cheaper interior lots were consumed by the phase three buildings what was left was the really pricey stuff. The crazy out of this world pricey stuff. The $750,000 for an 800 square foot one bedroom & den condo crazy stuff. Given the enormous price the remaining lots and subsequent condos asked, not to mention their killer locations (the water's edge) what has resulted is high class artistic design and a uniqueness of architecture with each new sky scrapper that makes my jaw drop each time I see the yet again changed skyline.

Phase five, while not in Yaletown itself, is in high swing in the downtown core of Vancouver with some 60+ story commercial/residential stratosphere scrapping towers being built. Landmark buildings for a landmark slice of Canadiana. What a cool city this is.