Heritage building eyed for demolition for Downtown Eastside flea market

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The small art nouveau building at 123 East Hastings St. is the only one of its kind in Vancouver.

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It is on the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Register, and is also on the federal-provincial register of Canada’s Historic Places.

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But the city recently sent out a notice that it wants to tear the building down to create an empty lot for the controversial Downtown Eastside Street Market.

Heritage expert Don Luxton is baffled.

“It’s the one building in the city that has really identifiable art nouveau architectural features,” said Luxton. “There’s nothing else like it, and it should not be torn down, period. Why would you tear down a building with heritage value when you could do something else?”

The two blocks around the building already contain several empty lots. One lot next door to 123 East Hastings is currently used as a community garden, which was locked up earlier this week. Another lot exists down the street at 175 East Hastings, where two small buildings were recently torn down after someone set them on fire.

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A block away, the Downtown Eastside Street Market currently sits on another empty lot at 20 East Hastings. It is on the former site of The Only seafood restaurant, a Hastings Street icon that was torn down for the street market in June 2021.

Civic historian John Atkin thinks tearing down a unique building for an empty lot is “a poor trade-off”.

“Let’s demolish a heritage building to create an empty lot to facilitate a street market that’s been moved around the neighbourhood,” said Atkin. “If the street market is so damn important, find a home for it instead of shifting it all the time.”

Atkin points out there are several new social housing buildings either in construction or being planned for the Downtown Eastside.

“Why haven’t they facilitated a permanent home for it in one of these new buildings?” he asked.

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In an email, the city said the street market’s lease at 20 East Hastings ends Aug. 31, so it is looking for a new home. It said city staff have been looking for a new indoor home for the market.

The owner of 123 East Hastings, Concord Pacific, commissioned a report that said the lot had a fire at one point and “the building has deteriorated to a state that it is in danger of flooring collapse or even building collapse, should a seismic event occur.” 

City councillor Pete Fry was surprised to hear city staff want to tear down the building, which stands out in the Downtown Eastside because of its architectural features, including a grey stone façade on the second floor with oval and arched windows.

“This is the first I’m hearing of it, so I don’t know the state of the building,” Fry said. “But I would hope that at the very least it could be maintained as a façade or something like that. Because it is a very attractive building, and has historical significance.”

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The street market is controversial because of allegations that some of the goods being sold there are stolen. In December 2021, Vancouver police charged two men with a variety of offences after an investigation by the force’s anti-fencing unit.

“These officers saw people openly selling drugs and stolen property — everything from power tools and electronics still in store packaging, to cosmetics, designer clothing, and sunglasses that still had anti-theft devices attached,” said Insp. Gary Hiar at the time.

In an email, the city said “measures are in place to mitigate the sale of stolen goods, including operational procedures and bi-weekly meetings between Vancouver police, the City of Vancouver, and the market operator.”

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The small two-storey structure at 123 East Hastings was built in 1901 and was originally a store on the bottom and a residence on top, which was common at the time. It was built when East Hastings was Vancouver’s main downtown street, bustling with small retailers and vaudeville theatres.

It was designed in a modest version of the art nouveau style, which The Spruce magazine said was “characterized by sinuous, sculptural, organic shapes, arches, curving lines, and sensual ornamentation.” It’s rated Heritage-B on Vancouver’s heritage register, which means it is a “significant” building that is a “good example of a particular style or type.”

“This small building has unique and ornate art nouveau-style ornamentation on a sombre Edwardian backdrop,” says the listing on Canada’s Historic Places. “The upper storey has remained essentially intact, although the main floor storefront has been altered. It is a rare survivor with its unusual decoration.”

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The Downtown Eastside street market has been in several locations. It started out as a weekend market on Carrall Street, and a permanent home was pitched at 501 Powell. But it didn’t work, so the market moved to an empty lot at 58 West Hastings.

A social housing/medical services building is now being built there, so it moved to 20 East Hastings. The city said that lot is leased from B.C. Housing, which wants to build there, so it wants to relocate the market to 123 East Hastings.

In an email, B.C. Housing said it has “no concrete plans in place at this time” for 20 East Hastings. But it said its lease of the lot to the street market “was always temporary,” and the market is being moved “to provide full access (to B.C. Housing) for capital repair work on neighbouring projects.”

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Heritage expert Luxton said he doesn’t understand the city’s approach to small heritage buildings in the Downtown Eastside.

“Tearing a building down and just leaving an empty lot which is then subject to weather … what are you going to do there?” he said.

“Is this the solution to the Downtown Eastside’s problems? I don’t get it. I am perplexed at the City of Vancouver’s approach, number one to heritage, but also number two to the problems of this area. We’re not going to solve the problems by tearing down buildings.”

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