Heritage Vancouver's Watch List includes landmarks, schools, and urban landscapes under threat of demolition or drastic redevelopment
Chinatown's urban landscape and Vancouver's single-family heritage homes topped the list of Heritage Vancouver's most endangered sites in the city. Heritage Vancouver's rankings, released last week, include individual buildings as well as entire urban areas at risk of demolition or drastic redevelopment.
Heritage Vancouver aims to spread the message that preserving historical and cultural landmarks such as the ones on the WatchList is important, as they represent assets that contribute to cities' liveability and even housing affordability. The organization wrote, "The pressure for new development continues to endanger the authenticity of Chinatown built heritage and the day-to-day culture and rituals of the Chinese-Canadian community, which together is a historic urban landscape."
As Vancouver prepares for Canada 150 Plus celebrations, Heritage Vancouver aims to draw attention to threats to the "physical, social and cultural fabric of the historical urban landscape (HULs)" that make the city so unique and special. Other areas on the Top 10 Watch List include the Celtic Shipyards, the last industrial site of its kind in Vancouver, and the Powell Street Area, otherwise known as "Japantown."
Check out the full list below. Click on each link to find out how these buildings and neighbourhoods are endangered.
1. Character Homes & Neighbourhood Character: Historic Urban Landscapes
2. Chinatown: Historic Urban Landscapes
3. David Lloyd George School: Vancouver Schools
4. Celtic Shipyards: Landmarks
5. Simon Fraser Annex: Vancouver Schools
7. False Creek South: Historic Urban Landscapes
8. Wallace Crescent Houses: Special Streetscapes
9. Powell Street Area (Nihomachi or 'Japantown') : Historic Urban Landscapes
10. Lawn Bowling Clubs and Greens: Historic Urban Landscapes
