Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­

Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Photos: This is what Vancouver's West End looked like a century ago

Welcome to one of Vancouver's hottest neighbourhoods from the 1890s to 1920s

One of the oldest neighbourhoods in Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­is the West End.

Before settlers arrived local First Nations had lived in the area for thousands of years; they were active in the area when European explorers arrived in the 1790s.

While the city started in Gastown, as it grew  began to be developed as an upscale neighbourhood. Some of the houses from the early along the streets, like Bidwell or Nicola. It gets its name from a school built in the  (there was a plan at one point to call the area New Liverpool).

At the same time, English Bay was a primary destination for locals, with people from across the region spending days at the beach. As Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­grew, streetcars were added, bringing people down Denman Street to the beach. It was that activity that drew Joe Fortes.

As the neighbourhood grew services and commercial buildings arrived, like Lord Roberts school in 1901.

In 1909 things shifted as Shaughnessy began to be developed, drawing many of the city's wealthy residents, and changing the West End's place in the city.