PART I: Finding the Bank

We laughingly call our project “Little Did We Know” because we had absolutely no clue as to the work and expense in store for us.

We were charmed by this wreck of a building sitting on the corner of E. 20th and Commercial Street in the Cedar Cottage Neighborhood. We were at a stage in our lives where we thought
it could be
fun to take on a new project. Maybe we would invest in a second location for our music store. Our real estate agent told us about a good buy at Victoria and Commercial St. We went to see his building and on the way from our car, we walked by this derelict historic building on the corner. We wandered into the corner store and spoke with the proprietor who was a hospitable man who invited us in to look at the soccer on t.v. Well, we did not like the building we’d come to view (although we would have been money ahead…) but we loved the old ‘wreck’ on the corner.

As luck would have it, during the interim, a for-sale sign appeared on the building. We knew it would be torn down if we didn’t save it from demolition.
We’re normally careful
consumers so we hired an inspector and he walked around the building shaking his head and saying that he was from San Francisco and had seen buildings like this one. We’d gone to the archives to do a bit of research and found the building had been a Bank of Hamilton during the days of the streetcars. The vault is still there and we joked that it was the vault that was holding up the building; maybe it was. There were so many things wrong that we told the inspector not to bother listing them all. We were smitten, beyond reason.

During the many obstacles, we’ve shaken our heads and wondered how we let this happen. The only explanation is that we were charmed.

We have a soft spot for older buildings and live in a house built in 1924. We have restored our house over the course of twenty years or so. We thought we’d take the same approach with our rescued building. We would slowly do the work as tenants moved on. We had absolutely no idea how complicated it would become.

History

In the late summer of 2006 Jerry Prussin and Norah Johnson purchased the old Bank of Hamilton building on Commercial street in the Cedar Cottage neighbourhood of Vancouver. Here are a few photos, taken around 1905, which show the original building (complete with period dress). Restoration was done by their friends Chris Jordan-Knox and Blue West Contractors and expanded from some minor repairs to a whole face-lift, inside and out. To read more, check-out this Courier article .

The Building

Here are some photos of the outside of the building after all of the renovations had been done.

In the Appartments

Here is the finished inside of the building. The floors are a mix of the original fir refinished along with new fir with tile and linolium in the bathrooms and kitchens. Such warm colours from the floors.

Commercial Spaces

Here are some photos of the unfinished commercial spaces on the street level. In the corner spot is a cafe.

Night Time Illumination

Here are some photos taken at night...

The Garden

After loads of sand and compost from the city were mixed and spread we laid a path and planted the plants. All of them are native to this area, which means they will thrive and provide food and habitat for birds, bees and many good insects.We hope to put up a map of the garden with the names of plants for any garden-goers interested in learning a little bit about local flora.















Wild Strawberry.

Deer Fern in stump.














Hawthorne.














Sword Fern.














Bleeding Heart.