[Editor’s note: This is republished with permission from author Eve Lazarus’s excellent book ‘Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History,’ and appeared as well on her blog, ‘Every Place Has a Story: A blog about history, heritage buildings and murder.’]
Next time you’re in downtown Vancouver and have a mascara emergency or need some aspirin, drop into the Shoppers Drug Mart at Granville and Dunsmuir. Once you hit the cosmetics area, you might just forget what you came in for, because opposite the front entrance and right above the gift cards is one of the hidden wonders of the city — a stunning tile mosaic created by legendary artist B.C. Binning in 1958.
Although it’s probably best not to, if you go up to the second floor, you can actually touch one of the 200,000 pieces of Venetian glass that make up this massive mural that dominates the entire length of the wall.
Binning, an artist who taught architecture, was commissioned by the Imperial Bank of Canada to celebrate the province’s booming resource-based economy, from hydroelectricity and forestry to shipping and agriculture, with a “key” to help interpret it.
Binning spent more than three months in Venice overseeing its preparation, climbing a ladder a few times each day to look down at the growing tile and marble mosaic for the overall effect. When the greens weren’t as vibrant as he expected, he had the tiles changed.
When the mosaic was finished — all 500 square feet of it — it was shipped to Canada in 12 boxes, to be reassembled on the wall like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
McCarter Nairne (the architects behind the Marine Building, Devonshire Hotel and Georgia Medical and Dental Building), designed the mid-century building which featured terrazzo floors, polished granite and marble columns.
Read more: Art, Urban Planning + Architecture
Tyee Commenting Guidelines
Comments that violate guidelines risk being deleted, and violations may result in a temporary or permanent user ban. Maintain the spirit of good conversation to stay in the discussion.
*Please note The Tyee is not a forum for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, denying its existence or minimizing its risk to public health.
Do:
Do not: