STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Turner’s Dairy Building · STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Turner’s Dairy...

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Turner’s Dairy Building6 West 17th Avenue Vancouver, BC :: July 2013

Elana Zysblat Consulting 739 Campbell Avenue, Vancouver BC V6A 3K7 604.722.3074

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Turner’s Dairy Building ~ 6 West 17th Avenue, Vancouver ~ 1913-1914

Description of the Historic Place

The building located at 6 West 17th Avenue is situated on the corner of 17th Avenue and Ontario Street in the Riley Park-Little Mountain neighbourhood of Vancouver. It is a 1 and 2 storey, wood-frame, industrial complex comprising of three attached buildings. The complex completely covers two adjacent city lots from street to lane.

Heritage Value of the Historic Place

The Turner’s Dairy building is significant for its connection with the early development of Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, and the residential pockets extending from it into the municipality of South Vancouver, south of 16th Avenue. It is valued as one of the surviving buildings of the development boom that swept across the city in the years leading up to the First World War and for its role in consolidating the settlement pattern in this area near the commercial centres and transit routes on Main, Oak and 16th Avenue particularly after BC Electric Railway’s streetcar line extensions between 1904 and 1919.

Located on the corner of two residential blocks, the building is also valued for illustrating the mixed-use character of early neighbourhoods where businesses and industries stood along side single-family homes and for manifesting this common, historic coexistence of vernacular industrial, commercial and residential architecture on the same streetscape.

The building is also valued for representing the early dairy industry in the lower mainland which was locally present in most city neighbourhoods. A rare surviving example of a purpose-built dairy, the building functioned as a production plant, retail location and delivery-truck based distribution centre for dairy products from 1914 to 1931. Local dairies that operated from this premises were Turner’s Dairy as well as Edenbank, Ayrshire and Associated dairies.

The building is valued as a good example of a vernacular, industrial building of the Edwardian period, with its simple, symmetrical, restrained appearance and straight fronts. Typical of the Edwardian era, the building features old-growth, wood-frame construction and finishings that reflect the wood products produced in local sawmills. Its industrial features include a hanging truss system to enable a large

Statement of Significance for 6 W 17th Avenue, Vancouver :: Elana Zysblat Consulting

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clear span for the purpose built stable building, which later functioned as factories and warehouses.

The building is valued for its continuous use as an industrial building, home to a diverse list of local manufacturers. The dairy building and its adaptable stable, production and warehouse spaces were leased to Murray Co. jam manufacturers from 1933 until it was bought by the Izen family in 1946 and converted into the Durabilt Luggage factory. Luggage and handbags were manufactured here for over 50 years until 1998 under the Durabilt name. Other businesses such as book publishing, candle making and furniture warehouse have operated in the building since, maintaining the uninterrupted, light-industrial function of the site throughout its 100 year history.

Character Defining Elements

• Original corner location at the intersection of West 17th Avenue and Ontario Streets in the Riley Park-Little Mountain neighbourhood of Vancouver

•Commercial/industrial form, scale and massing as expressed by the complex’s complete, non-conforming site coverage of two city lots, its rows of symmetrical single window openings and the parapets on the dairy (northern) and garage (southern) buildings

•Delivery bays and vehicle entrances still in use on Ontario Street and the back lane

•Original window openings on 17th Avenue and Ontario Street dairy building

• Old growth, wood-frame construction including posts, beams, rafters, trusses and support brackets

• Edwardian-era wood finishings in the diary building including tongue and groove interior beadboard on some ceilings and walls, original interior window and door trim in bathrooms and on upper floor, tongue and groove fir flooring on upper floor.

• Intact hanging truss system in stable building, comprised of timber compression members and metal tie rod tension members.

• Original wood drop siding on the exterior (under vinyl siding). The siding is uncovered and visible on the southern exterior wall of the 1913 dairy building, now inside the building complex.


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• Original 1913 platform freight elevator in the dairy building with complete operating mechanism and components.

• Continuous industrial use since 1913

Maps:


Detail from Fire Insurance Map 599 Volume 6 1926-1950 (Vancouver Archives).6 West 17th Avenue appears as a Jam Factory, as revised on the map in February 1940.

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1946 view of the site (detail from aerial photo AM54-S4-: Air P24, City of Vancouver Archives)

Current view of the site on Google Maps from south

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Research Findings CIVIC ADDRESS: 6 West 17th Avenue, Vancouver

LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Lots 12 & 13, Block 524, District Lot 526

DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1913 (dairy), 1914 (stables), 1923 (garage)

SOURCE: Building Permit Register, Municipality of South Vancouver

(located on microfiche MCR-5 at Vancouver Archives)

TENANTS:

1914-1918: Turner’s Dairy (listed as 17th Avenue corner of Ontario)

1919: Turner’s Dairy (listed as 206 West 17th Avenue)

1920: vacant (listed as 206 West 17th Avenue)

1921-1923: Edenbank Creamery (listed as 202 West 17th Avenue)

1924-1926: vacant (listed as 202 West 17th Avenue)

1927-1929: Ayrshire Dairy (listed as 202 West 17th Avenue)

1930: Ayrshire Dairy (listed as 6 West 17th Avenue)

1931-1932: vacant (listed as 6 West 17th Avenue)

1933-1945: Murray Co. - jam mfrs (listed as 6 West 17th Avenue)

1946-1970: Durabilt Luggage Ltd. (“)

1971-1977: Durabilt Industries (“)

1978-1980: Durabilt Cases Ltd. (“)

1981-1998: Durabilt Handbags (“)

2003-2004: Talonbooks Etc. (“)

2005-present Himlight Wax Factory (and furniture warehouse) (“)


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SOURCE: City of Vancouver Directories (located at Vancouver Archives)

OWNERSHIP:

1913 - c. 1920 Frederick Turner

1923 - c. 1929 (probably) C F Payne

1929 -1946 Associated Dairies Ltd.

1946 -1977 Sophia Deborah Izen

1978 - current Hemani Family

SOURCE: Building Permit Registries and Property Tax Assessment Rolls (located at Vancouver Archives), interview with Larry Izen.

Research Resources City of Vancouver Archives - Building Permit Registries, City Directories, Fire Insurance Maps, Property Tax Assessment Rolls, Archival Photographs

Financial Post newspaper, April 25th 1953 issue

Hayes, Derek. 2005. Historical Atlas of Vancouver and the Lower Fraser Valley. Douglas & McIntyre.

Macdonald, Bruce. 2006. Turner’s Dairy Building at 6 West 17th Avenue- Historical Research

MacDonald, Bruce. 1992. Vancouver: a Visual History. Talon Books.

Montreal Gazette newspaper, October 28th 1930 issue

Vancouver Sun newspaper articles, various issues from 1937-1967

Vancouver Public Library, Special Collections- Historical Photographs

Gottfried, Herbert & Jennings, Jan. 1985. American Vernacular Building and Interiors 1870-1960. Norton & Co. New York.

Interior and exterior building inspection with John Atkin, July 19th, 2013.

vancouverhistory.caheritagevancouver.orghistoricplaces.ca


http://www.vancouverhistory.ca

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Photos of building elements:


View of dairy and stable building connected on Ontario street. Eastern parapet visible.

View from the second floor of the garage/warehouse building, of western parapet and sloped roof of former courtyard, now encompassed within the stable building

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symmetrical window rows on Ontario Street. Window openings on 17th Avenue and Ontario Street are all original except for the bottom two central windows, seen here, which were enlarged.

Garage/delivery door at lane. Although the opening is not original, its location would be, as it lines up with a former exterior delivery bay opening in the stable.

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Simple trim style around original openings in utility/production areas of 1913 dairy building

Refined trim style around original openings in ‘office area’ and bathrooms in 1913 dairy building

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Old growth, wood-frame construction including posts, beams, rafters, trusses and support brackets. This photo: Structure and supports for covered courtyard sloped roof, where it connects to 1913 dairy building. Original exterior drop siding of dairy building is visible as well as tongue & groove ceiling (painted white).

tongue & groove beadboard on walls and ceilings in 1913 dairy building, upper floor.

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Intact hanging truss system in stable building, comprised of timber compression members and metal tie rod tension members

Original 1913 platform freight elevator in the dairy building with complete operating mechanism and components

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Surviving interior window looking into elevator shaft from office area

Lower portion of dairy interior walls are lined in moulded plaster.

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Appendix: History and ChronologyDevelopment along and around Main Street was directly linked with the expansion of the Main Street streetcar tracks, which, in 1904, were extended south of 16th Avenue and into South Vancouver, in order to meet the demand for public transportation to and from the Mountain View Cemetery, located at 33rd Avenue. Frederick Turner and family had been living in this neighbourhood, at 255 E 17th Avenue, since 1911. Frederick and his three sons started a small dairy business in a shed at the back of their home.

In April 2013, Frederick Turner obtained a building permit to build a much bigger, commercial sized dairy building at the corner of 17th Avenue and Ontario, described in the permit registry as a two-storey, 40’ x 78’ structure valued at $4000. A covered courtyard spanning the width of the dairy, with a sloped roof and concrete pavers, was constructed to the south of the dairy. At the time the building was constructed, the area was a desirable residential location just two blocks west of Main Street’s streetcar line and shops, with most lots on the immediate surrounding blocks recently developed or under construction.


This is what the neighbourhood looked like in 1911, one block south of the dairy. ‘18th Avenue near Ontario’. credit: Vancouver Archives A-16-73

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In 1914, a second permit was taken out for ‘stable for 13 horse dairy’. This immense building with hanging truss system connected to the covered courtyard, on the southern end of the dairy building. It was probably in 1914 that the covered courtyard was enclosed with exterior walls on the west and east.

Turner’s Dairy appears in local directory advertisements and classified sections from 1914 to 1919. Photos of the business’s activity from this period include Turner’s Dairy ‘float’ participating in a parade in 1914 (below) and a Turner’s Dairy delivery truck in downtown Vancouver in 1918 (VPL 590). When Frederick Turner died in 1919, the Turner family closed the dairy business at 6 West 17th Avenue.


Turner’s Dairy ‘Parade float’ in 1914. credit: VPL Special Collections 13705

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Soon after closing Turner’s Dairy upon the death of Frederick Turner, sons Lewis and Samuel Turner opened Turner’s Candy Factory at 207 Kingsway in 1922. Turner’s Candy Co. was in operation in Vancouver’s local ‘candy district’ around Kingsway and Broadway until 1935. In 1933 the two brothers opened another Turner’s Dairy. This dairy operated out of various East Vancouver locations until 1948, when a new Modernist dairy building and restaurant were built for it at 3333 Main (designed by Sharp, Thompson, Berwick & Pratt, below). This second cohort of Turner’s Dairy was one of the suppliers for the locally infamous Aristocratic Hamburger’s chain of diners. Turner’s Dairy was sold to Palm Dairies Ltd. when Lewis Turner retired in 1951.


‘Turner’s Dairy building in the snow’ in 1950. The new Modernist headquarters at 3333 Main designed by STB & P, now demolished. credit: VPL Special Collections 81129

Turner’s Dairy menu c. 1948-1952. credit: Museum of Vancouver H2006.55.68a-c

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Back at the original dairy building on West 17th, a year after Turner’s Dairy closed, Edenbank Creamery of Chilliwack, moved in and used the premises as its Vancouver location for three years from 1921-1923. In 1923, storekeeper, Charles F Payne, applied for a building permit to construct a garage on the property. The garage/warehouse is connected to the stable on the southern end, and reaches right to the property line edge of the double lot, at the lane. It is not clear if and how this new building was used in the years after completion, as the entire building is listed as vacant from 1924 to 1926 in city directories.

The expanded building housed a new dairy tenant, Ayrshire Dairy, between 1927 and 1930. At some point in the 1920s, the building was bought by Associated Dairies. Associated Dairies Ltd. was an amalgamation of several dairies in Western Canada, and was most probably associated with Ayrshire Dairy. In 1930, Associated Dairies merged with Fraser Valley Milk Producers Association (which according to newspaper articles of the time controlled 80% of the milk businesses in greater Vancouver) and bought out many of the local Vancouver dairies. The initials of Fraser Valley Milk Producers Association can be seen branded onto a wall on the second level of the dairy building.

Large dairy mergers (like Associated -1930 and Palm -1950) brought an end to most local, family owned dairies in Vancouver. New large plants were constructed for these mega companies in Alberta and many of the original dairy buildings were either demolished or adapted for other uses.


Local, family run businesses like Turner’s Dairy, Pure Milk (photo), Steve’s Dairy and more were bought out by bigger dairy operations starting in the 1930s, and moved out of the city. ‘Samuel Garvin Prop. & staff of pure Milk Dairy Co. Vancouver. B.C. June 15. 1916’. credit: Vancouver Archives PAN NVIA.

Initials of Fraser Valley Milk Producers Association visible on an interior wall of the 1913 dairy building, west side, upper floor.

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After two years of vacancy during the depression (1931-1932), the dairy building complex, still owned by Associated Dairies, was leased to the Murray Company jam manufacturers from 1933 until 1946. Murray Co. Ltd was owned by Roy Gell who was a local resident on 18th Avenue.

The 1940 revision of the neighbourhood’s Fire Insurance Map #599 depicts the jam-making operation in detail (below).

The building’s original north-south configuration of ‘dairy, stables, garage’ seems to adapt without change in layout to ‘storage, factory, storage’.


Detail from Fire Insurance Map 599 Volume 6 1926-1950 (Vancouver Archives).

Clip from the Vancouver Sun newspaper on October 19th, 1956, about the selling of the Murray Co. company and some background about its origins on West 17th and founder, Roy Gell.

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In 1946, immediately after the hard economic times during WWII, the building was purchased by the Izen family for $4000, the same amount Frederick Turner spent on a third of the building back in 1913. Sam Izen’s father had started the Durabilt luggage manufacturing company in Seattle, and by purchasing this building, he was helping his son open a Vancouver location in his local neighbourhood. Sam Izen’s son, Larry Izen, took over the three decade business in the 1960s. Larry remembers that the factory mill (for luggage building) was on an upper floor, and that the old stables were clearly recognizable, even after decades of activity in the building that did not involve horses or cows.

In 1978, the building and Durabilt name were purchased by the Hemani family who continued the luggage and handbag manufacturing on site until 1998. The Hemani family has owned this property for 35 years.

The history of occupancy at 6 West 17th Avenue reflects a consistent industrial function from 1913 until today. With few vacant periods the building and its location have offered an effective business base for a variety of local operations, most of which were owned or operated by families in the immediate vicinity, making the historic case for a sustainable live-work model in Vancouver.


‘Vintage’ Vancouver Durabilt suitcases for sale on the internet, the company metal tag still intact inside and out.

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