FALSE CREEK BATTLE
Art galleries on former industrial site near Emily Carr University fight to stave off demolition for SkyTrain expansion
The Equinox and Monte Clark galleries are located in one of the great repurposed buildings in Vancouver, a former Finning factory at 525 Great Northern Way with vast open spaces and a ceiling that soars two-anda-half storeys high.
With Emily Carr University opening its new home a few steps down the street, the two art galleries have become a key part of a developing cultural precinct on the False Creek Flats.
Hundreds of people have turned out for openings by artists like Gordon Smith, Fred Herzog and Karin Bubas. The City of Vancouver even used a photo of the 525 building in its False Creek Flats plan, which states “the health of Vancouver’s arts and cultural sector relies heavily on the Flats.”
“By protecting affordable industrial spaces,” says the city’s plan, “Vancouver can help sustain this critical mass that facilitates new ideas and experimentation and fosters creative exchange between the arts and other sectors, and helps animate a local, vibrant economy.”
The 525 building seems to be the embodiment of the plan. But it may not be around much longer, because it lies directly in the path of a proposed SkyTrain line that would run from the False Creek Flats to Broadway.
TransLink would be responsible for building the line, but declined to provide a detailed map showing the route of the proposed SkyTrain. In an email statement, it said “TransLink is currently working with the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia to refine the project’s design and update project cost estimates.”
However, a City of Vancouver document shows the SkyTrain curving directly through the 525 building site.
Andy Sylvester of the Equinox thinks TransLink should look at alternative routes.
“It’s a multi-billion dollar process — there are lots of changes that have been made, and will continue to be made,” said Sylvester, who has started up a website (save525.ca) to elicit community support.
“We want them to consider alternatives of getting to that station without destroying a building that is part of this very important cultural and academic hub.”
Monte Clark said TransLink’s plan to demolish 525 Great Northern Way was probably drawn up before the area changed.
“When it was drawn up a few years ago I don’t know if they knew exactly where Emily Carr was going on the site,” said Clark.
“I don’t know why (the SkyTrain line) couldn’t go in the road between Emily Carr and our gallery.”
Emily Carr’s president Ron Burnett wants the 525 building to stay.
“It’s essential to the cultural scene, so I think it’s really important to keep it,” said Burnett.
“Equinox is so important, and so many important artists show there, and we have so few venues of that size, (that) it really would be sad to see it go. The decision to have transportation coming through into this area is a good one, but there are a lot of ways of doing it that wouldn’t necessarily destroy the galleries.
“For example they could start digging farther east. There’s a big vacant lot to the east of the Masters in Digital Media program (building) which is just used for parking.”
Sylvester argues the 525 building also has heritage value, because it’s one of the last examples of False Creek’s industrial past.
It was built in 1964 as part of a larger Finning complex. Sylvester’s side of the building is 14,200 sq. ft. and was once used for welding. Clark’s side is 4,500 sq. ft. and was the paint shop.
“This was essentially a manufacturing site for caterpillars — we have great photos of guys welding in here,” said Sylvester. “There are several crane turrets which run across (the building), of which one still works.”
The building is in an 18.6-acre parcel of land that Finning donated to Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, Emily Carr University and BCIT in 2001. The parcel is now controlled by the Great Northern Way Trust, which is owned by the four institutions.
Sylvester said he looked for a decade for a big old industrial building like 525 before moving there in 2012. “The city’s changing,” he said. “It’s architecturally much more monolithic than it could be, and this is an example of its history that has been re-purposed in a way that communities like, that the arts community likes, the business community likes.”
He loves it when people come into his gallery for the first time.
“I can’t tell you how many people walk in the front door and are stunned at how international this place looks,” he said.
“It has a feel that this kind of repurposing of an authentic urban experience actually happens in our town. It’s not something that you have to go to New York or L.A. or Berlin (to experience), it’s right here.”
“Equinox is so important, and so many important artists show there.” — Ron Burnett