Preservation

The Burrard Bridge is one of Vancouver's great Art Deco icons. Opened in 1932, it is a beautifully detailed structure with unique sculptural decoration.

On December 20, 2005, the City Council of Vancouver voted to proceed with the outward widening of the sidewalks of the Burrard Bridge. This will have a substantial and destructive impact on the appearance of this landmark Art Deco structure. The four towers at each end, with their stained glass braziers, would stand isolated in a sea of pavement. The sidewalks would extend a further nine feet on each side, with the extensions in concrete with large braces underneath.  For further information on the proposal, go the Council Report and read item 5, the Administrative Report.

According to the Wikipedia article about the bridge, Heritage Vancouver listed the Burrard Bridge as number four on their 2005 Top Ten endangered sites in Vancouver, and number one their 2006 list. The sidewalk expansion has also been delayed by the Squamish First Nation, which controls the land directly under the south side of the bridge.

When NCR Building 26 opened in 1938, the Art Deco structure served as a night school for NCR employees. During World War II, NCR leased the building to the Navy to house the secret Naval Computing Machine Laboratory (NCML), where Joseph R. Desch led the development of an American version of the Bombe, a machine that decrypted German communications.

The current building owner, the University of Dayton, wants to demolish Building 26 for new development. Their consultant's report concludes that although Building 26 has significance because of its association with NCML and Medal of Merit recipient Joseph Desch, the building lacks integrity due to removal of much Art Deco ornamentation when it was encased on three sides by a newer building in the 1960s. The consultant concludes that Building 26 is ineligible for National Register of Historic Preservation listing.

Status: Two hundred Dayton area residents, nearly all of them supporters of saving Building 26, showed up at the April 23, 2007 public hearing at Carillon Historic Park, facilitated by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office. Several individuals in the audience took the opportunity to make a case for preserving and reusing this historic facility. In an overwhelming show of support, 37 of the 42 who formally made comments at the meeting voiced strong opposition to demolition.