Greenshields Building

The Greenshields Building is located on the north side of Water Street in the progressive commercial district of Gastown, and it is constructed in sophisticated Romanesque Revival style. This historic site has left a profound mark in Vancouver’s history and is symbolic of the western expansion of corporations into western markets following the building of the transcontinental railway. John Macfarlane McLuckie was retained to construct this large four-storey structure. According to the Vancouver Archives, McLuckie came to Vancouver from Scotland around 1886 and founded a contracting company with J.B. McGhie. He mostly worked as a contractor, but he also designed commercial buildings from time to time.

Although the designer of the Greenshields building is unknown, it is likely that a prominent Winnipeg architect named James H. Cadham made the plans for both halves of this building as it resembles many of his other warehouse plans. This building was designed to appear as one, but it was constructed side-by-side in two separate halves and both sections were completed around 1901-02. The eastern half of the structure, originally called the Prentice Block, operated as a wholesale grocery firm owned by the Kelly, Douglas and Company that eventually relocated. The eastern half of the building is now referred to as the second part of the Greenshields Building. As the building has never been legally consolidated, each half is under different ownership which explains the separate addresses of 341 and 345 Water Street.

Bibliography: “Greenshields Building.” Canada’s Historic Places. Retrieved from http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=2555