New Amazon office will preserve original Canada Post artwork
Posted November 2, 2018 11:12 pm.
Last Updated November 3, 2018 12:33 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – As the old post office on Vancouver’s Georgia Street is slowly transformed into Amazon’s new offices, some of its artistic legacy is being preserved.
Developers are working to get the company’s new offices in Vancouver ready within around four years, and, when it’s complete, employees and shoppers will be able to spot some works of art that remind them of the building’s past as a post office.
It’s considered a “win” by Vancouver’s Heritage Commission. The commission was hoping to see a few historical elements saved, including two coats of arms, a relief sculpture of a postal worker, and a painted interior saved – all which date back to when the building was first erected in the ’50s. Developers, the Quadreal Property Group, have agreed to include the historic items in the project.
Commission chair Michael Kluckner is pleased the building itself is being preserved.
“I can imagine some people listening to this rolling their eyes and saying, ‘I always thought it was ugly,'” he says. “There’s always that aspect of people’s feelings about different types of architecture, but it’s a real classic of its time.”
RELATED: Fate of Canada Post building’s artworks up in the air again
The coats of arms, made of aluminum, will stay where they are. The 4.9-metre granite carving of a postal worker at the Homer entrance will be kept, and moved to another wall on the southeast side. The interior mural will have a new location in the shopping area on the north end of the building, according to Kluckner.
This coat of arms on the facade of the former post office on Georgia Street in Vancouver, is one feature that will be preserved when Amazon opens its new store at this location.
But preserving it could be a challenge.
“The mural has held up well over the years. But like so many murals, how do you move these things?,” he says. “I believe in this case, it was put directly onto the wall, and the wall was massive.”
The project will see two 15-storey towers on top and retail space built into the old post office.The expected completion date is sometime in 2023.
