Ongoing discussions and comments about the Westminster Club selling its home on the top floor of the Westminster Building have certainly drawn considerable attention to the history of downtown, the club and the building.
The building, long a landmark on Columbia Street, began to receive tenants in late 1912, and the Westminster Club was one of the first to move in.
We, A Sense of History Research Services, have received many requests for information, not only because we know this building in general but also because we wrote the club's history in 2003 and are currently working on a variety of background materials for the Westminster (Trust) Building's 100th anniversary this year.
The Westminster Club met at a number of city locations before it finally settled in 1912 at the top of the new seven-storey "skyscraper" prominently positioned at the corner of Columbia Street at Begbie Street. Formed in 1889, the club rented space in a variety of buildings with available rooms along Columbia Street.
In the long list of homes, or potential homes, for the club over its life in this city were the Douglas Elliott Block (Sixth at Columbia; burned in the 1898 fire), one of the Trapp Blocks (this one at Lorne Street at Columbia), and the Dean Block (The People's Trust Company, at Church Street at Columbia).
A fascinating exercise to indulge in, in an historical sense, with the Westminster Club, is to imagine the views, the city changes, the businesses and events that the club's members and guests could have looked out upon from their top floor home.
Many major events that shaped the city and the province from 1912 onward have played out on the "stage" below their windows.
They might have watched the new harbour docks under construction; the opening of the Kidd Market (the origin of Overwaitea and SaveOnFoods); the expanded B.C. Electric Railway streetcar station; the departures and arrivals of various troops from two World Wars at the CPR train station; the construction of the very modern Mc and Mc Store; or the evolution of shipping at the local waterfront.
They could have watched people going for lunch at the King Neptune Restaurant; the Samson V, still working on the river at her moorage; the construction of the courthouse extension; the demolition of the Carnegie Library; and the appearance of a number of bridges crossing the Fraser River. And that is just a sampling of the history that has "appeared" to those at the club.
This is an interesting group with a very interesting story - so many connections to so many events, activities and occasions.
Well before any of the recent news about the Westminster Club was being openly discussed, a downtown walking tour on the club's evolution and a historical society presentation on its history, were on our schedules for 2013.
Wonder how all that will now play out.
