Peace Together – Ling Lam and the Hong Wo Store

Posted on May 11, 2023 by richmondarchives

Ling Lam (City of Richmond Archives accession 2013 52.)

In the late 19th Century, a teenage boy arrived in Victoria from China and began working in a store owned by members of his family. A year later Ling Lam moved to Vancouver where he studied English at the Chinese Methodist Church and worked in the canneries in Steveston. He started out in business by teaching himself how to bake bread and peddled buns door-to-door around Steveston. In 1895 he bought property and opened a store which became one of those places that embeds itself into a community’s collective memory.

Translating as “Peace Together” or “Living in Harmony”, this sign was located on the wall inside the Hong Wo Store and is now one of four signs from the store in the Richmond Museum’s collection. (City of Richmond Collection 006.23.20)

Ling Lam named his business Hong Wo, meaning “Peace Together” or “Living in Harmony”. Located outside the dyke near the foot of Trites Road and near the Nelson Brothers Cannery, the place was a true General Store. If you couldn’t get what you needed at the Hong Wo Store, you probably couldn’t get it anywhere. The building was located adjacent to a wharf where fishboats could tie up and get supplies before the next fisheries opening. To streamline the process an order form was developed and issued to the fisherman who could check off the items they needed and the order would be ready for pickup at the specified time. He sold provisions to fishermen, canneries, boatbuilders, farmers and the general public.

Filling out this order form would ensure that your order would be ready and waiting for you to pick up at the wharf behind the Hong Wo Store. (City of Richmond Archives accession 2013 46.)

The lot that Mr. Lam had built his store on was approximately 235 feet wide by 425 feet long (2.27 acres), and extended over the dyke to the high water line. Mr. Lam also acquired acreage north of that lot which was bordered on the north side by the CN Railway right-of-way and on the east by Trites Road (1.3 acres). Open fields to the north of the railway line (11.03 acres) became his farmlands, another arm of his business.

Property owned by the Hong Wo Company is outlined in red in this image cut from the 1936 Waterworks Atlas. Buildings are identified in the image including the pickle factory, greenhouses, bunkhouses and the store at the lower left. City of Richmond Archives image 1991 40 23 – Waterworks Atlas.

Nestled between cannery buildings, the Hong Wo property can be seen near the centre of this image from 1952. The roofs of Mr. Lam’s greenhouses can be seen near the CN Rail line and the pickle factory near Trites Road. Hong Wo and Company farmland is above the rail line. (City of Richmond Archives photograph 1997 16 92.)

Once Ling Lam had his retail and farming businesses running, he returned to China to get married. When he was joined by his wife in Canada they lived in an apartment above the store. Around 1908 the store was destroyed by fire and the family moved into a cannery house until the new store was built. The Lam children walked three miles along the dyke into Steveston to go to school. With the business and farm prospering, Mr. Lam moved the family into a house in East Vancouver around 1914.

The Lam Family home in East Vancouver with the family standing on the front porch, ca. 1914. (City of Richmond Archives photograph 1986 17 1.)

To order stock for the store in the early days, Mr. Lam would ride a bike to New Westminster to his supplier’s offices. The order for the season would be delivered by boat to the wharf and shed behind the store. The bicycle was eventually retired when a telephone was hooked up in the store, one of the first in Richmond, and orders could be phoned in.

The Hong Wo Store was a place for people to drop by, have a chat and pick up what they needed. In this photo Jessie Lam Ross, the daughter of Ling Lam, visits with customers under the sign reading “Peace Together” or “Living in Harmony”. (City of Richmond Archives photograph 1987 22 179.)

Around 1914 Mr. Lam began to act as a labour contractor to two canneries, providing seasonal Chinese workers. He also employed the workers on his farms, supplying accommodations, food and a cook for a temporary crew of about 30 during the growing season and harvest. A full time foreman, assistant and truck driver were also employed.

The entrance to the Hong Wo General Store in 1969. The fishboat and cannery buildings in the background show its proximity to the water. (City of Richmond Archives photograph 2006 13 13.)

Like many businesses Hong Wo and Co. distributed calendars, like this 1949 example, to their good customers. (City of Richmond Collection 008.4.2)

During its peak, the farms owned by Mr. Lam produced tomatoes from about 30 greenhouses. Potatoes and beans were grown in the open fields along with a large crop of cucumbers for pickles. A complex of buildings was built on the lots south of the rail line. These included a pickle factory, complete with at least 20 eight-foot deep concrete vats for brining, storage buildings and greenhouses. Several bunkhouses were located on the property as well as a cookhouse with a large brick and metal wok and a building where barrels were assembled. Mr. Lam also invented a machine to sort cucumbers for dill pickles, a product which formed a large part of his farming business.

Work clothes, ice cream, instant mashed potatoes, Seven-Up and marine enamel all vie for space on the shelves of the Hong Wo Store. (City of Richmond Archives photograph 1987 22 171B.)

As reported by his daughter Jessie Lam Ross in a 1968 Richmond Review newspaper article, “He was a big name among the Chinese growers. He contracted with Empress, Royal City, Nalley’s, and other companies, and kept about 250 acres under cultivation in Steveston. Day and night he was on the go. He used to haul cukes in and pile them in huge stacks for the dill pickles.”

Looking west along the dyke path between the buildings on the Hong Wo and Co. property in 1967. The store is the last building on the left. (City of Richmond Archives photograph 1994 22 1.)

Ling Lam was also very active in Vancouver’s Chinese community, acting as the chairman of the Chinese Merchant’s Association, serving as an Elder in the Chinese United Church and starting the Chinese Farmer’s Association. He was known as a dedicated, principled, hard working man.

Some of Ling Lam’s buildings were still standing when this photo was taken in 1970. The pickle factory is the building on the far right. (City of Richmond Archives photograph 1987 22 152B.)

“I never saw him in work clothes,” his daughter Jessie remembered,” He always wore a blue serge suit and, in the summer, a shirt and tie and blue serge pants. He only took two holidays in his life, and then it was to go to California to look for seeds.”

Stock on the shelves at the Hong Wo Store. At its peak the store employed as many as 9 clerks. (City of Richmond Archives photograph 1987 22 180.)

After Mr. Lam’s death in 1939, his son George Lam and daughter Jessie Lam Ross took over his business, operating his store until 1971. With the store’s closure the property and buildings on it began to deteriorate, causing concern for the owners of nearby cannery buildings after several fires had been extinguished by the Richmond Fire Department. Efforts by the Steveston Historical Society to have the Hong Wo buildings declared a heritage site proved to be in vain and the store and surrounding buildings were destroyed in 1977.

The Hong Wo Store in 1977, boarded up and nearing its demolition. (City of Richmond Archives photograph 1978 37 22.)

While the Hong Wo Store has been gone for nearly half a century its 75 years of service to industry and community make it one of the unique components of Richmond’s history. The store’s story and that of Ling Lam, a self-made man who built a thriving business from humble beginnings, are memorialized in a sign at the corner of Trites Road and Westwater Drive near the location of his pickle factory.

Reach for the Sky – The Dawn of the High-Rise in Richmond

Posted on November 28, 2019 by richmondarchives

Up until the 1960s Richmond was a “low-rise” community, the tallest buildings being the grandstands at the two thoroughbred racetracks in the municipality and the industrial buildings like canneries and mills. Richmond’s Zoning Bylaw had restricted building height to no more than three storeys above natural grade before the late 1950s. However, the increasing rates of population growth, brought on by the completion of the Oak Street Bridge in 1957, spurred the construction of residential subdivisions and the Municipal Government began to change Richmond’s Zoning Bylaw 1430 to permit higher density housing.

An aerial view of the Brighouse area in 1963 shows no buildings over three floors. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1984 17 65.

Richmond’s surface soil profiles have been studied and show that most of the land west of No. 3 Road has a clay cap about 3 metres in depth with sand or silty sand below. East of No. 3 Road there is typically a layer of peat up to 7 metres deep, then a 3 metre deep layer of clay underlain by sand. In the event of a major earthquake studies have shown that the most likely place for liquefaction (the loss of strength of soils due to vibration) to occur will probably be in a limited zone below the clay layer. As better understanding was reached of Richmond’s underlying soil conditions and how its soils react to supporting buildings in varying conditions, including earthquakes, site preparation and foundation construction techniques were adopted allowing taller structures to be built. Buildings in Richmond have to be built stronger and with greater attention to foundation design than similar buildings in Metro Vancouver which can be fastened to bedrock.

The first step in any construction is the provision of a soils report which addresses structural foundation support and the liquefaction potential of the soils in the building site. Structural drawings approved by a Professional Engineer deal with seismic design and the details of the soils report. Preparation of building sites for construction involves the densification of the soils with a preload of sand to a predetermined height and for a specified length of time. This compresses the soil and removes ground water to increase its load bearing capabilities. Various types of compaction using vibration are also commonly employed to increase the removal of ground water from the soil.

This photo shows concrete pilings which support the weight of buildings on soil below the liquefaction zone, in this case at the construction site of Richmond City Hall. City of Richmond Archives photograph.

Most buildings over three storeys high are placed on pile foundations which support the building on soil below the liquefaction layer. Concrete “Franki” piles, reinforced concrete pilings forced down a metal tube and which expand out the bottom in a large bulge, provide structural support. Stone columns and timber “compaction piles” are often placed in a pattern around support pilings to further eliminate water from the soil supporting the building. All of the methods of supporting the building structure and compacting the soil create a large block of dense soil beneath the building site, essentially an artificial bedrock.

Richmond General Hospital was Richmond’s tallest building for many years. At six storeys it did not quite make the height required to be called a high rise. City of Richmond Archives photograph, accession 2004 11.

The first building to exceed the three-storey limit was the new Richmond General Hospital. At six storeys it did not quite qualify as a high-rise building, the standard being seven storeys or more, but it had been designed with the ability to be expanded to nine storeys and for years it was the tallest building in Richmond. The hospital opened on February 26, 1966. Plans to add an additional three storeys to the building in 1972 were quashed, however, due to changes in the National Building Code for 1970 which dramatically increased the specifications for earthquake building loads.

With the new changes in the building code the stage was now set for the construction of true high-rise buildings in Richmond. Through the early 1970s the Richmond Review newspaper announced the planned construction of the first buildings, a seven-storey seniors’ residence, two hotel towers, and three seventeen-storey apartment buildings.

Public opinion about the changing Richmond skyline was mixed, with very vocal opponents to the flat terrain of the community being “splattered with 200 foot towers”. Residents around the 1000 block of Ryan Road were so outraged at the plans for the construction of a fourteen-storey tower as part of an apartment development in their neighborhood that 150 of them showed up at a Municipal Council meeting to protest. Citing a complete lack of consultation they managed to have the proposed development cancelled.

The March 18, 1970 Richmond Review showed this photo of the proposed Lions Manor building. At the time it was published, the location of the building had still not been settled.

The Richmond Review newspaper announced the construction of a $1.2 million apartment block for seniors on March 19, 1970. The seven-storey concrete building, planned since 1968, would fill a need for affordable senior’s housing with room for 144 people living in single suites. Occupancy would be limited to persons having an income of $150 per month or less and rent would be $110. The project had been in planning for many years by the Richmond Lions Club. The location chosen to build the residence was on Aquila Road, but opposition from neighbours forced a change of location. Seventh Avenue in Steveston was suggested as an alternate site, but eventually a property at 1177 Fentiman Place in Steveston was approved for its construction.

By December 8, 1971 the building structure was almost complete. Richmond Review.

Described as “like a hotel for old people – all they have to do is dress themselves and come to the dining room to eat”, the rooms each had a bed, chair, clothes closet, dresser, desk and wash stand. Each floor had a lounge and a washroom with four private tubs. The top floor featured a library and the main resident lounge while the main floor housed the kitchen and dining room as well as a crafts room, laundry and visitor’s lounge. Construction began on the manor in 1970 and the first 15 guests had moved in by November 1972.

In this aerial view looking over Steveston the Lions Manor is clearly visible at the centre left. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1977 22 2

On April 12, 1971 the Review announced the Municipality’s “first high rise complex” to be built on Minoru Boulevard. Expected to cost $8.25 Million, it consisted of three seventeen-storey towers, two to be built in the first phase of construction with the third to follow later.

An artist’s drawing of the Park Towers complex from a brochure at the City of Richmond Archives.

The entire complex was to provide 561 dwellings. Foundations for the towers used Franki concrete pilings about every four feet on centre with concrete beams on top to support the buildings.

The first two towers of the Park Towers development near completion in this photo. City of Richmond Archives photograph 2019 24 1.

The project was proposed in 1969 by well-known developer Ben Dayson of Highgate holdings who had previously built the three-storey Minoru Garden Apartments next door to the high rise building site. The first two towers (“Towers C and B”) were ready for rentals by November 1972. Apartments in the third tower (“Tower A”), completed the following year, were sold as condominiums.

The three buildings of the Park Towers, Richmond’s first high rise apartment complex, dominate the skyline of downtown Richmond, ca. 1976. City of Richmond Archives photograph 2008 36 3 75.

In May of 1971 the construction of the Vancouver Airport Hyatt House hotel complex was reported. The hotel was to include a 10-storey tower, 431 rooms, ballroom and meeting rooms, a 200 boat marina, and three restaurants (one on “stilts” over the Fraser River), all built on a seven acre site on Sea Island.

This architectural drawing shows the proposed Airport Hyatt on the bank of the Middle Arm of the Fraser River. City of Richmond Archives photograph.

The building height had been restricted to 135 feet above ground level because of its proximity to the airport and had to have non-metallic roof sheathing so as not to interfere with navigational signals.

Construction is underway at the site of the new Airport Hyatt in this Richmond Review clipping from January 12, 1972.

The site was prepared with an 18 foot high preload of sand which sat for one year before construction began, compacting the soil 60 to 70 feet down. Three hundred and sixty Franki piles were spanned by two-foot by three-foot concrete beams which are in turn supporting a 3 1/2-foot concrete slab. Rising above the slab is the Y-shaped tower of the main structure. The Hotel opened for business in early June 1973.

The Delta Airport Inn before the construction of the first tower. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1988 18 77.

In June 1971, construction began on an expansion of the Delta Airport Inn on St. Edwards Drive which would involve the erection of a fourteen-storey tower with 144 suites and the renovation and expansion of the existing hotel amenities. The upgrade to the hotel, in the planning stages since 1969, was expected to cost $2.5 Million.

This architect’s drawing shows the planned expansion of the Airport Inn. A second, taller tower has been added since. Photo from January 14, 1972 Richmond Review.

A preload of 25,000 yards of sand had already been in place before the project was announced in the June 9, 1971 Richmond Review and 126 piles had been driven 40 feet into the ground at the site to compact the soil and support the building. It was expected that after the completion of the first floor, each floor would only take one week to build. The tower had been completed by March 1972 and the rooms ready for guests by April.

By October 15, 1971 the Airport Inn claimed to have the highest view in Richmond. Richmond Review photograph.

These first four high rise building projects began a trend which continues today, and high rise buildings have come to dominate the city’s skyline, especially in the City Centre area. Which was Richmond’s first high rise? All four were under construction at the same time but by opening date, the Delta Airport Inn’s tower (now the Sandman Signature Airport Hotel) was the first in March 1972, followed closely by the Lion’s Manor and the first phase of the Park Towers in November 1972. The Airport Hyatt House Hotel (now the Pacific Gateway Hotel) on Sea Island was opened fourth, the following March. All of the buildings are still in use except for the Lion’s Manor which was demolished in 2014.

Richmond’s high rises are dwarfed by other buildings in the Metro Vancouver area. Transport Canada mandates through the Vancouver Airport International Zoning Regulations that buildings in Richmond not exceed 47 meters (150 feet). There has been a study around the possibility of an increase in allowable building heights in the Brighouse area, something that is still ongoing, and it is possible that someday we may see buildings in Richmond that rival some of the “skyscrapers” seen in other cities.

Centres of Government – Richmond’s Town Halls – Part Four

Posted on January 9, 2019 by richmondarchives

Part Four – The Modern Tower

The City of Richmond was incorporated in 1990 and by then it was already obvious that the 1957 City Hall, even with its additions and improvements, was becoming unsuitable for the rapidly growing city. Staff reports detailed the inadequacy of the office space and the inefficiencies of operation in the existing facility. Council and senior city staff identified issues with the existing building and began studies to determine what was needed to meet the city’s requirements for the foreseeable future.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is OldCityHallstaff.jpg — The third Richmond City Hall had been outgrown by the Municipality it had been designed to serve, even with nearly continuous upgrades and additions. Staff at the hall pose outside before the building was shut down and demolished. City of Richmond photograph.

In 1991 a Task Force was formed to explore the space requirements, cost benefits, and feasibility of the construction of a new City Hall. Many considerations were made regarding the construction of a new building over the modification of the existing one, the suitability of the location, and the design of a potential replacement. Detailed analysis found that the cost of upgrading the existing building would be at least 75% of the cost of a new facility. City owned and privately owned properties were considered as potential sites for a new hall but the location of the existing City Hall with its proximity to the School Board offices, RCMP Station and the new Cultural Centre, Senior’s Centre, Minoru Park, Arenas, and Brighouse Park, all fit in with the concept of a “Civic Centre” at the heart of Richmond’s City Centre. The Task Force also identified the opportunity to create an landmark building for the community.

By 1996 work on the project had progressed to the point where project management and architectural services, provided by KPMB Architects of Toronto, had been settled on. Mayor and Council formed a building committee and in 1997 city operations were moved from City Hall to another city owned property on Elmbridge Way to allow demolition of the old building to take place and site preparation and construction of the new one to begin.

The new building, unlike its predecessor, returned to the practice of the first two Town Halls, making space available for community events and public use. The award winning design featured four major building components.

Photo Collection 1999 City Hall Construction June 1999

The eight storey administrative tower includes the first floor “Front of House” area which clusters representatives from various City Departments in one area to provide one-stop-shopping and improve customer service.

The circular council chamber over looks the southern terrace water garden which features an island to represent Richmond’s status as an Island City and is landscaped with native plant species.

The light filled, two storey Meeting House wing houses a variety of open public spaces and multi-purpose rooms and offices and extends to the west of the tower.

The west terraces and civic square feature an outdoor stage, gardens, public art and access to the administrative tower and the Meeting House from the public parking area.

The new Richmond City Hall was one of the first public buildings in the country to adopt the principles of Feng Shui in its design, consulting with a Feng Shui Master in the early planning stages of the project and throughout the construction phase. To quote Richmond Mayor Greg Halsey-Brandt who was in office for the duration of the project, ” Virtually every opening of a new building that I go to will have a Feng Shui master’s input. They do this all the time in the private sector because they are concerned about their customers, and the way I see it, we are no different. If we build a building that makes it uncomfortable for say, 20 per cent of our population, then that is not in the interest of the community we are trying to serve.”

The building, which cost around $39 Million to build, is designed with the best available technology to withstand earthquakes, provides good public accessibility and an effective, pleasant and safe workplace for employees.

The new City Hall opened for business on May 15, 2000 and several celebratory events were held afterwards. On May 20 an Official Opening Ceremony took place. This was followed by a Charity Gala on May 26, attended by more than 1200 guests. On June 6 the cenotaph, which had been refurbished while in storage during the construction project, was rededicated. It was installed very close to its original location on No.3 Road near the main entrance to the building. On June 12 a Recognition Social was held, attended by more than 1000 residents who had lived in Richmond for 50 years or more.

In the nearly 140 years since the opening of the first Richmond Town Hall, Richmond has grown dramatically, a trend which continues. The first hall served a population of 250 to 300 people at a time when Richmond could still be considered a frontier settlement. By 1919 when the second hall was opened, the population had soared to 3110. In 1957 the third hall was built to provide services for a community of around 26,000 people. The present City Hall was built when the population was around 150,000, a number which is estimated to have swelled to 222,945 today. With the growing service requirements needed to operate our expanding city, space has again become tight at the hall. Some city departments have moved from the main hall to the City Hall Annex, the former Public Safety building vacated by the RCMP in 2011, which has alleviated crowding for, so for the foreseeable future, our fourth City Hall will continue to serve as our Centre of Government.

Back: Part Three – The 1950s Office Building.

https://richmondarchives.ca/2018/08/23/centres-of-government-richmonds-town-halls-part-three/

Centres of Government – Richmond’s Town Halls – Part Three

Posted on August 23, 2018 by richmondarchives

Part Three – The 1950s Office Building

In January 1955 the Municipal Building Committee recommended to Council that a new, two-storey Municipal Hall be built immediately behind the existing one on the Municipal property at Granville Avenue and No.3 Road. By February the plans had been broadened to include a school administration building and health services offices on the same site and approval to borrow $398,000 was given by Council. The architectural contract was awarded to Allen C. Smith and Associates, the construction contract to Narod Construction, heating and ventilation to Crombie Heating and the electrical contract to Canadian Comstock.

Construction on the site began with moving the Brighouse Fire hall to the southwest corner of the property, making room for excavation to begin. The building’s construction was of reinforced concrete and throughout the construction, changes and amendments to the plans were made, although one suggestion that a neon sign to identify the hall should be added to the plans was quashed. The location of the new hall allowed work to continue uninterrupted in the old Town Hall while the new building rose behind it.

By May of 1957 the hall was ready for occupation and municipal departments began to move their operations into the new building.

The demolition of the old hall was started, and once complete, landscaping, paving of the parking area and relocation of the cenotaph was completed in time for the grand opening on August 9, 1957.

The opening of the new Municipal Hall was attended by the the Hon. Wesley Black, Minister of Municipal Affairs, and the Hon. Leslie Peterson, Minister of Education who opened the new School Board offices.

The new hall departed from its predecessor’s use as community space and community activities moved to community centres, church halls and other buildings. It was an unpretentious office building designed to house the growing bureaucracy required for the rapidly growing town, one which was growing far faster than could have been imagined.

By 1961 office space was growing tight in the four-year-old building and debate was taking place on expansion of the hall. In 1964 the decision was made to add a new wing to the building. A contract was awarded to L.D. Boyd construction for $166,900 and the new wing was completed in September 1965. This alleviated the space crisis for a few years but improvements and modernization continued through the rest of the 1960s.

Growth continued and in 1969, with the hall once again bursting at the seams, plans were being debated for further expansion. In 1971 $1,278,000 was borrowed for the construction of a third floor on the existing building and for the construction of a new Public Safety Building. The new building would allow the RCMP to vacate their space in Municipal Hall and move to their own building, freeing up valuable office space. The additional space provided by the third floor and the space cleared by the RCMP only lasted a short time in the rapidly growing municipality.

By January 1978 an architect had been commissioned to produce a report on the state of the council chambers and offices and how to increase the efficiency of the use of space in the hall. This report led to changes in the Health Department, a new Personnel Department and an addition to the north end of the building in 1979.

In 1990 the Corporation of the Township of Richmond was reincorporated as the City of Richmond. Over the preceding decade Richmond’s growth had continued and accelerated with increasing immigration. Richmond’s old Town Hall’s days were numbered, the city once again outgrowing it’s office space.

Back: Part Two – The Tudor Manor.

https://richmondarchives.ca/2018/03/08/centres-of-government-richmonds-town-halls-part-two/

Next: Part Four – The Modern Tower.

https://richmondarchives.ca/2019/01/09/centres-of-government-richmonds-town-halls-part-four/

Centres of Government – Richmond’s Town Halls – Part Two

Posted on March 8, 2018 by richmondarchives

Part Two – The Tudor Manor

In 1918, with the First World War over and Richmond Town Council meeting in Bridgeport School due to the disastrous fire which destroyed the original hall on River Road, more and more pressure was being exerted to have a new Town Hall built in a more convenient, more central site. Council began looking for a new location that would meet the requirements of the growing Municipality.

The Steveston Police station, jail and fire hall, shown here in 1915, had been built in the late 1890s. Its location and the fact that Steveston was the area with the highest population in Richmond was used as an argument for construction of a new town hall there. City of Richmond Archives photograph 2006 39 64.

Steveston was mentioned most of the time as the best location for the construction of a new Town Hall, as it had the highest residential population, was already the location of the police station and jail and was at the end of the BC Electric Railway Interurban line.

In January 1919, after due consideration and support from the Brighouse and Garden City Ratepayers Association, the decision was made to build the new hall in Brighouse. A deal was struck with Michael Wilkinson Brighouse, Sam Brighouse’s nephew and heir, to exchange the old Municipal Lands at River Road which had originally been purchased from the elder Brighouse, for about four acres of land at the southwest corner of No.3 Road and Granville Avenue next to the Brighouse Racetrack. The location of the new hall would help the area grow into the main commercial centre of Richmond.

The new Richmond Town Hall, ca. 1920. Behind the hall is the Minoru/Brighouse Racetrack grandstand. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1987 97 1.

The Reeve and Council passed a by-law stating that the cost of the new hall would not exceed $15000, the cost to be covered by a public levy over three years. The new building was designed by Architect W. Jones and was much different in appearance from the simple old hall it replaced, looking much like an English Manor House. Mr. D. Gray was given the contract for the construction with his bid of $10519 and a further amount was awarded to the company of Barr and Anderson for plumbing and heating.

Construction problems arose early during the build, first in the foundations, which were found to have been laid six inches short of the required width, and then in the flooding of the coal furnace, which for some unknown reason was constructed below ground level, not the best building practice in Richmond. The new Town hall officially opened on December 13, 1919 and 300 citizens looked on as Reeve John Tilton called the Council meeting to order. When the meeting was over a celebration was held, the first of many to be held in the building which would serve the community nearly four decades.

In 1941 the hall was renovated and a new vault was built. This blueprint shows the second floor with the council chambers, Reeve and Clerk’s offices, public service area, etc. City of Richmond Archives image.

The Police Department moved into the new hall in January 1920. By 1922 a resident janitor had been hired who was tasked with janitorial duties, answered the phone when the Police Chief was out of the building, took care of any prisoners in the jail and otherwise made himself useful around the hall.

The ground floor of the hall was also renovated in 1941. Shown here are the police offices, jail cells and living quarters for the resident janitor. City of Richmond Archives image.

The hall, like its predecessor, was used as a social gathering place as well as for municipal business. Dances and concerts were held in the council chambers as well as meetings for many organizations. The Great War Veterans Association held meetings there, leading to the erection of the cenotaph in front of the building in 1922. The Agricultural Association leased a portion of the property for the construction of a building and tennis courts and lawn bowling greens were set up on the lawns adjacent to the hall.

The cenotaph was erected outside the Town Hall in 1922. It still stands outside the present City Hall. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1977 21 8.

Four large light standards were installed on the grounds around the hall in January 1927. It was reported that when they were illuminated it would cause the lights inside the hall to dim, requiring an upgrade to the wiring in the place.

During the Second World War the Town Hall provided office space for the War Loan Drive. Shown here are members of the Richmond Volunteer Fire Department/ A.R.P. during a War Bond Drive.. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1984 7 1.

During the Second World War an office in the hall was provided to the War Loan Drive. A renovation of the hall took place in 1941 during which a new vault was built and changes to the interior spaces were made. After these renovations the hall remained as it was until 1955 when plans were approved for the construction of a new hall to replace the aging structure. The Municipality had out grown its centre of government and it was time for an upgrade to the post war modern era.

This 1948 aerial view of the intersection of No.3 Road and Granville Avenue shows the Richmond Town Hall and its surroundings. On the left is Brighouse Park with its field and lacrosse box. The lower right shows the hall, works yard and outbuildings. On the far right is the grandstand and clubhouse at Brighouse Racetrack. The bottom of the photo shows the commercial buildings along No.3 Road. Granville Avenue and the BC Electric Railway tracks run diagonally from bottom to top. City of Richmond Archives photograph 1997 16 1.

Back: Part One – The First Town Hall

https://richmondarchives.ca/2018/01/08/centres-of-government-richmonds-town-halls/

Next: Part Three – The 1950s Office Building

https://richmondarchives.ca/2018/08/23/centres-of-government-richmonds-town-halls-part-three/

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