A heritage gem, a model SRO: before the fire destroyed the Winters Hotel

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The fire that killed two people and destroyed the Winters Hotel in Gastown has made the building synonymous with SRO problems in Vancouver.

It has been described as run down, but this was not always the case. Former City of Vancouver homeless advocate Judy Graves said not long ago that Winters was a model SRO and a heritage masterpiece.

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“She was one of the best SROs,” said Graves, who has been retired for a decade. “It was privately run and beautiful, beautiful, architecturally.”

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The interior of the 1907 hotel was so striking and in such good condition that it was often used for film shoots.

Photographer Alexandra Bidwell shot a photo shoot for Creative BC on October 1, 2018 that captures the heritage beauty of the four-story structure, which was built as a high-end hotel in 1907. Creative BC recently sent the images to Postmedia.

The first floor was made up of retail shops, the top three were residential rooms. The interior of the hotel looked much as it would have looked in 1907, from the original five-panel wood doors and wainscoting in the hallways to the large skylights.

The colors inside were deep and rich, from the dark brown doors to the red wainscoting beneath the soft blue walls. The hardwood floors in the hallway were painted orange and had a brown linoleum runner down the middle.

The most interesting architectural feature were the light wells that brought sunlight into the structure from the skylights, which illuminated the lower three floors.

Heritage expert Don Luxton said light wells like this were sometimes used in old buildings.

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“There would be holes in the building to allow light and ventilation in,” explains Luxton. “The light wells were functional, but they turned them into characteristic elements.”

You probably couldn’t build them today. But many rooms inside the hotel did not have access to an outside window. It looks wild, like something out of New Orleans.

The old-world feel was enhanced by interior balconies that looked like small bridges at the end of the hallway, with three floors of open space between them.

The owner, Peter Plett, kept the building original and in good condition.

“I know for the Pletts, that building was their pride and joy,” Graves said. “They had many buildings, but that was the most beautiful of them. They decorated it beautifully, maintained it beautifully. “It was exquisitely clean.”

This included the rooms, which were often furnished with antiques.

“The original furniture from the hotel was still there when the Pletts took over,” Graves said. “Some were left in the bedrooms and others were kept in the basement.”

Peter Plett still owns the building through Winters Residence Ltd., but leased it to a nonprofit organization, Atira, in 2017. Atira was managing it on April 11, 2022, when candles left unattended started a fire .

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The sprinkler system had been activated by another fire three days earlier and had not come back on. Two people ended up dying in the fire: Mary Ann Garlow and Dennis Guay.

An investigation into the Winters fire recommended phasing out private ownership of SROs. But Graves said the building was fine when Plett ran it.

“Just remember, this guy is NOT the Sahotas,” he said in an email, referring to the controversial SRO owners who owned the convicted Balmoral and Regent hotels. “He was NOT a slumlord. “He was a class act in SRO management.”

The Winters was a high-profile heritage building in Gastown, with a handsome brick façade that extended from Abbott and Water Streets to the street.

The City of Vancouver has preserved the heritage facades of historic buildings like this in the past, but in this case, the entire building was torn down. So it is currently vacant land, waiting to be remodeled.

Luxton said heritage zoning allows a 75-foot-tall building to be built there, although it could be taller if the city approves. What it will look like and when it will be built is anyone’s guess.

“It leaves a big gaping tooth in the historic fabric of Gastown and in the street wall,” Luxton said. “It was a huge building and a huge loss to the area, in terms of its heritage. And now, whatever we rebuild will probably be something contemporary, because you can’t rebuild the building exactly.

“We’re going to end up with who knows what. It’s going to be a challenge to put something in that fits the area, because we don’t build buildings like that anymore.”

Plett was not available for comment.

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