MacBlo Building renamed by architect Arthur Erickson

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In 1965, architect Arthur Erickson outlined a concept for a striking new office tower to house the forestry giant MacMillan Bloedel.

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“The sketch shows (a building) that it’s like a big tree trunk, rising up from the ground,” said Erickson’s nephew, Geoffrey Erickson. “If you look at it head-on, it’s like peeled bark. He wanted it stripped and strong, which is what the great old trees were. And of course (the trees were) MacMillan Bloedel’s main product. “

Erickson and architectural partner Geoffrey Massey were awarded the commission, and on December 13, 1968, the 27-story MacMillan Bloedel headquarters was opened at 1075 West Georgia St. in downtown Vancouver.

Built of cast concrete, with deep recessed windows and a beautiful plaza set back from the street, it is Vancouver’s premier “brutalist” structure, a local icon that has survived much longer than the company that built it, which was sold to Weyerhaeuser in 1999. .

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But people still call it the MacBlo Building, even though there is no MacBlo anymore.

Jon Stovell of Reliance Properties believes it is time for a change, so the name of the site will become Arthur Erickson Place.

“It is not often that a building is known to a tenant who has left a long time ago and does not even have a sign on the building,” Stovell said, speaking on behalf of the three companies that purchased the property in 2019.

“We really think it should be associated with Arthur. We think that’s the best way for the designer to remember the importance of the building, because that’s what really makes the building distinctive. “

Stovell loves the design, although many have compared it to a waffle.

“It’s an early and brilliant design that used this emerging material, concrete, and used honestly expressed concrete, not hidden or covered with siding,” he said.

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“Simply concrete, proud to be concrete, a pure and simple material. Arthur was just brilliant on concrete. If you think of the Museum of Anthropology, the Evergreen Building or the Courthouse (Robson Square), it always expresses itself wonderfully in concrete. He loved that stuff. “

It was a departure from other Vancouver skyscrapers, and it was the tallest structure in the city when it was built.

“The use of concrete was absolutely new here,” said Geoffery Erickson. “Arthur learned from some of the great Japanese architects how to work with concrete. He also created a (local) building for the first time without columns. He used the exterior facade walls to support everything, so he has wonderful interior spaces that are not disturbed by columns. “

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Heritage expert Don Luxton hailed it as “an elegant and well thought out building.”

“Erickson called it his most Doric building in terms of its simplicity,” he said. As in the Doric order, the Greek order. Simplistic in his vocabulary, but rigorous in the way he expresses himself. “

Stovell agrees.

“There are a lot of architectural things in that building that are really fascinating, like the window holes are deeper at the bottom of the building than at the top,” he said.

“Create this kind of illusion, as the building enters the vanishing point in the sky. So you’re playing around with geometry in shapes that are really cool to look at.

“It is proven by the fact that people always take that classic photo on the facade of the beautiful square. It is a real building from its time that somehow has endured and continues to be one of the city’s favorite buildings. “

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To help launch Arthur Erickson Place, the owners are offering a free week-long “viewing experience” to the public with a 3D light show that will “enliven the main exterior of the building on a spectacular canvas of notable Erickson designs.” It will take place between 8:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., from September 23 to 29.

The building was purchased by Reliance Properties, KingSett Capital, and Crestpoint Real Estate Investments in the spring of 2019 for an undisclosed sum. The property is valued at $ 247.5 million. When Weyerhaeuser bought MacBlo in 1999, he sold the property for $ 76.8 million.

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