Reference Guide:
Environmental Site Assessments

The Archives has publications and records commonly used for environmental site assessment of Vancouver properties.

CONTENTS

Directories
Fire Insurance Plans
Water Service Rrecords
GVRD Map Collection
Photographs
City Records
Other Repositories and Offices

Directories

1882-present
Location: Reading Room
Used to determine land use over time. For example, an address might name a gas station.
Issued annually. Similar to telephone books, but provide access by address also.

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Fire Insurance Plans

1885-1966
Location: Reading Room (map microfiche)
Used to determine building outlines and a variety of other building and site characteristics such as underground storage tanks, water hydrants, power sources, building materials, etc. Please note that fire insurance plans are available for reference purposes only.

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Water Service Records

1886-1991
Location: Reading Room & Storage
City records used to determine the date of initial and subsequent water applications.
Arranged in application number order.
Obtain application numbers from MCR 21 which is arranged by address.

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GVRD Map Collection

ca. 1935-1970
Location: Reading Room (map microfiche)
Used to determine contour and under-surface characteristics of large areas of land.
In the Subject Index see the headings: "Contour", "Sewage Systems", and "Soil".

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Photographs

ca. 1860-1990
Location: Reading Room (photo binders) & Storage
Used to determine land use.

Aerial Survey Photographs, Series 136 (Planning)

Dates are 1950-1989. Similar to maps with a scale of 1:6 000 to 1:24 000.
Each photograph shows a perpendicular view of a small area of the city.
To locate a photograph of a particular area consult the key maps filed in the inventory.

Aerial Photographs

JSM collection
See the binders marked "Air"
In the card index see the heading: "Vancouver from the Air"

CVA photographs
In the card index see the heading: "Vancouver - Aerial Views"

Other Photographs

The JSM collection provides two access possibilities:
card index (look up building name or street name) binders (peruse the sections "Buildings" or "Streets")

CVA photograph card index under the headings Vancouver - Buildings - [building name]
Vancouver - Streets - [street name]
Vancouver - [local area, e.g. Kitsilano]

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City Records

ca. 1900-present
Location: Reading Room & Storage
Used to supplement the above sources in instances when further data is required. There are a variety of record series which may be useful in some cases (see the inventories for Engineering, Planning, Health, South Vancouver, Point Grey, and GVRD). The following examples are the series most used for site assessment research.

Health Inspection Cards, MCR 25/series 71 (Health)

Electrical and gas line plans, series 354 (Engineering)

Maps, plans and drawings, series 445 (Planning)

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Other Repositories and Offices

The following are a few suggestions for additional sources.

• Data Resource Centre, East Wing, City Hall (873-7537) - Building permits, gas permits, etc., for most buildings presently standing (on microfiche by address, no fee).

• B.C. Assessment Authority (739-8588) - current land ownership

• B.C. Land Titles Office (660-2595) - previous land ownership

• Geographical Information Centre, UBC (822-3048) - aerial survey photographs

• Maps BC, Victoria (604-387-1441) - aerial survey photographs

• Special Collections and University Archives Division, UBC (822-2521) - fire insurance plans

• Special Collections Division, VPL Downtown (331-3780) - directories, photographs

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