English Bay Bathhouse Receives Heritage Award for Interior Restoration

May 17, 2004 - The City of Vancouver has bestowed an Award of Recognition to the Vancouver Park Board for a recent refurbishment at the English Bay Bathhouse. In 2002, the Park Board renovated and restored the washrooms of this venerable Art Deco building. The biggest challenge for this project was to retain the heritage character of the interior while adding the needed upgrades to the washroom facilities. The project required replacing an out-of-date water supply system, repairing and replacing cracked glazed and glass tiles, restoring and refinishing the original terrazzo floor and replacing all plumbing fixtures.

The English Bay Bathhouse, tucked up against the hillside on the beach overlooking English Bay, has been an important city landmark since 1932. Over the past seven decades it has received heavy and consistent use by the millions of people who have visited the beach.

Beautiful and unique wooden bathhouses were constructed in the early 20th Century at Second Beach and Kitsilano Beach as well but were replaced decades ago. It was at the old Kitsilano Bathhouse where one of the Park Board's first supervisors of beaches, Fred Burrows, lived during his tenure with the Vancouver Park Board. Here too is where his son, George Burrows, was born who went on to compete as an Olympic swimmer in 1932 and eventually took his father's place as the Park Board's Supervisor of Beaches and Pools.

In 1934, when the new Kitsilano draw and fill pool was opened to a throng of thousands, it was the young Olympian Burrows who took the first official swim. Forty five years later, a much older George Burrows, with his ruddy checked complexion and trade mark shock of white hair, was asked to repeat his earlier ceremonial swim marking the official opening of the new Kitsilano Pool in 1979. It was a sight to behold, this older man, tentatively entering the waters on a cold and grey May day, displaying the beautiful strokes of a master swimmer as he easily plied the 150 metre lengths.

Other Park Board Heritage Buildings

The Vancouver Park Board has a host of A and B Listed Heritage Buildings as cited below:

"A" Listed

Aberthau - West Point Grey Community Centre
Administration Building - Vancouver Park Board Stanley Park
Barclay Manor- Barclay Heritage Square
Bloedel Conservatory - Queen Elizabeth Park
Brock House - Jericho Beach Park
Connaught Park Fieldhouse
Memorial Park South Fieldhouse
Memorial Park West Fieldhouse
Hastings Mill Store Museum
Haywood Bandstand - Alexandra Park
Roundhouse Community Centre - Roundhouse Community Park
Stanley Park Pavilion

"B" Listed

Cottage Hospice - Burrard View Park
English Bay Bathhouse
Fish House Restaurant (former Sports Tearoom) - Stanley Park
Granville Park Lawn Bowling Club
Pooh Corner Day Care Centre (former Deputy Superintendent's Residence) - Stanley Park
Rose Cottage - Stanley Park
Vancouver Rowing Club - Stanley Park
Weeks House - Barclay Heritage Square

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