Irving Hotel

Judge Arthur Wesley Vowell built the four-storey Irving Hotel in 1907. It was a high-end hotel with private baths, hot and cold running water, and telephones. John L Sullivan ran the hotel and his brother Paddy Sullivan ran the hotel’s bar as the Irving Cabaret during prohibition. Sullivan hired Jelly Roll Morton, one of the original New Orleans jazz pioneers, to supply the entertainment sometime in late 1920 or early 1921.

In 1923 the name changed to the Broadway Hotel. After the Second World War, the city’s business district moved to the west and the area fell on hard times.

In 2001, Dys Architecture completed the renovation of the building to house a U.B.C. operated dental clinic, community co-op radio station, coin-operated Laundromat, and a coffee shop. The project included seismic and accessibility upgrades while maintaining the historic character of the building.

Today, the building is known as the Sunrise Hotel and is run by the Portland Hotel Society as social housing. In 2017, it was awarded a City of Vancouver Heritage Award of Honour recognizing the restoration of the exterior, including the storefronts, cornices and pediments along with the replication of the Irving Hotel neon sign.

Source

Past Tense Vancouver, Dys Architecture: Vancouver Sun article (Monday April 2, 2001)

More information

https://www.flickr.com/photos/westcoasthistory/10831992403