Canadian Memorial Hall

Overview

Vancouver Heritage Site Finder
Photo Credit: Steve Hodder

Address

1811 W 16th Ave, Vancouver BC

Neighbourhood

Kitsilano

type

Residential

Protection & Recognition

  • M: Municipal Protection

Significance

B: Significant

Description

Canadian Memorial Hall and Chapel were built as a memorial to those who had fought and died in the First World War. The initial idea for the memorial buildings was from Rev (Lt-Col) G.O. Fallis, who had served as an army chaplain. The Memorial Hall was completed in 1923. It had a gymnasium and one of the first indoor swimming pools in Vancouver. Services were held in the gymnasium until the Memorial Chapel was completed in 1928. The Chapel was planned by renowned ecclesiastical architects, Twizell & Twizell. The building is a reinforced concrete structure with granite and plaster facings. The Chapel has ten stained glass windows, one for each province and Yukon Territory, as well as the Chancel window and an all-Canada window. Rev. Fallis raised funds from across Canada to underwrite the cost of the windows. Canadian Memorial houses the only other copy of the Books of Remembrance outside of Ottawa. These books contain the names of all Canadians who died in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War.

Source

Exploring the West: The Early Architects of BC, Canadian Memorial Website

Map

Canadian Memorial Hall

Directions

Directions in Google Maps

Contact

Please Share Your Stories!

Send us your stories, comments or corrections about this site.

If you have any images of this site, please share it with us!

Once you hit submit, an email will be sent to you to confirm that we have received your story submission. Please reply to the confirmation email with a few photos of this site!