Description of Historic Place

The Ceperley Rounsfell Building is a two-storey Georgian Revival structure in the heart of the West Hastings financial and business district. Its mid-block location between Howe and Hornby Streets harmonizes it with the neighbouring B.C. and Yukon Chamber of Mines Building and the Vancouver Club across the street to create a streetscape rich in heritage character.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Ceperley Rounsfell Building lies in its contextual, architectural, associative and historical significance.

The contextual value of this building is found in its location on West Hastings Street and the business and financial district in close proximity to it. Built in 1921, the prestigious address, close to the Vancouver Club, was historically a very affluent one, and symbolic of the success of Ceperley and Rounsfell’s real estate and insurance company. The area of West Hastings Street has many highly-valued and beautiful heritage structures including the Credit Foncier Building, the Vancouver Club, and the B.C. and Yukon Chamber of Mines Building, among others on that block, and the Imperial Bank, Royal Bank and several other financial institutions further east along West Hastings. To the west are the impressive University Club, Marine Building and Guinness tower.

Further valued for its architecture, the building is a rare example in Vancouver of the Georgian Revival style. A fashionable design in the United States and in Britain, the style implies a conservative and strong occupant and is additionally symbolic of the prosperity of the company. The interior was originally built with a large double height hall, which has since been filled in with a second floor. Many of the interior decorations, however, remain and are designed in an Imperial Roman style complete with vegetable motifs and inset decorative panels in the walls.

Significance is also found in its associations with its architects. Designed by Sharp and Thompson, the firm was one of the most prolific in the city and went on to become the city’s longest established architecture firm, an accomplishment not yet surpassed in Vancouver. They were well known for many of their designs including the Vancouver Club, the University Club and the first master plan for University of British Columbia and some of its earliest structures, including the main Library and the Science (now Chemistry) building.

Important to this structure are its original owner and occupant, Ceperley Rounsfell and Company, which was a real estate and insurance company, founded in the year of incorporation of the City of Vancouver, 1886. Originally based in Gastown, the company grew and its success allowed it to have this structure built in 1921. After the First World War the financial and business district began to shift toward Burrard Street as the Canadian Pacific Railway focused its attention on the area. A symbol of its success and prominence, the company moved in to the area to take advantage of its business climate. The company went on to become one of the province's largest real estate and insurance firms.

The association with Henry T. Ceperley, of Ceperley Rounsfell and Company, is also valued, not only as a successful businessman, but also for his other activities in the city. An early realtor in the area, Ceperley encouraged Van Horne of the Canadian Pacific Railway to propose the creation of Stanley Park to the west of Vancouver’s Downtown. The proposal was successful and created one of the largest urban parks in the country. Ceperley is commemorated within the park at Ceperley Park, a children’s playground within Stanley Park.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the Ceperley Rounsfell Building’s Georgian Revival architectural design include its:

- form, relatively small scale in the context of the West Hastings streetscape and two-storey massing
- red brick and cast stone facade
- central Palladian windows
- offset, inset ground entry
- quoining on building edges
- simple intermediate cornices
- false balcony under second storey window
- arched window with decorative archivolts and decorative keystone above
- double-hung wooden sash windows on second floor
- outer two windows divided 8-over-8
- central window divided 8-over-12
- decorative medallions over second storey windows
- facade divided into three bays by pilasters, which flank central windows
- parapet divided into three bays and broken decorative balusters
- simple cornice
- flagpole from balcony

Key elements that define the interior of the Ceperley Rounsfell Building include:

- intact ceiling skylight
- Roman-themed decorations in ceiling and on walls, including acanthus leaf decoration
- divided into structural bays
- corbelling and dropped beams divide each bay
- plaster walls and ceiling
- massive structural seismic beams that do not touch
- clear span interior from front to back and left to right

Key elements that define the location of the Ceperley Rounsfell Building include:

- its location in the West Hastings Street commercial and financial district, among numerous other prominent heritage properties