May 16, 2018

BC's Criminal Courthouse in Vancouver Makeover Complete

The Province of British Columbia’s Criminal Court building in Vancouver (222 Main Street) recently received a rather dramatic haircut as a result of their “Ivy Removal Project”:
According to a source familiar with the matter, the project was undertaken for three reasons: to limit damage to the concrete, to eliminate the “highway for rats and rodents to enter the building”, and to eliminate organic scaffolding that could be a motivating factor for an ambitious climber to scale the side of the building.

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I expected to feel upset seeing the loss of so much greenery, for the sake of exposing an otherwise blank facade; however, the memory of the ivy remains if you look close enough.
Moreover, the justification for the removal is logical. Frank Lloyd Wright likely did not envision rat highways and related rodent incursions when he said, “The doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.

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  1. That is definitely NOT an aesthetic improvement.
    Looking forward to more of those 1970’s bunkers being replaced…

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