The Haro Street Children’s Hospital. (Vancouver City Archives Photo)

VANCOUVER’S FIRST “CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL”
A “Creche” on Haro Street

(click on any image to enlarge)

In the early 1900s Vancouver’s “Medical Officer for Health”, a Dr. Underhill, stated that Vancouver had the highest child mortality rate in Canada. He championed the creation of The Vancouver Women’s Building on Thurlow (later the site of Oil Can Harry’s nightclub) which, when opened in 1914, was the second such purpose-built childcare facility or “creche” as it was known, in the nation.

By 1919 when this photo was taken, the creche had moved to the West End to a building owned by the City of Vancouver, which was at the time responsible for some aspects of healthcare and had developed the three-story reinforced concrete structure in 1913. The architect firm of record was A. Williams and Company, and George Williamson built the Children’s Hospital on a budget of $43,800. Alfred Williams wasn't an architect, but actually a consulting engineer. Several houses built in the early 1890s were demolished to make way for the new building.

The Children’s Hospital was a day nursery, run by the Associated Charities of Vancouver. Vancouver General Hospital took over the building in 1917 and the creche later moved to the Relief Department building on Cambie Street, and became the Infant's Department of the hospital and remained in use until 1951.

By 1953 the McRae Hotel was operating at the Haro location, offering daily and weekly rates, and free parking. It was still operating in early 1969, "Rooms from $12 weekly, 5 min. walking distance to downtown".

It is difficult to confirm that the hotel was created from the hospital building, as no photos from the period have been found, but a 1960 aerial image confirms it was still standing, so that seems likely.

In 1970, Central Plaza, a 21-story rental tower, replaced the hotel and the Lindsay Lodge Apartments next door, which had been built in 1912 by Mrs. G. S. McConnell. Owned by Hollyburn Properties, Central Plaza still stands at 1160 Haro Street.

The West End Journal would like to acknowledge the works of several Vancouver authors whose books have served as source material for this series. These include: Eve Lazarus (Every Place Has A Story) the late Chuck Davis (The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver ); Michael Kluckner (Vancouver Remembered and many other volumes); Dane Purvey and John Belshaw (Vancouver Noir - 1930 - 1960); Aaron Chapman (Vancouver Vice and others); Tom Snyders & Jennifer O’Rourke (Namely Vancouver - A Hidden History of Vancouver Place Names); John Atkin (Heritage Walks Around Vancouver and others); and many guest speakers over the years at the Vancouver Historical Society and Heritage Vancouver. If you are interested in Vancouver history, the above are your points of entry.