Looking south up Joyce to Westminster Road (now Kingsway),1912. The Community Credit Union was recently on the left. Photo from UBC Library, the Chinook newspaper
The area at Joyce and Vanness is changing dramatically. In December 2023, the Community Savings Credit Union closed, after 22 years. (They merged with the branch on Commercial Drive.)
5104 Joyce and Vanness, on the southeast corner, 1974. Vancouver Archives, CVA 1095-04418
This location has always been a thriving corner because of the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) interurban track, built in 1891 to connect downtown Vancouver to New Westminster. Today the Skytrain runs along the same route, built in 1985. The Joyce-Collingwood station was enlarged recently on the east side of Joyce, and it’s a very busy corner.
5103 Joyce and Vanness, on the southwest corner, 1974. Vancouver Archives, CVA 786-98.13
Back in the early 1900s, two large office buildings were built on the southeast corner of Joyce and Vanness and across Joyce on the southwest corner.
Recently I discovered photos from 1974 in the Vancouver archives that show the two buildings 60 years later. I realized that I would have passed by them frequently as a young girl, but I have no recollection of them at all. Do you remember these two buildings?
The March 2024 issue of the RCC News gets you out and about to enjoy the signs of spring blooming all around us. Find out all about the diverse, multicultural activities in the neighbourhood in the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News and stay connected with your neighbours.
The Craft of Spirit – a new textile exhibit at the Italian Cultural Centre’s Il Museo Gallery
Still Moon Arts call for community performers for the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival
Collingwood Corner: 5104 Joyce Street at Vanness
Read On! Vancouver weather and crossword
Plus, program highlights at the Renfrew Park Community Centre
Do you have a local story to tell or an event to share? We’d love to hear about it! Email rccnews-editorial@cnh.bc.ca.
The deadline for the April 2024 issue is March 10.
We welcome story submissions from 300 to 400 words long. Accompanying photos must be high resolution in a jpg file at least 1 MB large and include a photo caption and the name of the photographer.
A fresh new business named Zim Manufacturing Co., April 1935. Photo by Stuart Thompson, Vancouver Archives
I’m always on the hunt for old photos that reveal life as it was here in Collingwood in past decades. The Vancouver Archives website is a gold mine for such searches. However, it’s difficult to locate the images as the search engine is tricky to use, and sometimes the photos are incorrectly labelled.
While browsing the archives website recently, I discovered Tyne Apartments in 1978, located at 3437 Kingsway, near the current Tim Horton’s building.
Tyne Apartments, 1978. Vancouver Archives photo; CVA 1093-04480
I didn’t recognize it, so I turned to Google maps to see if it was still standing. I like to use Google maps to find out if a building has been torn down. Google maps is invaluable in my research, because sometimes the building is still standing, and then I can take a photo of it for my records. Otherwise, I save and keep a record of Google’s image in my files.
I looked up Tyne Apartments in the BC Directories, to see how far I could trace it. This part of my research takes many hours. I began with 1955, and worked my way back to 1935, when the building was owned by Isaac D. Chappell. In 1936 he was the manager of Zim Manufacturing and Soap Company.
I typed that name into Google search and found another photo of this building at 3437 Kingsway in 1935 in the Vancouver Archives! You can clearly see the Zim name on the side of the building. The building was vacant from 1930 to 1934. I’m not sure when it was built.
In 1938, the building shared another business; “Uphol (upholstery) and carpet cleaning,” owned by G. W. Henderson. By 1939, according to the directories, the Zim Company was gone.
I wonder if Zim was a good cleaning agent. Today, in 2024, I use a cleaner named “Vim,” but I don’t think there is any relation to Zim! In 1940 the building was first listed as Tyne Apartments and had eight units. It appears it lasted until the 1970s, as the second photo was taken in 1978. The building was gone by 2015, according to Google maps.
Renfrew-Collingwood Community News 