BY LORETTA HOUBEN

Do you remember a train whistle blowing late at night in the 1960s and 1970s when the freight train would arrive at the back of the large warehouse complex located on Wellington Avenue and Joyce Street? The train used the former interurban tracks from the east. I lived on Monmouth Avenue and the sound would comfort me in the middle of the night.

The warehouse was opened in March 1957 at 3450 Wellington Avenue and owned by Robert K. Arkley. For many years it was McGregor Warehouses Ltd., until it came under new management in 1973 and was changed to Vancouver Distribution Centres Ltd. The owner at the time was George A. Carey, and the general manager was Harvey Allen. The warehouses were a huge facility consisting of 120,000 square feet. Some of the businesses located here were Castrol Oils, Nestle Canada, DuBois Chemicals of Canada and Johnsons Wax.

It was difficult gleaning this information from online newspapers at Newspapers.com. Not much has been written about this complex, which was in the Collingwood neighbourhood from 1957 until 1992, a period of 35 years, when it was demolished to make way for townhomes and condos. The area was rezoned in 1988.

The warehouses were torn down in 1992. The apartments and townhomes were sold from 1992 to 1994, advertised in the Vancouver Sun for as low as $4,000 down payment. Apartments started at $74,500 and townhomes started at $210,000, from VLC Properties. Eventually, the area included Wellington townhomes on Wellington Avenue, with the Avalon and Connaught townhomes behind them. Also included were two high rise towers, the tallest in the neighbourhood at the time: the Regent Court and Queen’s Court.

My dad, John Williams, took the two photos included with this article. I inherited my love of old buildings and documenting neighbourhood changes from him. These are the only two photos I have seen of the warehouses on Wellington.

The one thing I remember about this area is the beautiful green lawn in the front, with picnic tables for the staff. McGreer Street was once an unnamed gravel lane, running along the west side of the property.

Do you have memories or photos of this warehouse complex? Please get in touch with the editor, Paul Reid, if you do, at rccnews-editorial@cnh.bc.ca.