Sylvia's Century:The Grande Dame
of English Bay retains charm of bygone era
The Sylvia has survived a century
of real estate booms and busts to become one of Vancouver's
most beloved institutions
By John Mackie, Vancouver Sun May
25, 2013
VANCOUVER -- As the founder of the
Superdogs, Herb Williams spent 35 years travelling across
North America. He stayed at the best hotels in New York,
Los Angeles, and wherever else his canine charges were performing.
But his favourite place to stay was at the Sylvia Hotel,
the ivy-covered landmark on English Bay.
Williams (and a couple of dogs) would settle into room 801,
a coveted penthouse suite on the southwest corner that offers
a breathtaking view of the water, Stanley Park and the North
Shore mountains.
'It was a great place to relax,' he relates over the phone
from his home in Toronto. 'I'd go on the beach in the morning
(before he headed to work at the Pacific National Exhibition).
It was like every day was a mini-vacation before I went
to work.'
This year, the grande dame of Beach Avenue celebrates its
100th birthday. Most of its contemporaries were torn down
long ago, but the Sylvia has survived a century of real
estate booms and busts to become one of Vancouver's most
beloved institutions.
But it hasn't always been easy.
The Sylvia was built by Abraham Goldstein, back when Beach
Avenue was houses, even on the water side. He named the
building after his daughter.
She recalled that every night, her dad would take her for
a walk, stop at the corner of Beach and Gilford 'and just
stand there and look.' One night, Sylvia asked him what
he was looking at. He replied: 'I'm going to build a building
there some day.'
After purchasing the corner lot, Goldstein hired architect
W.P. White, who designed a handsome eight-storey brick building
with cream terracotta on top. He had wanted to build a hotel,
but council wouldn't give him the permit, so it opened as
Sylvia Court, a 77-unit apartment block.
'Each suite, whether of two, three or four rooms, is furnished
with a modern gas stove and a brass concealed (Murphy) bed,'
read a full-page ad in The Vancouver Sun on May 3, 1913.
The flooring throughout is of hardwood, and of the most
substantial and attractive kind. Each tenant has the use
of a vacuum cleaner and the special arrangements for washing,
drying and ironing clothes. A dumb elevator service is installed
in every suite, saving many unnecessary steps.
'Marble is used very lavishly throughout the building '
altogether, Sylvia Court is a credit to Vancouver. It seems
to embody everything desirable in an ideal apartment.'
A later owner, Walter Roberts, wrote an unpublished history
of the Sylvia that said in 1913, 'affluent tenants paid
top rentals of the day, ranging from $35 to $65 per month.'
The first tenants were Mr. and Mrs. Ron Kenvyn, who stayed
25 years. 'It was Mrs. Kenvyn who planted the beautiful
Virginia creeper vine that today covers most of the building,'
wrote Roberts.
Unfortunately, there was an economic depression in Vancouver
during the First World War, and Goldstein's dream building
didn't make him much money. He had plans to build two more
buildings like the Sylvia, and to name them after his other
kids, Cecil and Eileen. But they never got off the ground,
and in 1923, Goldstein moved his family to Los Angeles and
sold the Sylvia to Sandy Mann for $275,000.
The building was hit hard by the 1929 Depression, and Mann
worried about defaulting on the mortgage; Roberts said Mann
owed $250,000 in 'back interest, back taxes and principal.'
Roberts suggested converting Sylvia Court to a hotel. Mann
didn't have the cash to do a big conversion, so Roberts
did it in increments, turning a four-room apartment on the
top floor into four single rooms that he rented for $45
a month each. Mann was leery of the change, but after using
some 'picturesque language' on Roberts, Mann allowed him
to convert 10 vacant apartments into hotel rooms.
'Within three or four months, some 50 guests checked in
as residential boarders, all of them men,' Roberts said.
Women boarders were soon taken in as well, which Roberts
ruefully noted 'quickly changed the atmosphere from peace
to war.' But the building was full again.
In 1936, he decided to install a restaurant on the front
of the top floor. The Sylvia was the tallest building in
the West End, and he played up the sky-high view by calling
it Dine In The Sky. Just to make sure everybody knew it
was there, Roberts installed neon signs on the front, side
and roof of the building.
Mann died in 1946, and Roberts partnered with Sandy Douglas
and Alan Williamson to buy the hotel from his estate. Roberts
sold his share to Banff Springs Hotel manager Hilliard Lyle
in 1949.
Vancouver&'s first cocktail lounge, the Tilting Room, was
introduced at the Sylvia in 1954. It was illegal for people
to look into a bar and see people drinking, so the lounge
windows facing Beach were boarded up, and upper level windows
overlooking Gilford were covered up by curtains.
The two-level lounge was a hit, but the hotel business was
changing. In 1960, Lyle recommended to his partners that
they sell the Sylvia to a chain, 'probably American.'
'We are competing with a new kind of industry, the self-service
motel' he wrote in a two-page memo. 'It is obvious, in this
jet age, that Vancouver is no longer a winter or evergreen
playground.'
The Sylvia was sold, but not to a chain. The new owner was
North Shore builder Norman Sawers, who operated the Sylvia
until he died last September. His daughter, Jill Davies,
now runs the hotel.
Sawers converted Dine In The Sky back to hotel rooms in
1962.
The room Herb Williams so enjoyed used to be part of the
restaurant. At $170 to $330 a night, depending on the time
of year, it may be the best bargain in the city. It's about
1,200 sq. ft. and has the vibe of a gracious old one-bedroom
apartment. The living/dining room is enormous, and is filled
with light that comes streaming in through the old Dine
In The Sky windows. The view is amazing ' if you look out
on the water, you can make out an underwater rock formation
that looks like the remnant of the old English Bay pier.
At 84, Williams has retired from the Superdogs and hasn't
been back for a couple of years. But there is no shortage
of people who want to spend a few nights at the 120-room
hotel, where rooms rent for as low $100 in the winter.
' We're really lucky with our occupancy,' said Davies. 'We're
generally sold out from Mother's Day until Thanksgiving.'
People keep coming back because the Sylvia has the relaxed
vibe of another era. It is the kind of place that had a
pet cat, Mister Got To Go, who was so beloved he inspired
two books.
'That silly cat,' laughs Davies. 'There was this wonderful
bellman named Ken who was here for years when I was growing
up. When the cat arrived on the scene, the cat would sit
in the lobby out in front of the elevator, and Ken would
come running over and take the cat downstairs, and the cat
would come back upstairs after he had something to eat.'
Where did the cat live?
'Anywhere he wanted,' she says. 'He lived in the basement.
We found out after he died that he had no claws. We thought
he was mousing, but not a hope.'
There are some wonderful vintage touches in the hotel, like
the marble entrance on Gilford, the old-style elevator dial
on the main floor, and the medieval Sylvia crest. In an
era of electronic keys that you swipe, it's nice to get
a metal key from the Sylvia's ancient key rack.
'We wanted to change it over, but the guests like keys,'
laughs Davies.
There have been some changes. In the early 1980s, the Sylvia
bought the Surf Motel next door and built a highrise condo
that is connected to the hotel through a restaurant/bistro.
'Richard Henriquez was the architect, and did a marvellous
job,' says Davies. 'He designed the building so it looked
like it had been torn away from the hotel. Some of the same
elements are on it, like the brick.'
The units in the Sylvia Tower occupy a whole floor, and
offer 2,500 sq. ft. of space. The penthouse is two storeys,
and was purchased unfinished by the late Jack Poole for
$757,822 in 1986. He sold it for $3.425 million in 2001.
The condos sold out 'instantly,' but the family has no thoughts
of converting the Sylvia back to a residence. They love
operating the hotel as much as people like staying there.
“We have a great clientele that comes back year after
year,” says Davies. “Not only that, but their
parents came here 50 years ago. Now their children come,
and their grandchildren are coming with their kids. So it’s
really fun.”
Many longtime customers come from the U.S., others from
Europe. It is a favourite haunt of entertainers —
Johnny Depp and Ethan Hawke have both stayed there.
An enduring Vancouver legend is that Errol Flynn died in
the penthouse at the Sylvia, in the arms of his teenage
girlfriend. But it isn’t true.
“He actually died in an apartment in the West End,”
says Davies. “But he used to drink here all the time.
Between here and the (Hotel) Georgia. We have a copy of
his death certificate, because people want to know where
he died. So we produce a death certificate.”
Which is the kind of service that makes the Sylvia Hotel
such a special place.
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