128 replies to this topic

[Kapten Kapsell]

Per the LeFevre website this project will commence marketing in the fall and completion is expected in summer 2012. Units will be priced from $160k.

Cheers to Chris LeFevre for (what will be) another quality heritage residential conversion in Old Town.

[Kapten Kapsell]

This proposal goes to council for consideration Thursday.

[HB]

Gutting the interior started this week and should be complete in about 10 working days. There are some areas of asbestos that need to be cleaned up .
There is a nice looking staircase and banister in there looks like its going to be coming out.
There are a lot of pigeon skeletons in there as well as a handful of Crows Nests in exposed rafters on top floor.
The interior looks like it was gutted years ago. There are no interior walls inside. Look as though it was started years ago. Newspapers on the floor were dated 1978

This one is going to be very costly to Le Fevre and I cant see how he is going to make much money on it. 18 units total I hear .. 6 per floor

Nearby the Fields shoe building a couple doors down has a very nice looking staircase in there too a narrow curving one with some nice workmanship evident.

[HB]

Here is a view inside that I took yesterday.
Have some still I will post later as well

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[tedward]

^ Cool video! I really enjoyed that. The building has always intrigued me and seeing inside like that was great.

Any idea what that bell-shaped copper(?) thing was mounted on the floor on the top level?

[HB]

It is from the roof there are 4 ornamentals and this one had fallen or blown off years ago and has been inside for safe keeping

[G-Man]

That bannister is amazing. I hope they find a way to keep it!

[HB]

Glad you enjoy the photos here are couple more.

This first one show where the ornamental is missing from on the roof. This is the metal peice that was in the video and is stored inside the building.




This is a partial view of staircase and banister and posts.






This is under the sidewalk in front . The access door is still there and when under there I could hear foots steps of people walking by overhead.This door was used to lower things into the basement from the sidewalk


The metal sidewalk door is located about right here on the outside and is buried under some concrete. (sidewalk)



On the side of the building down the alley way is a coal shute. Coal would have been the main source of heat in the first few decades after this building was completed in 1892.


Once the coal was shoveled down here it would end up in the basement where there would have been a large furnace.There are 2 chimneys the start in the basement. There were also some fireplaces on the outer wall of the upstairs rooms. Most of the upstairs rooms touched an outer wall and had access to outer wall chimneys.
So in the alley you see the bars the cover the coal shute. From the inside this image shows where the coal would come down.
The galvanized pipe is a modern part of ventilation.



Of the two furnaces in the basement one would have been for heating the building and the other for heating the water.
The water was heated in a boiler which you can see here.



When diesel became the fuel of choice coal was out. When you walk down a sidewalk in town and see a fuel truck filling a pipe in the side of a building or IN the sidewalk this is where it goes.The tank is under the sidewalk.



Here is an interesting construction style. On the north wall there are original windows that are partialy covered by the staircase. It really looks odd.




Ill post more pics showing how this building was constructed.

[gumgum]

^Awesome!

[phx]

Any idea on how they are going to reinforce the brick walls?

[G-Man]

Above and beyond History Buff. Thank you so much for sharing these.

[VicHockeyFan]

Yes, well done hb, well done.

[tedward]

Loving these pics, especially the under-sidewalk view. Those trap doors are fascinating.

I hope they can save that magnificent staircase but it probably takes too much space.

[KAS]

according to Lefevre's website, there will be a 'grand office lobby' somewhere - maybe that will keep the stairs.

[Hotel Mike]

Wouldn't it be nice if the basement door on the sidewalk could be converted to the glass blocks found elsewhere in downtown.

[Brick and Mortar]

Was doing some searching on this project and found this...

http://www.collierscanada.com/7806

[HB]

Any idea on how they are going to reinforce the brick walls?

Glad you asked.
It is a very expensive proposition to seismically upgrade buildings such as this one.
Basically what they do it build a building inside and empty shell of brick and mortar.
The new inner skeleton of the building needs to be anchored to the ground.
In this case part the foundation is removed in and filled with reinforcing rebar and filled with concrete. This adds strength and weight . At each side of the building aganist the wall steel plates with mounting bolts are installed. The whoel inner skeleton is then connected to these anchor points.
On upper floors the steel skeleton is bolted right to the wall through the brick.
This does not prevent some loss of the structure in the event of a major earthquake but hopefully prevents a toatl collapse.


In this photo you are looking towards Government St. You can see the large square hole against the south wall. then from left to right a narrow whole that will connect to the north and south walls. This hoel is what is filled with reinforced concrete and what the steel skeleton will be attached to.





Notice the bolts on the plates under the ladder and also under the brick wall in photo 2





The next photographs are ones that I took in the 500 Block of Yates street. What you see here is very similar to what will be built inside the New England.




On inner areas of the buidling when dealing with wood the following photos show how it is done. these photos were taken inside Mountain Equipment Coop. This whole building was done after the Bc Ministry of Forests moved out . Before it was a condo it was office building.








When a building has been retrofitted the new hardware is usually visible but can fit in well .


In some cases it looks odd .



This building was built with an interior frame as new construction and the bracing can be seen from outside in the windows.

[sirswithin]

As cool as it was to have a look inside, the shaky-cam footage was making me nauseous. And I kept on expecting to see a shambling, flesh-eating zombie every time the camera turned quickly. But seriously, thanks for the inside look. I love that staircase! And what is the story behind the windows on the interior walls? Were two buildings put together at some point? Was the staircase relocated from somewhere else?

[HB]

As cool as it was to have a look inside, the shaky-cam footage was making me nauseous. And I kept on expecting to see a shambling, flesh-eating zombie every time the camera turned quickly. But seriously, thanks for the inside look. I love that staircase! And what is the story behind the windows on the interior walls? Were two buildings put together at some point? Was the staircase relocated from somewhere else?

Thats why the video was shaky ...I was being followed by a flesh eating zombie

[HB]