Queen Charlotte apartment

Queen Charlotte apartment: a Time Line

copyright Wim Vanderpoll 2019

1927 –1928

The Queen Charlotte is built by Dominion Construction Ltd. for Vancouver Holding Ltd. The design somewhat mimics Queen Charlotte's childhood home of the Palace of Mirow in Meckelenburg-Strelitz.

Vancouver Holdings is owned by Henry Herbert Stevens; according to Richard Wilbur's biography, he was a " Methodist preacher marked by a crusading zeal that made him one of the most controversial political figures" (H.H. Stevens 1878 – 1973; University of Toronto Press, Toronto and Buffalo, 1977). Born in Bristol, at 9 years old he arrived in Canada with his widower father, two sisters and an older brother, in 1887. 24 years later Henry (Harry) started his political career as the Conservative member of the House of Commons for Vancouver City.

The Stevens family first settled in Peterborough, then moved in 1894 to Vernon where Harry, at 15, worked as a grocery clerk in McGaw's General Store. Then he got a job as a stoker on the 374 locomotive (now in Vancouver's Roundhouse) on the CPR branchline to Sicamous, and, a year later as a stage coach driver on the Penticton to Grand Forks run. He moved to Seattle and volunteered for the US Army, was sent to the Philippines and then to the Boxer Rebellion in China as a civilian volunteer.

In 1901 he returned to Canada, settled briefly in Vancouver, but soon moved to mining ventures near Terrace, then back again to the Kootenays to try his luck at the Phoenix mine in Greenwood. He soon became secretary of the "extremely left-wing Phoenix Miners' Union". In 1902 he got back in the grocery business in Vancouver, working for Thomas Duke in Mount Pleasant. Harry joined the Conservative Association of Mount Pleasant and was soon appointed its secretary. He set up his own business in Insurance, and became an avid campaigner for temperance (we may owe our archaic liquor laws to him and his ilk?), anti-gambling (especially the dens in Chinatown) and his conviction that "the Oriental culture could not be assimilated into a predominantly Anglo-Saxon and white community". He took a very strong stand against the free immigration of "Orientals", and as an MP in 1914 had a controversial role in the Komagata Maru affair.

In 1909 he was elected alderman for Mount Pleasant; in 1911 he was elected MP. When he went to the bank for campaign financing he stated his personal worth as $ 96,000, over $ 2 million in 2019 dollars. Harry was on bad terms with the Vancouver Sun, whom he sued for libel for $ 100,000 over an article related to "shady dealings with a Chicago oil company". They also said that "He recently built and sold one of the most luxurious apartment houses in Vancouver", presumably the Queen Charlotte, though the building was not named. "He is now a wealthy man dealing in apartment blocks and railway charters", the Vancouver Sun reported. The railway venture involved obtaining the charter of a railway line in northern BC that he immediately sold to Cominco, then a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific. He continued his insurance and accounting business ventures, and also invested in mining. He was involved with the Guiness' family British Properties and played a role in the construction of Lions Gate bridge. And he remained illustrious in politics until 1940 when he was finally defeated. He died June 14, 1973.

From the City of Vancouver archives:

The Queen Charlotte Apartments, located at 1101 Nicola Street, were built in 1927 by the Dominion Construction Company. Although the Property Tax Assessments do not exist for 1927 it does appear from water connection records that the Property was then owned by the Hon. H. H. Stevens (who had resided in a house at 1101 Nicola Street before construction). As of 1929, or shortly thereafter, the owners are listed as Independent Investments Co. and Karl P. Fletcher (during this period, approximately 1927 to 1942, the building address was 1105 Nicola Street). In 1941 the building was purchased by Niels Anthon Larsen (1874-1960), who had been bornin Denmark, had moved to Alberta in 1914, where, by 1916 he established his own creamery in Alix, Alberta, then retired to a farm in Cloverdale in 1935. In 1941 he purchased the property as an investment. Larsen owned the building until his death; the estate sold it in 1983.