Homeless in Vancouver

Homeless in Vancouver: End of the South Granville rainbow mural

by Stanley Q. Woodvine on October 11th, 2019 at 7:40 PM
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      The popular rainbow mural gracing the north wall of 2319 South Granville Street is no more.

      Tuesday afternoon (October 8), it was smashed to make way for a long-anticipated condo redevelopment.

      At the end of this particular rainbow there was only a grubby, yellow excavator using its claw bucket to turn the the two-storey masonry brick building at 2319 into somewhat colourful rubble that spilled into the adjacent empty parking lot of 2311.

      If there was anything like the rainbow’s proverbial pot of gold to be seen, it was only visible to Aoyuan International.

      If you ask nicely the demolition crew may let you take home some of the bricks.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      In 2018 the Guangdong, China–based property developer won city approval to build a 48-unit, eight-storey strata development, with ground floor retail space.

      It's spread across four of the 2300 block of Granville's five building lots: 2301, 2311, 2319 and 2329.

      North end of 2300 Granville Sreet. as it looks today (top) and with the eight-storey, 48-unit development to be called “The Granville”.

      When completed in 2022, the sprawling property is expected to be called “The Granville”, with its “bespoke” luxury apartments going for a cool million each, according to realtor NAI Commercial’s Granville Report for February 2019.

      The short reign of the rainbow mural

      The rainbow mural as it looked in August 2016, soon after completion.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      The mural on the north side of 2319 Granville Street (reiterating what I wrote in 2018) was a project of the South Granville Business Improvement Area (SGBIA). It was completed at a total cost $20,000, according to the SGBIA’s then executive director, Sharon Townsend.

      The bulk of the cost, $12,500, came out of the BIA’s annual budget (raised by special tax levy of property owners within the BIA boundary); the remainder (about $7,500) was kicked in by the City of Vancouver, which was eager to see the mural done, according to Townsend.

      Shot of Tuesday’s demolition showing one of South Granville’s lamp-post banners repeating the rainbow mural design.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      The geometric, rainbow-hued mural was completed over a three-week period during the summer of 2016 by Vancouver muralist Milan Basic. It reproduced a painting by Hamilton-based Kristofir Dean—an artist associated with the Ian Tan Gallery, the then-tenant of 2319 Granville Street.

      There are still four other murals along the South Granville shopping street, all carried out under the auspices of the SGBIA:

      Incise mural by Drew Young on southwest corner of Granville and West 13th.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

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