The
2400 Motel, built in 1946, is simply the best of the post-war
Kingsway auto-courts. Ten years earlier, completion of the Patullo
Bridge and King George Highway had made Kingsway the final leg
in a modern highway system linking Vancouver to the States. When
the late 1940s and 50s ushered in an age of unprecedented mobility,
auto-courts sprung up across North America to capture the market
for highway-oriented accommodation. Typical of the early motels,
the 2400 was built as a cluster of cottages on a lawn around a
central office, with a freestanding roadside neon sign to attract
passing motorists. An early example of the trend to modernism,
the motel's Streamline Moderne design - most notable in its flat-roofed
office building - evokes the post-war world of speed and personal
mobility. The 2400 Motel has been scrupulously maintained over
the years and is virtually unchanged. With savvy management, it
could continue as such into the future, marketed internationally
as a unique travel experience.
Click
on postcard image above to see an excellent research report for
the City of Vancouver
by Birmingham and Wood, Architects and Planners. Published January
2007 (PDF)Photo:
public domain
The future of the 2400 Motel, Kingsway's iconic landmark, is up
for grabs. The 'Norquay Neighbourhood Centre' planning process,
of which it is a part, focuses on encouraging higher density residential/commercial
developments in the area around Kingsway and Nanaimo. Rezoning
of the nearby Eldorado Motel for redevelopment as a high-density
mixed-use project has already been approved. The 2400 site, which
the City purchased some years ago as an investment for future
re-sale as a development site, is probably next in line. When
Heritage Vancouver and local community groups expressed concern
about the heritage value of the white stucco bungalows and the
iconic '2400' neon sign, the City set up a stakeholder process
to discuss preservation and/or development options for the future
of the site. However, a favourable outcome is by no means assured,
as all options -including demolition -are on the table.
