
Yaletown’s latest opus
The lobby of the Opus Hotel (322 Davie St.;866/642-6787) is utterly unexpected. Black-clad reception clerksgreet visitors from behind a stand-alone podium, and an alcove litwith votive candles provides the warm glow of a fireplace. Yetdespite its contemporary style, the Opus occupies a verytraditional-looking building, a seven-story brick structuredesigned to blend in with the neighborhood.
The juxtaposition of old and new, traditional and unorthodox, isexactly what gives the Yaletown neighborhood its appeal. Oldwarehouses, where horse-drawn carts picked up dry goods and producea century ago, offer a distinct contrast to the glittering towersof Vancouver’s downtown. Virtually every building has 2- by 3-footDouglas-fir pillars and beams flanked by weathered bricks; manystructures have concrete shipping platforms that have beenconverted to patios.
“I like that feeling of longevity,” says Barbara-jo McIntosh,owner of Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks (1128 Mainland St.; www.bookstocooks.com or604/688-6755), a cookbook store housed in a century-oldbuilding. “And I like the fact that you can walk into almost any ofthese old buildings and find a modern use.”