The old Vancouver Post Office, at the corner of Granville and Hastings Streets, was expanded before ultimately being deemed insufficient to meet the demands of the growing city.
Your privacy is important to us. QuadReal Property Group Limited Partnership (“QuadReal”) is committed to respecting your privacy through the protection of your personal information. The objective of this policy is to promote responsible and transparent personal information management practices for this website in a manner consistent with the provisions of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada). If you do not agree with the terms and conditions of this policy, please exit from this website and do not disclose any personal information through this website.
Our policy for collecting, using, disclosing and protecting your personal information is as follows: We collect and use your personal information provided through this website to administer our business and only for the purposes for which you provided it to us. We share your personal information within QuadReal and with our service providers in order to provide you with outstanding customer service.
We do not sell or otherwise disclose your personal information to third parties unless we have your consent to do so or unless otherwise permitted or required by law (such as for law enforcement and national security purposes, debt collection, to a lawyer representing us, and in an emergency situation in which an individual’s life, health or security is threatened).
We will seek your consent to use and disclose your personal information at the same time as we collect it. In determining the appropriate form of consent, we will take into account the sensitivity of your personal information and your reasonable expectations.
You may withdraw your consent at any time, provided that a reasonable notice of withdrawal of consent is provided to us and the withdrawal is in writing and includes an understanding by you that withdrawal could mean that we cannot provide you with certain products or services.
We maintain physical, electronic and organizational safeguards to protect your personal information. We continually review our policies and practices and monitor our computer networks to ensure the protection of your personal information.
Our site may use cookies to track general user trends and patterns. A cookie is a small piece of information that a website stores on your computer. Cookies do not contain any personally identifying information. Cookies are retrieved automatically whenever you return and some of their contents are stored in log files that are then used to generate periodic statistical reports. These reports help us to evaluate and improve our website by tracking global indicators such as the total number of visitors, total pages viewed, most popular documents retrieved, etc. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. You can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to alert you when one is being sent.
However, some parts of our website may not work properly if you choose not to accept cookies. For additional information on cookies, see the Help instructions on your browser.
We may also collect other information that, alone, cannot be used to identify users through this website, such as anonymous survey responses, IP addresses, Internet tags and navigational data. Our site may contain links to other sites. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy and security policies of the new site. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of all websites you visit.
If you wish to withdraw your consent, request access to or correct your personal information, or have any questions about QuadReal Property Group Limited Partnership’s privacy policy, please contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@quadreal.com.
This privacy policy is subject to change at any time. It is your responsibility to check this policy for changes and updates.
QuadReal Property Group is a global real estate investment, operating and development company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its assets under management are $73.8 billion. From its foundation in Canada as a full-service real estate operating company, QuadReal has expanded its capabilities to invest in equity and debt in both the public and private markets. QuadReal invests directly, via programmatic partnerships and through operating platforms in which it holds an ownership interest. QuadReal seeks to deliver strong investment returns while creating sustainable environments that bring value to the people and communities it serves. Now and for generations to come.
QuadReal: Excellence lives here.
This building is a city block-sized monument to the height of twentieth-century design, technology, and infrastructure.
Once the largest building in Vancouver and the largest welded steel structure in the world, the Main Post Office served a rapidly changing city. It had ramps, chutes, elevators, and tunnels. It even had a 730-meter underground conveyor belt system connecting it to nearby rail hubs and waterways like Waterfront Station. Its McCarter Nairne & Partners design stands as the most noteworthy example of the International Style in all of western Canada—an architectural movement that prioritizes functional flexibility across a large volume of space, smooth exterior planes, and modern mix of materials like granite, marble, terra cotta, cast concrete, terrazzo, and aluminium.
Its construction marked a hinge point for a city on the verge of a boom: while it was in service, the metro area’s population more than doubled, from about 600,000 to more than 1.3 million.
Did you know …
Steel was still in such short supply after WWII that Crittall Windows developed aluminium window technology, and the largest known installation in Western Canada was in the Main Post Office?
The old Vancouver Post Office, at the corner of Granville and Hastings Streets, was expanded before ultimately being deemed insufficient to meet the demands of the growing city.
Nairne & Partners, artworks were commissioned: a 4.9-metre carved granite postman bas-relief on its façade and tile mural of a woman and child in the postal hall, both by Paul Huba (1956); a stone inscription on the southwest corner of the building (1955); and a large painted mural near the Homer Street entrance showing early postal transportation methods in BC, by Orville Fisher.
The Main Post Office was opened, showing off state-of-the-art technology on a massive scale.
The Canada Post Corporation Act came into effect, which had the effect of introducing greater automation. It also shifted a much larger volume of mail toward air transportation. The Main Post Office was decommissioned shortly thereafter.
It's difficult to put into words the massive impact and influence of this building on Vancouver, its people, and its role as a Canadian metropolis. These images from its rich history will help do the job.
It's difficult to put into words the massive impact and influence of this building on Vancouver, its people, and its role as a Canadian metropolis. These images from its rich history will help do the job.
