Rees & Higgins Block

Gastown is the historic core of Vancouver, and is the city's earliest, most historic area of commercial buildings and warehouses. The Rees & Higgins Block is valued as an early Gastown hotel, representative of the area's seasonal population in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as Vancouver emerged as western Canada's predominant commercial centre. Hotels such as this provided both short and long-term lodging, serving primarily those who worked in the seasonal resource trades such as fishing and logging. Many of these hotels had combined functions of commercial services on the ground floor and lodging rooms on the upper floors, which contributed to the lively street life in Gastown.

The Rees & Higgins Block is valued as a fine example of the Victorian Italianate style from the late nineteenth century, illustrating how popular architectural styles were used by the hotel business to market a progressive image. This was one of the earliest brick hotels built after the Great Fire of 1886, demonstrating the importance of fireproof construction, which was a selling point to potential customers. This building also illustrates the informal and expedient pattern of ownership and construction seen in the boom years that followed the arrival of the railway. It was constructed in 1889, but had a unified facade treatment with the larger Hickey Block to the north. The two buildings were often jointly occupied on the second floor, and later served as the temporary Central City Mission until its permanent home was built in 1911 across the street at 233 Abbott Street.