Community Heritage Register
Tweedale Block
Vancouver, British Columbia
Also known as Olympia Rooms, Olympia Hotel, Sunlight Hotel
Tweedale Block
Photo: City of Vancouver 2004
- Recognized
- 1994
- By
- City of Vancouver
The register’s text, word for word
Description
The Tweedale Block is a four-storey Edwardian residential apartment building located on East Hastings Street in Vancouver.
Heritage value
The Tweedale Block is significant for its contribution to the streetscape in this block of East Hastings Street. Built c. 1915 by Baynes and Horie to a design by architects Thornton and Jones, it is named for its original owner, Cyril Tweedale, a noteworthy local financier.
The building was built as a rooming house, and operated under the name of the Olympia Rooms (later the Olympia Hotel) until 1987, when the name changed to the Sunlight Hotel. It continues to be used for residential accommodation.
There is also value in the architectural styling. The symmetry, clean lines, and the simplified ornamentation speak to the changing public taste from the elaborate ornamentation of the Victorian period to the more refined decoration of the Edwardian era. The spandrels are unique in that they have Tweedale's initials set in a cartouche amid vegetative decoration. The building's name is set in an ovoid block just under the cornice.
SourceCity of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program
Character‑defining elements
The character-defining elements of the Tweedale Block include:
- its location on the East Hastings Street strip
- the rectangular form and massing
- built right to the lot line with no setback
- characteristics of Edwardian architectural style, including glazed brick on the front facade, narrow square plan with light wells on the east facade to provide daylight to interior rooms, sheet metal spandrels with central cartouche with initials, keystone at centre of each pair of upper storey windows, heavy sheet metal cornice with brackets, building name in sheet metal between keystones, and floor tiles at west side entry to upper floors
End of the register’s text
Location
341 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6A, Canada
49.28158° N, 123.09651° W
Get directions (opens in a new tab)Being on the register doesn’t make a place open to visitors. Many are private homes or businesses; please view them from the street.
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From the Canadian Register of Historic Places, as last updated on December 12, 2025. The register’s text is shown word for word.