MIDTOWN HERITAGE (FABER BLOCK)
Client
PortLiving / Kiri Capital
Area
66,000 sq ft
Address
2511 Carolina Street, Vancouver, BC
Status
Completed 2025
Project Overview
The site of Midtown 4 on East Broadway hosts two heritage buildings to be retained: The Connacher House and The Carolina Building. Retention of these two buildings proved a challenge and source of creative inspiration for the new mixed-use retail and residential building constructed around them. Our goal was ultimately to position the heritage buildings comfortably along Carolina Street, creating space between them while setting the new building back respectively, with the bulk of the new building being carried along East Broadway, a major artery.
Connacher House has stood on Broadway since 1895 and has seen the neighbourhood grow up around it to an urban arterial with shops and restaurants. Moving the house to face Carolina Street returns it to a residential context and makes room for a more appropriate neighbourhood retail and restaurant use on East Broadway. The Carolina is preserved on the corner of Broadway and renovated on the inside with double height space to breathe new life into the old building.
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The architecture of the new building attempts to harmonize with its immediate context through a simple, responsive, and respectful massing: the six-storey form is broken into two smaller elements, then setback, rotated, and cantilevered in a simple, yet powerful gesture. The two elements are then articulated with cladding and glazing in similar arrangements but on opposite sides, further defining the initial gestures in a contemporary and minimal manner.
The project provides 65 rental residential units including two ground-floor oriented artist studios along Carolina, four commercial retail units, as well as generous amenity spaces including an extensive common deck on the roof of the Carolina and indoor amenity space with glazing off the lane.