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Drinking Up 101 Years Of History In The Building That Houses The “Alibi Room”

The-H.G.-White-Mfg

It has been renovated and repurposed as one of Gastown’s most popular restaurants, yet the Alibi Room at 157 Alexander Street still retains much of the unique character and historic architectural features of the building’s many previous iterations. Constructed on three small lots in 1913 by E.W. Cook & Co., the Classic Revival-style building was designed by famed Canadian architect William Marshall Dodd and is celebrated as his only example of commercial architecture on record in Vancouver.

Originally, this address served as the warehouse for Jacobsen and Goldberg Co., one of the thriving businesses engaged in the province’s fur trade. Later, the “White Seal” mittens decal across the western wall of the building (now covered) advertised the products of White Manufacturing Co.. The BC Grinnall glove manufacturers were another company found on the ground floor. The H.G. White Manufacturing Co., a shipping company, purchased the building circa 1919, when the address was 149 Alexander. The property was an excellent location for each and every one of its successive businesses, including Burnyeats B.C. Limited in the 1930s, due to its proximity to the nearby port and the CPR Railway.

The exterior of the building remains virtually untouched, including the mock voussoirs above the first-storey windows and brick corbelling across the top. The original glass in the arched fenestration on the ground floor, reminiscent of the building’s original commercial purpose, is still intact (the glass on the bottom half has been updated for safety reasons).

In later decades, the address’ upper storeys were converted into offices, and by the 1970s the ground floor was known as the Banjo Palace, a 20’s-themed club boasting the country’s largest circular barbecue. The owner, George Patey, had purchased pieces of the brick wall involved in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and had it re-constructed in the men’s room (true story).

Prior to the Alibi Room (which was reopened in 2006 after a change in ownership), the address was home to the Archimedes Club, an infamous watering hole for Vancouver’s taxi drivers where a signature on the membership book got you access to $5 pitchers (or so go the legends).

The historic brick interior is still on display all throughout the Alibi Room, where they have since turned the basement – once an office space – into a secondary seating hub perfect for a few pints with friends. The next time you bend an elbow within its cozy confines, let your eyes wander and your ears imagine all the old brick walls have heard in the last 101 years.

Special thanks to Perrin Grauer at the Alibi Room

  • The H.G. White Mfg. Co copy
    The H.G. White Mfg. Co copy
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  • Banjo Palace, 1972 copy
    Banjo Palace, 1972 copy
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  • The Burnyeats B.C copy
    The Burnyeats B.C copy
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  • IMG_0591
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  • IMG_0565
  • IMG_0541
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  • Curt Lang Photo, 1972 copy
    Curt Lang Photo, 1972 copy
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  • Adjacent Lot to Banjo Palace, 1972 copy
    Adjacent Lot to Banjo Palace, 1972 copy
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  • Alibi Room | 157 Alexander Street @ Main
    Alibi Room | 157 Alexander Street @ Main
  • Alibi Room | Best beer selection in the city | 157 Alexander Street | Railtown
    Alibi Room | Best beer selection in the city | 157 Alexander Street | Railtown

There are 2 comments

  1. The legend is indeed true, I went to the Archimedes Club and did sign in at the door and drink cheap beer and I wasn’t a taxi driver. Oh, and those downstairs bathrooms had a tendency to flood. Wearing rubber boots was never a bad idea.

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