.
1500 Block east side looking north in 1939
1720 Grant
1907-1936
From 1907-1936, this was the front lawn of the Odlum house, fronting on Commercial Drive.
1510 Commercial
1936-1976
Built as a gas station.
- 1720 Grant
- 1510 Commercial
1542 Commercial
1908 – 1916
Small shack/office
- 1542 Commercial
1522-1524 Commercial
1923-1955
BP A-5851 1923/5/17 to M. & A. Steel, $300. Described as two storey with apartments above.
- 1522 Commercial
- 1524 Commercial (apartments)
1500-1510 Commercial
1976-
Large three storey building with offices above.
- 1500 Commercial
- 1510 Commercial
- 1707 Grant
1526-1530 Commercial
1910-
BP 1910/7/20 to National Finance Co (owner), Prudential Builders (builder), $6,000 stores and dwelling. Between 1973 and 2017, this storefront was linked to 1544 Commercial.
- 1526 Commercial
- 1528 Commercial (apartments/offices)
- 1530 Commercial
1544 Commercial
1923-
BP A-5851 to M.& A. Steel, $3,000. Between 1973 and 2017 this building was linked to 1526-1530 Commercial.
- 1544 Commercial
1550 Commercial
1910-1911
Small shack/office
- 1550 Commercial
1588-1598 Commercial
1912-
BP 1911/4/7 to J.Y. Griffin & J.M. Brown, architects Townsend & Townsend, builder A,D. Abel, $16,000. Known as the Alvarado Block.
Owners J.Y. Griffin and J.M. Brown received a building permit on the 7th April 1911 and they hired architects Townsend & Townsend to design a $16,000 three-storey brick edifice with stores and apartments. Townsend & Townsend are listed as architects for more than fifty buildings right across Vancouver before the First World War, including 1515-1517 Commercial across the street which they had finished the year before. Builder A.D. Abel completed the work on the Alvarado Block early in 1912.
The apartments were listed as 1715 Graveley Street and for a while there was an additional store front at 1719 Graveley which was taken up by Louis J. Ford who delivered milk in the newly-booming Grandview residential district.
In February 1926, Mrs. Robert Kelly sold the Alvarado Block to “an Alberta investor” in a deal through agents Goodlad & Goodlad (Province 14, p.34).
The corner store on Commercial was originally occupied by two failed clothing businesses but by 1914 a grocery store took over. Under various managements, including Piggly Wiggly, Safeway and Ray’s Stores, it would stay as a food store until the late 1950s when it became a manufacturers’ outlet and, later, a photo shop.
In 1946, National Bakery president Ivan Grdina purchased the building from Orr’s Suburban Stores for $30,000. The building then had six suites in the apartments. Grdina may still have been the owner when the Alvarado Block was purchased by John Grippo in 1975. Thereafter, the Grippo family’s electronics business occupied at least one of the storefronts for more than a quarter century.
- 1584 Commercial
- 1588 Commercial
- 1590 Commercial
- 1598 Commercial
- 1705-1705 Graveley (apartments)
Jak's View of Vancouver v.3 