Gallery

The building, up close.

Contemporary photography by Martin Knowles Photo Media, alongside archival views from the City of Vancouver Archives.

Rogers Building façade with carved inscription reading 1911 ROGERS BVILDING 1911 — The carved name
Contemporary
The terracotta frieze above the entrance: 1911 · ROGERS · BVILDING · 1911, with lion-head cartouches between the second-floor windows.
Martin Knowles Photo Media

Aerial view of the Rogers Building cornice with modern towers behind — Old crown, new city
Contemporary
The terracotta cornice and painted rooftop sign against the modern financial district.
Martin Knowles Photo Media

Close view of the Rogers Building cornice with lion heads and dentils — Lions at the cornice
Contemporary
Egg-and-dart moulding, dentils, and lion heads on the galvanized steel cornice, ten storeys up.
Martin Knowles Photo Media

Granville Street frontage of the Rogers Building with granite columns and green signs — The Granville frontage
Contemporary
Rose granite Ionic columns from Aberdeen frame the shops; heritage-green signs hang where they always have.
Martin Knowles Photo Media

Looking down the original marble stairwell of the Rogers Building — Down the marble stair
Contemporary
White Italian marble, black ornamental iron from Minneapolis and St. Paul, and an oak handrail, spiralling the height of the building.
Martin Knowles Photo Media

Elevator lobby of the Rogers Building with gold-leaf ceiling and alabaster pendant lights — The gold-leaf lobby
Contemporary
Gold leaf, alabaster pendants, marble, and brass: arrival as an event.
Martin Knowles Photo Media

Basement level of the Rogers Building with curved stair and original mosaic tile floor — The 1911 Room
Contemporary
The basement level — once Sorensen’s Cafeteria — is again a social space, its curved stair and hexagonal mosaic floor intact.
Martin Knowles Photo Media

Looking up the Rogers Building light well at the sky — The well of light
Contemporary
Looking straight up between the glazed white wings: the sky every office was designed to see.
Martin Knowles Photo Media

Fire escapes zigzagging up the Rogers Building light well — Iron in the well
Contemporary
Black fire escapes zigzag against glazed brick chosen to bounce daylight deep into the plan.
Martin Knowles Photo Media

Rear elevation of the Rogers Building showing its U-shaped plan — Reading the U
Contemporary
From the lane, the horseshoe plan reveals itself: two wings, one well, and the painted name on the flank.
Martin Knowles Photo Media

1913 photograph of the Rogers Building with streetcars on Granville Street — Granville and Pender, 1913
1913
The building shortly after completion: streetcars on Granville, tenant names painted on the windows, the CAFETERIA sign over the basement stairs.
City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 220-04 · photo R. Broadbridge

1929 panorama of the Vancouver waterfront and skyline — The waterfront, 1929
1929
The skyline the boom built, seen from Burrard Inlet — the Rogers Building’s generation of towers, with the Vancouver Block’s clock tower among them.
Archival — license to be confirmed before publication

Image Rights

Contemporary photography © Martin Knowles Photo Media, used with permission of the building’s stewards. Archival images are published only when owner, license, and permitted use are confirmed; items marked “to be confirmed” are placeholders pending verification. Do you have historical photographs of the Rogers Building? We’d love to see them.

The building, up close.

The carved name

Old crown, new city

Lions at the cornice

The Granville frontage

Down the marble stair

The gold-leaf lobby

The 1911 Room

The well of light

Iron in the well

Reading the U

Granville and Pender, 1913

The waterfront, 1929