At the southeast corner of Kingsway and Fraser stood a Wosk's. The Wosks likely built the building, though one is never sure. Checking the City of Vancouver Archives is a good idea, but I have noticed its cataloguing to be shaky on certain details, particularly when it comes to Kingsway, which is underrepresented given that it is the city's first road and existed prior to "contact".
The Wosks built a number of buildings, many of them with this bluish-green tile that was all over town when I was a kid (pictured below). The Wosk's Department Store at Kingsway and Fraser was one of the last buildings in Vancouver to be clad in these tiles -- until the Pattison Group purchased it some 15 years ago, sheared off its tiles, painted the exterior "forest" green and opened a Bible supply shop. Oy vey!
The Bible supply shop moved on some five years ago and the building sat there until last year, when its huge windows were suddenly papered over and the sound of saws and hammers. Glad to know the building is getting a renovation, as opposed to a demolition. I hope things are kept low at that intersection. I am all for building more homes, but everything can't be towers.
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