Kerrisdale Community Centre (Point Grey Municipal Hall)

"One of the earliest community centres to be built in Vancouver, the first wing of the Kerrisdale Community Centre opened in 1955. It, and the gymnasium constructed a few years later, were financed through a local improvement by-law initiative whereby residents in the area voted to directly fund facility building costs. With the help of federal government grants and local fundraising, the Seniors Centre was built in 1986. Following a major fundraising campaign, substantial renovations to the older parts of the facility were completed in 1999 and 2002."

Photo credit. KCC

Plaque

Since 1955, the Kerrisdale Community Centre has occupied the site of the Point Grey Municipal Hall, which helped establish Kerrisdale as the main shopping village on the city’s west side. Point Grey separated from South Vancouver in 1908 and amalgamated with the City of Vancouver in 1929. The Centre originally included a library, health unit and police department. An outdoor pool opened in 1956 and a seniors centre in 1986. Private donations and local area plebiscites helped fund both the Community Centre and Kerrisdale Arena.

Sponsored by the Kerrisdale Community Centre Society

History

The City of Vancouver is located on the ancestral, unceded and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

Learn more on the Musqueam Place Names Map, First Peoples’ Cultural Council of BC’s First People’s Map of BC and the Squamish Atlas . Further resources can be found on VHF’s Indigenous Heritage Resources page.

Point Grey Municipality
The District of South Vancouver originally encompassed lands south of 16th Avenue to the Fraser River. When it was incorporated in 1891, it was mostly agricultural land with a scattering of small villages. In 1906, the area west of Ontario Street and south of 16th Avenue separated from the District of South Vancouver. Its residents “objected to the Municipality of South Vancouver’s penny-pinching policy on civic improvements, and led the secessionist movement which culminated in the incorporation of Point Grey municipality in 1908,” writes Michael Kluckner.

Municipal Hall
Kerrisdale became the municipal centre, and a multi-gabled Tudor Revival Municipal Hall was erected at 42nd and West Boulevard to serve as the administrative centre for the recently-seceded Point Grey Municipality. It stood just one block south of the bustling village business district, which received a boost from BCER’s interurban line from Vancouver to Steveston which stopped at 41st Avenue from 1905 (see Arbutus Corridor). The Municipal Hall was also the headquarters for the motorcycle-equipped Point Grey police force. The building became a community centre after Point Grey’s amalgamation with the City of Vancouver in 1929.

Kerrisdale Community Centre
One of the earliest community centres to be built in Vancouver, Kerrisdale Community Centre was constructed in 1952 through a local improvement by-law initiative whereby residents in the area agreed to directly fund facility building costs. Today the Kerrisdale Community Centre is jointly operated by Kerrisdale Community Centre Society (KCCS) and the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. It offers programming in recreation, sport and the arts for all age groups. An indoor pool, exercise room, gymnasium, public library and seniors’ wing comprise the main building complex with the Kerrisdale Cyclone Taylor Arena two blocks away.

Sources

Kalman, Harold, Ron Phillips, and Robin Ward. Exploring Vancouver 3. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1993.
Michael Kluckner. Vancouver Remembered. North Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 2006.
Michael Kluckner. Vancouver The Way It Was. North Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 1984.

Nearby Places That Matter