Residences on Georgia

This development scales across two towers with 36-floors each and sets a benchmark for technological and architectural innovation. The Residences on Georgia was chosen by the City of Vancouver as one of its ‘projects completed in the past decade which have made significant contributions to the urban design of their respective precincts or neighbourhoods and enhanced the city’s emerging form’.

Designed by James Cheng, this feature project has been awarded the 1998 Gold Georgie Award and the 1998 Lieutenant Governor’s Gold Award.

Completed in 1996, Residences on Georgia was one of the first projects designed with what became known the world over as the Vancouver building typology, which consists of a townhouse podium with a tower above, and included Westbank's first major public art installation, with Dale Chihuly.

In terms of design, one component that Westbank spends more time designing than any other is the public realm. The Residences on Georgia is a good example of what we are trying to achieve; it also demonstrates the underlying philosophy behind the integration of our public art into the architecture of our buildings.

Adjacent to the Residences on Georgia sits Abbott House, the heritage structure at 720 Jervis Street which Westbank restored during development, originally built in 1899. It's one of the few West End Vancouver mansions remaining from the pre-first World War era when the area was known as Blueblood Alley. It was built by Henry Braithwaite Abbott, an esteemed CPR executive, who let the contract for the clearing of the townsite of Vancouver. Vancouver's Abbott Street is named after him.

Even today, 20 years later, Residences on Georgia has a timeless elegance about it and its design features have continued to be reused and incorporated in many Vancouver buildings since.

Residences on Georgia pioneered the start of the Vancouver pre-sale campaign, a sales strategy that found its roots and popularity in Asia. Residences on Georgia was the most successful sales launch in Vancouver at the time and sold out in a matter of days with buyers purchasing "off plan", a first for North America. This sales model has since become the norm in Vancouver and across North America.