Mount Pleasant ‘Heritage Heart’ walking tour
In celebration of BC Heritage Week 2021 we’ve created this mini ‘Heritage Heart’ walking tour map! This year’s Heritage Week theme is: Where do you find heritage? We hope this map will help you discover some of the stories and rich heritage of Mount Pleasant’s ‘Heritage Heart. You can use this map on your phone or tablet for your own self-guided tour of the heart of Mount Pleasant. Or, enjoy a virtual tour on your desktop from the comfort of your own home.
How to use this map: The red hearts represent heritage that is still with us. The black hearts represent heritage that no longer has a physical presence but still lives in our hearts and minds. Click on a heart to view information and images about that location.
Note: This map only represents a small portion of the heritage that is found in Mount Pleasant – there is so much more to discover!
Mount Plesant is Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood outside of the downtown peninsula. It encompasses both the east and west sides of the city, intersected by the commercial high streets of Broadway, Main and Kingsway. The old Mount Pleasant village (the “Heritage Heart”) has been the hub of the neighbourhood ever since it first developed in the late 1880s.
Many of the heritage buildings from the neighbourhood’s streetcar era still exist and continue to provide affordable housing, artist studios, and commercial spaces for a wide variety of community groups and local businesses. Mount Pleasant is endlessly adaptable and has, historically, been able to re-invent itself.
However, it will soon be facing arguably the biggest change in its history with the Broadway Transit extension that will pass directly through the neighbourhood; including a new transit hub at Main and Broadway. How will the neighbourhood adapt and how will it change? Is Mount Pleasant in danger of losing what made it so “pleasant” in the first place?
We need to create strong policy so that the pressure to increase density close to public transit hubs does not jeopardize the unique cultural heritage and social sustainability of Mount Pleasant.
Explore the “Heritage Heart” of Mount Pleasant and learn about the rich tangible and intangible history of the area.
Where do you find heritage?
Mount Pleasant Heritage Group 