Shannon Wall Centre (Vancouver)

 garden, condominium, mansion / manor house / villa, townhouses, movie / film / TV location

Vancouver’s first millionaire industrialist and the founder of BC Sugar, B.T. Rogers, built the Samuel Maclure-designed mansion "Gabriola" on Davie Street in 1900. A decade later, Rogers bought 10 acres in the country and had Somervell & Putnam architects design a 40-room house that would be the largest west of Toronto.

Unfortunately, the economy tanked in 1913 and war broke out the following year, delaying construction until 1915. Three years later, Rogers, 52, died leaving his widow Mary to raise seven children at Gabriola. Mary finished "Shannon" in 1925 and lived there for 11 years until selling it to Austin C. Taylor for $105,600. Taylor stayed until his death in 1965. Developer Peter Wall bought Shannon and hired architect Arthur Erickson in 1974 to turn the property into a housing development, Shannon Mews.

A brick one-and-a-half-storey gate house marks the Granville Street entrance, and a large brick coach house lies along the north property edge, both of which have been converted to residential units. The ten acre site slopes from the northeast to the southwest, with the mansion sited to take advantage of the slope by giving an unfolding view to the south.

The Shannon Estate is listed on the Vancouver Heritage Register (Category A) and the Mansion and the perimeter wall are municipally designated.

Scenes from the 1971 film Carnal Knowledge directed by Mike Nichols starring Jack Nicholson, Ann-Margaret & Candice Bergen were shot at the mansion.

shannonmews.com
historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=10922