Lights installed on Burrard Bridge as a memorial to World War One and the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers have been restored and will be re-lit at a special ceremony on the northeast corner of the bridge at 4 p.m., Jan. 23.
The original memorial braziers were installed on the bridge in 1932 atop pylons at both ends. The decoration of the pylons include a stylized Cross of Lorraine, and the bronze lights were inspired by the braziers used by soldiers in the trenches, a traditional feature of the battlefield, according to the Burrard Bridge Heritage Study produced by Don Luxton & Associates in 2001. Braziers are containers for fire, typically in the form of a hanging or standing metal box.
The lighting in the braziers was restored and technically upgraded as part of the Burrard Bridge Upgrade Project.
Luxton’s 2001 report describes the braziers as “stained glass lamps, set with fiery angular patterns by flashing neon. Each is nine-feet-six-inches high and five feet in diameter. Each brazier weighs three quarters of a ton.”
He quotes bridge architect G.L.T. Sharp as having this to say about them: “At either end to emphasize the bridge heads, two pylons have been placed, surmounted with sold bronze braziers, glazed to represent a fire burning in them. At night these will clearly mark the bridge approaches, even from a considerable distance.”
Kathryn Morrow, a spokesperson for the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, said they were rebuilt in 1986 — the housing was replaced and there was new neon put in — but, at some point, that part broke down.
The City of Vancouver is behind the project but various groups have been involved, including the heritage foundation, which completed its Burrard Bridge Heritage Lighting Study about heritage lighting on the bridge in 2005. The study included information the braziers, the lantern standards that were recently restored, as well as other significant elements of the bridge.
“But the whole heritage community has been behind this [effort],” Morrow said.
The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Vancouver was a key partner and the restoration project was assisted by the Veterans Affairs Canada Cenotaph and Monuments Restoration Program.
Morrow said the lamps’ restoration is a significant development for heritage advocates.
“It is part of the historic character of the bridge. Originally, when the bridge was designed, it did have a pretty impressive ambient lighting system in it. And that, at some point, disappeared. For us, it’s really important to see that come back and to see the beauty of the bridge and how it was originally intended,” she said.
“The other side of it is that 2018 will mark the 100-year anniversary of the end of the First World War, so restoring the braziers as part of that memorial is really important because a lot of people don’t know what the significance of those braziers is, they don’t know the story behind them, so it’s a nice reminder to what they were originally designed to do.”
In an email to the Courier, a staff person from the City of Vancouver’s communication department said they are being formally re-lit “so that they remain a bright symbol, and a powerful tribute to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice from the First World War to the present.”
In attendance at the Jan. 23 ceremony will be Mayor Gregor Robertson; Jody Wilson-Raybould, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General; heritage consultant Don Luxton; David Dove, chair of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation; and Dr. Richard Verdan, an elder and Aboriginal veteran.
noconnor@vancourier.com
Note: This story has been updated since first posted.
