The elegant building at Gore and Hastings in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside has been a local landmark since it opened in 1950.

Built by the Salvation Army as its Vancouver headquarters and temple, it boasted an auditorium for 700 people, a basement gymnasium, a kitchen and offices.

But the most striking aspect was the “eclectic moderne” exterior where the front rises in tiers, in a streamlined art deco style. It’s so lovely, it rates a listing on the Canada’s Historic Places website.

But the old Sally Ann temple may not be for much longer, because the province is looking to tear it down and build social housing.

In December, a request for proposals was sent out for an “architectural services design” for 301 East Hastings by B.C. Housing, the provincial body responsible for social housing. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 29.

The request is scant on details, and B.C. Housing didn’t respond to interview requests by deadline. The building is owned by Vancouver Coastal Health, which purchased it for $1.5 million in 2001. In recent years, the building has been used for storage.

Heritage expert Don Luxton thinks it would be shortsighted to tear the building down.

“It’s concrete, and it could be reused,” said Luxton. “It seems like a really wasted opportunity. It would destroy a potential cultural asset. Nobody’s saying Coastal Health shouldn’t build their facility, but why does it have to be here? This is a unique location, they don’t seem to understand that.

“The building has an enormous amount of potential for reuse. And if the area needs anything, it needs cultural amenities.”

Luxton likens the Salvation Army temple to the Pantages Theatre, a Downtown Eastside landmark that was torn down amid much controversy in 2011.

“It’s exactly the same thing,” said Luxton. “What’s going to happen is we’re going to continue to lose any opportunity for cultural amenities in the area. It’s very challenging to build a new building because of the cost, whereas when you can repurpose an existing building (it’s cheaper).

“It just seems like the wrong direction to go on this site.”

The old Sally Ann temple is on Vancouver’s heritage register, so any plan would have to be approved by the city.

“It is a Heritage C building, and we would work with them to explore the onsite heritage,” said Kevin McNaney, Vancouver’s assistant director of planning.

The building was hailed “as modern as tomorrow” when it opened on Feb. 18, 1950. The Canada’s Historic Places website said its “character defining elements” include “steel columns with concrete pier structures, painted, poured-in-place concrete facade, bevelled exterior corners and notched buttresses, metal windows, fluted concrete panels, and original exterior light fixtures.”

It was designed by architects Mercer and Mercer, which built Vancouver institutions like Shaughnessy Hospital and the Waldorf Hotel. Legend has it Jimi Hendrix played there in his teens with a Salvation Army band.

In 1984, the Salvation Army sold the building to the Gold Buddha Monastery for $900,000. The Monastery sold it in 2001, when it moved to a new building in Mount Pleasant.

The site sits in the Oppenheimer zone of the Downtown Eastside local area plan, which means no condos can be built there.

If it were redeveloped, it would probably be as a social housing mid-rise, such as recent projects at 250 Powell and 111 and 220 Princess that added 380 social housing units to the neighbourhood.

Wall Financial is also building a 12-storey, 172-unit complex with 60 per cent social housing and 40 per cent market rental on the southwest corner of Gore and Hastings.

jmackie@vancouversun.com