Alfred Taylor
(Taylor, Seated in the middle)
Alfred James Towle Taylor (AJT) made the dream of the Lion’s Gate Bridge a reality. Born in Victoria, British Columbia on August 4th, 1887, to a brilliant scientist whose gift of questioning he inherited and a nurturing mother, Taylor became a prominent engineer and entrepreneur. His father, George Taylor, who trained as a mining engineer and later employed by the British Museum as an entomologist, jumped at the opportunity to explore rare scientific finds in the western lands and waters of the New World. While in Victoria, he met and married Elizabeth Williams (Bessie), the daughter of an Anglican minister, who later gave birth to four children: Fred, Ted, Willie, and Helen. Unable to support the family through his scientific finds, George augmented his income by acting as a minister but still struggled as neither pure science nor religion paid enough. Bessie died at the age of 38 giving birth to their fourth child. George pursued his passion for science more fiercely following Bessie’s death. Given a double parish on remote Gabriola Island made it possible for him to stay, but now, his prolonged absences species forced his eldest son, Fred, at the age of nine, into his mother’s former role as family caregiver. Fred cared for Ted and Helen, while Willie was with Bessie’s parents in Victoria. In addition to household duties, Fred also cared for George’s professional needs, constructing showcases for his specimens, and sharing a nine mile walk to church to play the organ during services. It was during those walks that Fred became close to his father, who was otherwise barely home.
The Taylor children were sent to high class boarding schools, while the unschooled Taylor was accepted on the face of his business reputation and self- schooled accent. Work, not school, brought his genius out. Work, not books taught him. Throughout his life, Fred frequently had dinner with Lord Southborough. Taylor was finally able to dance in the midst of the royal classes.
In 1928, Taylor established the British Pacific Securities, to facilitate investment in BC.
Soon, his vision of a bridge that would make West Vancouver accessible began to be achieved. Eyre, Taylor’s supplier and the British tax laws which drove Britons to seek foreign investments gave Taylor leverage over other land speculators. Prime Minister Bennett shower admiration and financed the ridge through private British funds, promised a remission of duty on materials, and secured cooperation from several government departments.
Unfortunately, Taylor came to realize that Eyre’s money alone could not begin to cover what was required, and thus, Taylor’s longtime supporter and friend, Lord Southborough, brought this ambitious scheme to the attention of the Guinness interests. The British Pacific Properties Ltd., was formed specifically to develop the “Highlands” on West Vancouver’s Upper Levels and a series of companies had been formed in England to carry out his investment schemes.
During the Great Depression, Taylor and his backers amassed great wealth. British Pacific Trust was established, Taylor’s syndicate signed a long- term lease on the British Empire Building in New York, agreed to take on the world rights to Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car, and constructed Earl’s Court Exhibition Building in London. While many in the 1930’s continued to be their worst time financially, Taylor’s ambition, luck, and vision were unlimited.
Taylor served as technical advisor to the British Ministry of Production in London and Washington, D.C. during World War II. Adding on to the Lion’s Gate Bridge, Taylor and his company also helped develop British Properties (backed by the Guinness family), Dolly Varden Mine and related projects in the Alice Arm area of B.C. When he moved back to Vancouver in 1930,, he found that the Great Depression was starting to take its toll on BC. He offered the Municipality of West Vancouver, who were in serious financial trouble, $75,000 for 4,700 acres of land, which equalled $18.75 an acre (much less compared to the current $110,000 to $350,000 per acre!). In return, Taylor’s company promised to make around $1 million worth of improvements to the municipality, for instance, building water mains and installing electric cabling.
During the construction of the bridge, William Lyon Mackenzie King and the Liberal party formed the new government. Perceived as clean, Taylor was able to quickly gain approval with the help of Lord Southborough to begin construction of the causeway. Although Taylor seemed very trustworthy and reliable, he was charged with using British Pacific Properties funds for his own purposes, to which the Guinness family sent a personal representative to initiate “definite plans for marketing”.
Southborough resigned two months later from the Board of British Pacific Properties. Taylor refused to walk away, but Major Philip Arthur Curry who became General Manager of the Properties and General Managing Director of the Bridge Company, jealous of Taylor’s business successes, became a constant irritant. After the bridge was completed, what should have been the happiest time of Taylor’s life instead brought depression. For the following years, Taylor relocated to England and Washington, but due to his failing health, he returned to Vancouver in 1943. By 1945, he was increasingly ill and in June, he was rushed to New York in a last minute search for an effective treatment. He died of cancer in a New York hospital late on Thursday evening, July 19th, 1945. As requested on his deathbed, Taylor's ashes were scattered from the centre of the Lions Gate Bridge.
Taylor spoke infrequently in public and appeared rarely in official photographs. The struggle to build the bridge took years, and much affected his health, yet his achievements were hardly acknowledged, much less commemorated. Taylor Way, the road that marks the entrance to the British Properties, remains his only memorial.
written and published by Z.T.
Alfred James Towle Taylor (AJT) made the dream of the Lion’s Gate Bridge a reality. Born in Victoria, British Columbia on August 4th, 1887, to a brilliant scientist whose gift of questioning he inherited and a nurturing mother, Taylor became a prominent engineer and entrepreneur. His father, George Taylor, who trained as a mining engineer and later employed by the British Museum as an entomologist, jumped at the opportunity to explore rare scientific finds in the western lands and waters of the New World. While in Victoria, he met and married Elizabeth Williams (Bessie), the daughter of an Anglican minister, who later gave birth to four children: Fred, Ted, Willie, and Helen. Unable to support the family through his scientific finds, George augmented his income by acting as a minister but still struggled as neither pure science nor religion paid enough. Bessie died at the age of 38 giving birth to their fourth child. George pursued his passion for science more fiercely following Bessie’s death. Given a double parish on remote Gabriola Island made it possible for him to stay, but now, his prolonged absences species forced his eldest son, Fred, at the age of nine, into his mother’s former role as family caregiver. Fred cared for Ted and Helen, while Willie was with Bessie’s parents in Victoria. In addition to household duties, Fred also cared for George’s professional needs, constructing showcases for his specimens, and sharing a nine mile walk to church to play the organ during services. It was during those walks that Fred became close to his father, who was otherwise barely home.
The Taylor children were sent to high class boarding schools, while the unschooled Taylor was accepted on the face of his business reputation and self- schooled accent. Work, not school, brought his genius out. Work, not books taught him. Throughout his life, Fred frequently had dinner with Lord Southborough. Taylor was finally able to dance in the midst of the royal classes.
In 1928, Taylor established the British Pacific Securities, to facilitate investment in BC.
Soon, his vision of a bridge that would make West Vancouver accessible began to be achieved. Eyre, Taylor’s supplier and the British tax laws which drove Britons to seek foreign investments gave Taylor leverage over other land speculators. Prime Minister Bennett shower admiration and financed the ridge through private British funds, promised a remission of duty on materials, and secured cooperation from several government departments.
Unfortunately, Taylor came to realize that Eyre’s money alone could not begin to cover what was required, and thus, Taylor’s longtime supporter and friend, Lord Southborough, brought this ambitious scheme to the attention of the Guinness interests. The British Pacific Properties Ltd., was formed specifically to develop the “Highlands” on West Vancouver’s Upper Levels and a series of companies had been formed in England to carry out his investment schemes.
During the Great Depression, Taylor and his backers amassed great wealth. British Pacific Trust was established, Taylor’s syndicate signed a long- term lease on the British Empire Building in New York, agreed to take on the world rights to Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car, and constructed Earl’s Court Exhibition Building in London. While many in the 1930’s continued to be their worst time financially, Taylor’s ambition, luck, and vision were unlimited.
Taylor served as technical advisor to the British Ministry of Production in London and Washington, D.C. during World War II. Adding on to the Lion’s Gate Bridge, Taylor and his company also helped develop British Properties (backed by the Guinness family), Dolly Varden Mine and related projects in the Alice Arm area of B.C. When he moved back to Vancouver in 1930,, he found that the Great Depression was starting to take its toll on BC. He offered the Municipality of West Vancouver, who were in serious financial trouble, $75,000 for 4,700 acres of land, which equalled $18.75 an acre (much less compared to the current $110,000 to $350,000 per acre!). In return, Taylor’s company promised to make around $1 million worth of improvements to the municipality, for instance, building water mains and installing electric cabling.
During the construction of the bridge, William Lyon Mackenzie King and the Liberal party formed the new government. Perceived as clean, Taylor was able to quickly gain approval with the help of Lord Southborough to begin construction of the causeway. Although Taylor seemed very trustworthy and reliable, he was charged with using British Pacific Properties funds for his own purposes, to which the Guinness family sent a personal representative to initiate “definite plans for marketing”.
Southborough resigned two months later from the Board of British Pacific Properties. Taylor refused to walk away, but Major Philip Arthur Curry who became General Manager of the Properties and General Managing Director of the Bridge Company, jealous of Taylor’s business successes, became a constant irritant. After the bridge was completed, what should have been the happiest time of Taylor’s life instead brought depression. For the following years, Taylor relocated to England and Washington, but due to his failing health, he returned to Vancouver in 1943. By 1945, he was increasingly ill and in June, he was rushed to New York in a last minute search for an effective treatment. He died of cancer in a New York hospital late on Thursday evening, July 19th, 1945. As requested on his deathbed, Taylor's ashes were scattered from the centre of the Lions Gate Bridge.
Taylor spoke infrequently in public and appeared rarely in official photographs. The struggle to build the bridge took years, and much affected his health, yet his achievements were hardly acknowledged, much less commemorated. Taylor Way, the road that marks the entrance to the British Properties, remains his only memorial.
written and published by Z.T.