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Only top-level descriptions British Columbia. Dept. of Public Works British Columbia Buildings Corporation
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Public Works building plans : aperture cards

  • GR-2176
  • Series
  • 1969-1978

The series consists of approximately 23,000 aperture cards created by the Dept. of Public Works between 1969 and 1978, to manage historic building plans and drawings of public buildings throughout British Columbia. The plans include those for law courts, highways maintenance yards, police buildings, hospitals and health centres, government office buildings, liquor stores, correctional centres and camps, sewage treatment plants, fire halls, civil defence buildings, vocational schools, universities, mental health institutions, provincial schools and the Provincial Legislative buildings.

Each card contains a 35 mm microfiche copy of a plan or drawing made from a negative of an original plan, along with Public Works Drawing number and the negative number assigned to the 105 mm version of the plan or drawing. The cards are arranged numerically by the PWD number. Use the indexes to Public Works building buildings plans (GR-2184) in order to determine the PWD number.
Three groups of numbers and/or letters were used to make up the drawing number. The first group consists of numbers only and indicates the assigned area number. The second group consists of a letter or figure which denotes the type of plan.
When the drawing was used as a site plan, topographical plan or services (utilities) plan one of the following letters was used:
A - Architectural perspectives
E - Electric distribution, exterior floodlighting, street lighting etc. systems
L - Landscaping
M - Mechanical Services distribution systems
S - Site & topographical plans, excavation, levelling, roads, parking areas, sewage, water distribution and collecting systems
When the drawing was used as a building plan, the three part number consisted of area number, building number and sheet number.
The third group consisted of a letter/number group denoting the type of drawing and sheet number using the following letters:
A – Architectural
E – Electric circuitry and detail pertaining to the building
F - Furniture and fixtures
M - Mechanical
P – Plumbing
S – Civil/Structural
When an alteration (revision) was made to an existing plan, the new trace bears the same number as the original drawing, followed by an oblique stroke and number indicating the alteration.
When a new wing or extension was made to an existing building, the drawing would bear the first two groups as the original drawing but the third group started at 201. A second wing or addition to the same building would bear sheet numbers starting at 301.

British Columbia. Dept. of Public Works

Indexes to Public Works building plans

  • GR-2184
  • Series
  • 1969-1978

The series consists of indexes created by the Dept. of Public Works between 1969 and 1978 to manage building plans of public buildings throughout British Columbia. The province was divided into areas and then each public building or complex was given a number within the area. The actual plans, which are on aperture cards or negatives, are arranged by PWD number and these indexes can be used to locate specific ones.

The first index is the building file register; which explains the departmental filing system (both for files and drawings) and lists the building numbers and sub-numbers in order of area.

The next index is a four volume cross reference index, arranged numerically by area number. Within each area, the buildings are listed with a brief description, the sheet number (Public Works Drawing number) and the negative number of the building plans.

The most useful index for finding building plans is probably the 16 volume building plan index sorted alphabetically by location. Within each location, there are pages listing the building titles with descriptions of each drawing and its type and sheet number, the dates of the drawings and their negative number. This index was microfilmed in 1978 and a copy of the microfilm reel is in the file.

In addition there is a register listing of the plans in negative number order as they were assigned and filmed, from number 22000 to 44999, 150000 to 159999 and 45795 to 228947. Not all of the numbers were used.

Three groups of numbers and/or letters were used to make up the drawing number. The first group consists of numbers only and indicates the assigned area number. The second group consists of a letter or figure which denotes the type of plan.
When the drawing was used as a site plan, topographical plan or services (utilities) plan one of the following letters was used:
A - Architectural perspectives
E - Electric distribution, exterior floodlighting, street lighting etc. systems
L - Landscaping
M - Mechanical Services distribution systems
S - Site & topographical plans, excavation, levelling, roads, parking areas, sewage, water distribution and collecting systems
When the drawing was used as a building plan, the three part number consisted of area number, building number and sheet number.
The third group consisted of a letter/number group denoting the type of drawing and sheet number using the following letters:
A – Architectural
E – Electric circuitry and detail pertaining to the building
F - Furniture and fixtures
M - Mechanical
P – Plumbing
S – Civil/Structural
When an alteration (revision) was made to an existing plan, the new trace bears the same number as the original drawing, followed by an oblique stroke and number indicating the alteration.
When a new wing or extension was made to an existing building, the drawing would bear the first two groups as the original drawing but the third group started at 201. A second wing or addition to the same building would bear sheet numbers starting at 301.

British Columbia. Dept. of Public Works

Public works building plans : negatives

  • GR-4108
  • Series
  • 1969-1978

The series consists of approximately 23,000 photographic negatives created by the Dept. of Public Works between 1969 and 1978, to manage historic building plans and drawings of public buildings throughout British Columbia. The plans include those for law courts, highways maintenance yards, police buildings, hospitals and health centres, government office buildings, liquor stores, correctional centres and camps, sewage treatment plants, fire halls, civil defence buildings, vocational schools, universities, mental health institutions, provincial schools and the Provincial Legislative buildings.

The negatives were made from original plans sent to, and filmed by, the Reproductions Laboratory in batches. If the Dept. of Public Works did not hold an original plan, it was borrowed from consultants and returned after filming. The laboratory made two negatives for each plan and assigned them the same negative number. Negatives in each filming batch were arranged in batches in negative number order, from number 22,000 to 229,581, but numbering between batches was discontinuous. Each negative was housed in an envelope on which was recorded the negative number, Public Works plan number, date of filming, camera setting and density. The Reproductions Laboratory retained one negative from each pair and sent the other to the Public Works Plan Library. The negatives were then used to produce microform reference copies of the plans, in the form of aperture cards, which were then distributed throughout the Department.

The series also contains ca. 2300 negatives arranged by Public Works drawing number (DPW). These four boxes of negatives probably duplicate those arranged by negative number as well as the aperture cards in GR-2176.

Use the indexes to Public Works building buildings plans (GR-2184) in order to determine the negative numbers for specific buildings.

British Columbia. Dept. of Public Works