I didn't realize this house on Davie Street that was a location of the Marcaroni Grill until a few years ago (now unfortunately not being used for anything) was called "Gabriola House" because the sandstone on the exterior was quarried on Gabriola Island where my family had a summer home. In fact, they called it "Sandstone".
Some more info I picked up from the Internet:
Gabriola - 1900
1523 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC.
The most famous West End Mansion, still standing and "probably the most lavish private home ever constructed in B.C." was 'Gabriola', on the corner of Davie and Nicola. Gabriola was built in 1900 for Benjamin Tingley Rogers, a sugar refiner from New York City. Rogers came to Vancouver at age 24, and in 1892 opened the 'B.C Sugar Refinery,' quickly becoming one of Vancouver's most important businessmen, known by all as the 'Sugar King'. The mansion for the Rogers family was designed by Samuel Maclure, a well known residential architect at the time and was built from sandstone brought from Gabriola Island - hence its original name. The mansion was sold in 1918 after Benjamin died and his widow moved into Shannon, a new mansion in Shaughnessy, the now fashionable area for the rich. Gabriola was then converted into apartments with over 50 suites, eventually turning into a series of restaurants.
This building was built in the Queen Anne style.
Most of the shore area on Gabriola Island was sandstone like the following photo shows. At high tide it was great to go swimming because the sandstone had absorbed all this heat and it warmed the water up very nicely.
