William Lamont Tait arrived in Vancouver Feb. 13, 1891, exactly 115 years ago today. That’s a long time ago, but he left us a couple of prominent physical reminders of his presence here.

Thanks to his success in business — starting in 1902 he ran Rat Portage Lumber, a shingle and sawmill on False Creek — Tait was able in 1910 to build one of Shaughnessy’s most imposing mansions, the 18-room Glen Brae, on Matthews Avenue. He and his wife lived there until his death in 1919. Since November 1995 the big house has been Canuck Place, a hospice for children.

Before Glen Brae, Tait built the Orillia Block, a big apartment complex that went up at the northwest corner of Robson and Seymour in 1903. (The Orillia, for whom a lot of Vancouverites had great affection, fell to the wreckers in 1985.)

Then, in 1907, Tait decided to create the best apartment building in Vancouver. It had features shared by none other in the city: light wells, an electric elevator and a rooftop restaurant with full-height windows on all sides, and no tall buildings to block the views. He called it the Manhattan, and it’s there to this day on Thurlow at Robson.

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For more local history: www.vancouverhistory.ca