Vancouver's Butterfly Tower Merged With A Church
Sep 14
5 min read
Updated: Sep 15
Vancouver’s beautiful setting includes mountains, ocean, and forests. The city has long tried to balance nature with growth. Now, at Burrard Street in the West End, a new 57-storey tower proves that a skyscraper and a 115-year-old church can share both an address and a purpose.
Butterfly hovering in the clouds. Photography by Ema Peter
The Butterfly + First Baptist Church Complex, designed by Revery Architecture, combines a tall residential tower, a seven-storey affordable rental building, and the restored First Baptist Church campus. Spanning 605,000 square feet, it resembles a small neighbourhood built vertically. Market condos, subsidized housing, and the historic church are meant to form one community, not just share a building.
The tower features floor-to-ceiling glass and open interiors, making it hard to see where the inside ends and the outside begins. This design is on purpose. The goal was to bring Vancouver’s connection to nature into the building, floor by floor, not just at street level.
The sky gardens are the perfect example of this idea. Instead of closed-off hallways, each floor opens into a garden that changes colour and aspect with every season. When you step out of the elevator, you are greeted by greenery, natural light, and a view, rather than just another corridor.
The gardens do more than look nice. They help the environment by reducing ventilation and cooling needs, saving about 400,000 kWh each year and reducing the tower’s energy use by over 10 percent compared to a standard design. Energy models also show suites are too hot 65 percent fewer days during Vancouver’s warmest months.
This idea is used across the site, with landscaped courtyards, green roofs, water features, and a 50-metre lap pool that takes advantage of natural light and views rather than being tucked away in a basement.
Rental housing, public courtyard and Butterfly Lobby. Photography by Brett Ryan Studios Butterfly facade. Photography by Hufton + Crow
First Baptist Church has stood on this corner since 1911, making it one of Vancouver’s oldest churches and a well-known heritage landmark. Adding a 57-storey tower while preserving this history became a challenge in its own right, requiring accessibility and modern building systems, along with careful repairs to heritage windows and masonry. The Heritage-Listed Sanctuary and Pinder Hall, both important to the church’s identity, were restored with particular care.
Earlier renovations had divided Pinder Hall into two floors, but now it is back to its original double-height space. Historic timber columns, beams, and trusses are once again visible, making the hall ready for weddings, performances, and community events. The church’s original millwork and Deagan chimes were also kept.
The tower and church are also connected in subtle ways. The tower and church are linked in subtle ways. The biggest openings at the tower’s base line up with the church’s bell tower, and a bright "Galleria" connects the two buildings. This small but thoughtful detail ties the past to the present.
Galleria. Photography by Ema Peter Newly restored Pinder Hall. Photography by Ema Peter
The main goal of the project is social, not only about the buildings. It wants to prove that market housing, affordable housing, and a church’s outreach can all work together in one place. Besides homes, there are childcare, counselling, recreation, meal programs, and emergency shelter support. It’s rare to find all this at one address, let alone in one building.
The seven-storey rental building uses this idea too, with rooftop gardens, urban farms, outdoor kitchens, and play areas to encourage people to connect every day. More than 25 percent of the homes have two or more bedrooms, so there’s room for families, seniors, and single professionals.
You can see this approach at street level too. The church courtyard, once mostly closed to the public, is now open with new landscaping, seating, a café, and full accessibility. A clear "Galleria" connects the tower and the church, allowing the public access to community programs. There are also 465 bike stalls and car-share vehicles to help people get around without a car.
Public courtyard. Photography by Brett Ryan Studios New public courtyard and public entrance. Photography by Hufton + Crow
The environmental results back up these goals. The complex is aiming for LEED Gold certification, with operational carbon cut by 68 percent, and up to 85 percent if the onsite energy plant uses renewables. Energy use is down 45 percent, and energy costs are 25 percent lower. Potable water use is cut in half, and domestic water use drops by over a third.
This vision only works if everything comes together. If the tower serves one group, the church another, and affordable housing is tucked away, the idea doesn’t succeed. The Butterfly + First Baptist Church Complex is doing the opposite: history, density, and availability are the goal of this project, so everyone can share the same site without losing what makes each special.
Revery principal Venelin Kokalov says the project is meant to be "a community building, different incomes, different people, different programs living together." Whether this will work once people move in is still unknown, but on paper, and now in steel, glass, and restored timber, Vancouver has a new example of what a tower can be.
Revitalized heritage designated sanctuary. Photography by Ema Peter Residential Pool Amenity with custom designed and prefabricated GFRC ribs. Photography by Ema Peter View from adjacent urban plaza. Photography by Ema Peter Galleria joining Butterfly and FBC. Photography by Ema Peter Butterfly Lobby with custom designed piano. Photography by Ema Peter Butterfly and FBC from the corner. Photography by Ema Peter Butterfly and First Baptist Church. Photography by Ema Peter Butterfly Breezeway. Photography by Ema Peter
Credits & Technical sheet
Name: The Butterfly + First Baptist Church Complex
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Certifications pursued: LEED Gold
Project size: 605,000 square feet
Total Floors: 57
Overall height: 556'
Architecture/Interiors: Revery Architecture Inc.
Structural: Glotman Simpson
Landscape: SWA Group (Design) w/ Cornelia Oberlander & G|ALA - Gauthier & Associates Landscape Architecture, Inc. (LA of Record)
Mechanical/ Plumbing: Introba
Electrical: Nemetz & Associates, Inc.
Lighting: ARUP (Design) / Nemetz (Engineer of Record)
Sustainability & Energy Modelling: Introba
Building envelope: RDH Building Science, Inc.
Heritage Conservation: Donald Luxton & Associates, Inc.
Acoustics: BKL Consultants Ltd.
Code: LMDG Building Code Consultants Ltd.
Traffic: Bunt & Associates, Inc.
Pool: Rockingham Pool Consulting, Inc.
Wind: Gradient Wind Engineering, Inc.
Kitchen: Nella Cutlery
Door Hardware: Tillicum Agencies, Inc.
Waste Consultant: Target Zero Waste Consulting, Inc.
Construction Managers/General Contractors:
New Construction: Icon West Construction
Heritage: The Haebler Group
Subtrades and/or Suppliers (New Construction contract):
Mechanical: Georgia Mechanical
Electrical: Mott Electric/Ocean Pacific
Lighting: Mott Electric/Ocean Pacific
Tower Façade (Glazing & GFRC panels): Lotte
Metal Cladding: KPS - Keith Panel Systems Co. Ltd.
Pool precast structures: APS – Architectural Precast Structures
Pool glazing: Blackcomb Façade Technology
Galleria Glazing: Echo Glazing
Landscape: Horizon Contracting Group
Kitchen: B&B Italia
Custom Kitchen Islands: Woodrose Woodworking, Inc.
Tiles/flooring: Modena Tile
Interior Glazing: AMSL
Door Hardware: Pacific Doors
Suppliers (Heritage contract):
Mechanical: Inlet Mechanical
Electrical: Action Electric
Lighting: Action Electric & Premier Lighting Ltd
Masonry restoration and replacement, Stucco/Plaster: Van den Kerkhof & Son Masonry (VDK)
Steel work: Wesbridge Steelworks
Millwork Restoration, Painting: M&L Painting Ltd.
Existing Floor Restoration: BC Hardwood
Window Restoration: Vintage Woodworks / H&S Carpentry / AG Stained Glass
