Every Place Has a Story

Ned Pratt’s West Coast Modern House

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Peter Pratt renovated and restored the house his father designed in 1953
Peter Pratt renovated and restored the house his father designed in 1953

I spent the afternoon with architect Peter Pratt at his home in the British Properties yesterday. Peter’s father Ned Pratt designed the house in the early 1950s and lived there for most of his life. You’ve likely never heard of Ned Pratt, I hadn’t until recently, and I find that really interesting because he may just be the most important architect to come out of Vancouver. Pratt was a principal at Thompson, Berwick, Pratt and he hired and mentored some of the most influential architects of the time. Arthur Erickson, Ron Thom, Paul Merrick, Barry Downs, Fred Hollingsworth, and artist BC Binning, all worked there at one point.

The house that Peter built
The house that Peter built

It was Pratt who designed the BC Electric building (BC Hydro) on Burrard Street and the Dal Grauer Substation next door, both game changers in architectural design in those early ‘50s. Binning did the murals for the building and Pratt helped Binning build his West Vancouver home—the house credited for kick starting the West Coast modern movement in BC.

“Pratt convinced BC Electric that a local firm with no experience in skyscraper design could handle the monumental task,” wrote architectural critic Robin Ward, in Pratt’s 1996 obituary. The drawings alone, if spread out would have covered five city blocks, noted Ward.

Mural designed by Ned Pratt and Ron Thom
Mural designed by Ned Pratt and Ron Thom

When Peter took over the one-acre property and his childhood home, the house had started to leak and rot. “I don’t know how many times I heard ‘it’s a tear down Pratt, you can’t save it,” he said. “This is our home, it’s not so much an asset, it’s our home. It has a sense of place.”

Against all advice he decided to save what he could and restore it, keeping features such as a mural that Pratt and Ron Thom made from fiberglass and paper. Peter has moved walls around, taken out rooms, added skylights and put cork on the floors. He added bench seats out of reclaimed wood from the Pantages Theatre to go with a table his dad built.

Then Peter built his own post and beam home right next door. One side of the newer house is sheer glass and opens up onto the garden and a large water feature filled with fish. A courtyard connects the two houses and there are angles everywhere you look that give hints of what’s to come, what Peter calls “a process of discovery” that’s characteristic of these West Coast modern homes.

Ned’s house is 1,200 sq.ft. Peter’s is only slightly larger. Both are a nod to simplicity and scale and the importance of landscape. Proof that we don’t have to rip down these beautiful houses because they don’t fill out the lot.

View from Ned Pratt's living room
View from Ned Pratt’s living room
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8 comments on “Ned Pratt’s West Coast Modern House”

How interesting. Are there any more interior pictures, we could view? Possibly some before and after photos?

Thanks for asking I’m working on it! I am writing a chapter on the houses of these mid-century architects for my next book. I love that these talented architects lived in these small, beautiful places all their lives, even while they were designing huge expensive houses for other people.

Hello Eve,

My grandparents commissioned Ned Pratt to design a house for them on Sentinel Hill (West Van) in the 50’s – my Dad grew up there. He showed me the house a few years ago, but stupidly, I didn’t record the address and my Dad recently passed away. They were friends with the Pratt family, and Ned also designed a cottage for them on Skaha Lake in the Okanagan. My Dad’s (and my) surname is Buckland – apparently since many folks back then weren’t familiar with modern architecture they referred to the cottage as “The Buckland Cardboard box”. I never did see it – it was sold long before I was born.

Their house in West Van was actually featured in an architecture magazine (which I have a copy of). It looks stunning.

I’d love to chat with you more, and perhaps (if you’re interested), we could learn more about my grandparent’s home in West Van together (and maybe even the Buckland Cardboard Box in Skaha). I should reach out to Peter Pratt, too – he may even recall the friendship between his Dad and my Grandparents, and hopefully the architecture as well.

Btw, I’m an architect, too. Grew up out west, went to school at Waterloo, and am now practicing in Toronto (but profoundly miss the mountains and the west coast).

I’d love to hear from you!

Warmly,

Jennifer Buckland, B.E.S., B.Arch.
416.559.0301

Thanks Eve. I had the pleasure of spending the whole day at the house during last year’s West Coast Modern Home Tour as a volunteer guide. I learned so much about it, as Peter Pratt was showing visitors around throughout the day.
Peter

From what one can determine from the limited photos it appears one of the chief components of this architectural style I like is the fact the building is not exclusive of the external environment, in fact it succeeds in fostering a deeper connection with the outdoors, hinting that there is harmony to be achieved in recognizing that one simply cannot have one without the other.

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