Arthur Erickson

I dropped by the West Vancouver Art Museum Wednesday and joined a tour led by curator, Hilary Letwin. If you haven’t been there before, the Museum is by the Municipal Hall on 17th Street, just off Marine Drive, and housed in a funky stone house built by Gertrude Lawson in 1939. The Art Museum currently… Continue reading Arthur Erickson’s Pad  

I was riding my bike along Point Grey Road this week and snapped a few photos of the Peace House. It’s an interesting looking place, and as it turns out, has quite the past. 3148 Point Grey Road: It was built in 1908 by R.D. Rorison who was an early real estate agent and developer.… Continue reading Vancouver’s Peace House and the Grateful Dead

BC Binning wasn’t just an important artist; as a teacher, he influenced architects such as Arthur Erickson, Ron Thom and Fred Hollingsworth. Where are his missing murals? From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Artist and teacher: BC Binning wasn’t just an important artist; as a teacher, he influenced architects such as Arthur… Continue reading BC Binning’s Missing Murals

There is a chapter in Sensational Vancouver called West Coast Modern which explains the connections between artists and architects and the West Coast Modern movement in Vancouver. Last week I wrote about Selwyn Pullan’s photography exhibition currently on display at the West Vancouver Museum. I focused on his shots of West Coast Modern houses now… Continue reading West Coast Modern Architecture

I finally got a chance to drop by the West Vancouver Museum yesterday to check out the latest exhibition on the photography of Selwyn Pullan. Assistant curator Kiriko Watanabe has done an amazing job, not only pulling out some of Selwyn’s most interesting work, but also displaying the cameras that he used to shoot them… Continue reading Selwyn Pullan Photography: What’s Lost

Originally from Edmonton, Raymond Biesinger is a Montreal-based illustrator whose work regularly appears in the New Yorker, Le Monde and the Guardian. In his spare time, he likes to draw lost buildings.  Biesinger uses geometric shapes to ‘build’ his building illustrations In his down-time, Biesinger is drawing his way through nine of Canada’s largest cities.… Continue reading Our Missing Heritage: 18 Lost Buildings of Vancouver

It’s the first week of January, 2017 and if you own a house you’ve received your BC Assessment notice. If you’re like us you’re not popping open the champagne quite yet because your house has smashed through the ceiling of the home owner grant and you’re on the hook for a lot more taxes, all… Continue reading The House that Chip Built

Heritage Vancouver hosted its 16th annual bus tour today, taking people to the buildings, streets and landscapes that the Society believes have the most perilous survival rate. And, it’s not just the mansions—but also schools, churches, streets, and areas—all the things that make a community rich. Not all the buildings are that old either. There’s… Continue reading Heritage Vancouver’s Top 10 Most Endangered Heritage Resources of 2016

There is a chapter on West Coast Modern Artists and Architects in Sensational Vancouver. If you love West Coast modern like I do, check out the art and architecture exhibit at the West Vancouver Museum this summer. Work from all the greats is there—Fred Hollingsworth, Arthur Erickson, BC Binning, Ned Pratt, Ron Thom, Gordon Smith,… Continue reading West Coast Modern on Display

Arthur Erickson is one of Canada’s most famous architects, yet his own house and garden ranks #8 on Heritage Vancouver’s top 10 endangered sites for 2014.  Story from Sensational Vancouver Arthur Erickson’s fingerprints are all over some of Metro Vancouver’s most iconic buildings—the Museum of Anthropology, Simon Fraser University and dozens of residential houses. Unusual… Continue reading Arthur Erickson’s House and Garden are on the Endangered List

If you’re a property owner in Metro Vancouver and looking for relief in this year’s property tax bill, well let’s just say it’s not going to happen. For property owners living in one of the priciest regions of the country—the West Coast real estate market keeps going up—and so does your bill. The good news… Continue reading The Top 10 Most Expensive Houses in BC: nine are in Vancouver

I’ve been posting pictures of the BC Electric Building on Facebook this week, but I haven’t posted this one—it’s on the back of Sensational Vancouver and in the chapter on West Coast Modern. The photo was shot by Selwyn Pullan in 1957, the same year BC Electric completed this ground breaking piece of architecture. While… Continue reading The incredible photography of Selwyn Pullan

Barry Downs architect designed his gorgeous West Coast Modern house in West Vancouver in 1979. He lived there until his death in July 2022 at 92. From Sensational Vancouver Barry Downs house sits on top of a cliff 120 feet above West Vancouver’s Garrow Bay. The house is almost invisible from the busy street and… Continue reading West Coast Modern and Architect Barry Downs

Story from Sensational Vancouver 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… Continue reading Ned Pratt’s West Coast Modern House

Looking for a mansion on the right side of town? 3390 The Crescent is on the market for $31.9 million. I’m guessing the owners are receptive to a lower bid, since it was up for sale last year for only $17.9 million.

Last week Heritage Vancouver released its annual top ten list of endangered heritage sites in Vancouver. Three schools topped the list, but the residence considered most in danger is the four-hectare Shannon Estate at the corner of Granville and 57th. Note that it’s not the 40-room mansion that’s under threat, it’s Shannon Mews, the infill townhouse… Continue reading The Shannon Estate: Fourth most endangered heritage site

Fred Thornton Hollingsworth met Frank Lloyd Wright in 1951 and turned down a job to work with the legend. Instead the architect stayed in Canada and is responsible for the look of post war North Vancouver.

Most municipalities have a heritage inventory that includes houses built before 1940. Makes sense doesn’t it? When you think heritage you think old. But actually heritage can be 20 years old, and that can surprise a new home owner wanting to renovate or demolish who is suddenly hauled in front of a heritage commission.