Heritage Buildings

I walked by the Navvy Jack House in West Vancouver just before Christmas and was delighted to see the amount of progress made since summer.

On March 17, the District of North Vancouver unanimously approved a luxury townhome development on a chunk of land minutes from Edgemont Village. The North Shore News reported that the project included a community amenity contribution of $136,000 that could go to the district’s affordable housing fund. How generous. The 30,000 SF site was listed… Continue reading Shalal Gardens and the Disappearing West Coast Modern Houses

The Bridge: I love the Yarrawonga Mulwala bridge. It’s flawed and quirky and it turned one hundred this weekend. The anniversary celebrations were at the lake this morning, where temperatures were already well into the 30s by 11:00 am. And even in the absence of King Charles (he sent his regrets) and Australian Prime Minister… Continue reading Yarrawonga Mulwala Bridge turns 100

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

Il Giardino: The last time we were here, the server was so overcome by the beauty of a group of women sitting near us that he broke into an aria. Turns out that when he wasn’t waiting tables he was singing in an opera. Just one of the pleasant surprises at this downtown restaurant, which… Continue reading The Leslie House

I first came across the O Canada house when I was writing At Home with History around 2005. In those days, there were only hard copies of the city directories at Vancouver Archives and Google Maps was still in the future. Research meant walking neighbourhoods, standing in the hedgerows and staring up at gorgeous old… Continue reading Vancouver’s O Canada House

Frits Jacobsen arrived in Vancouver in 1968. He was a prolific artist and  captured some of Vancouver’s iconic and long-gone buildings such as Birks, the Englesea Lodge, and the Orillia on Robson Street. He also drew some that have survived. Two that I’ve seen are the Manhattan Apartments on Thurlow and Main Street’s Heritage Hall.… Continue reading Frits Jacobsen: Anatomy of an East Van House

The Clarence Hotel/Malones Tap House on West Pender and Seymour Streets is one of the oldest hotels in Vancouver.  We held the book launch for Cold Case BC at Malone’s Taphouse on West Pender and Seymour early last November. It was perfect. Built in the early to mid-1890s, it’s one of the, if not the… Continue reading The Clarence Hotel – Then and Now

Mount Pleasant Stories: Historical Walking Tours, by Christine Hagemoen Walking Tour #1: We had a lot of fun road-testing Christine Hagemoen’s Mount Pleasant Stories: Historical Walking Tours this week. Christine, a researcher and photographer wrote and published her guide—the first of five walking tours in the Mount Pleasant area—last November. It’s a great mix of… Continue reading Mount Pleasant Stories

The Industrial School for Girls operated out of 868 Cassiar Street from 1914 until 1959 and was known as the “house of horror.” Now a residential condo, Cassiar is one of the properties featured on this year’s virtual Heritage House Tour, Thursday June 2. For tickets see: Vancouver Heritage Foundation  This story is from Vancouver… Continue reading The Industrial School for Girls

The Melbourne Hotel became No5 Orange in 1971, after 67 years as a hotel and beer parlour The Melbourne Hotel opened in August 1904 at Westminster Avenue and Powell Street. According to the daily classified ads that ran in the Vancouver Daily World and Province, it had steam heating, electric lights and a white cook.… Continue reading How the Melbourne Hotel became No5 Orange

Rolie Moore grew up in Burnaby’s Hart House and became the president of the Flying Seven, Canada’s first all female pilot club I had the pleasure of having lunch with the delightful George Garrett at Hart House last week, a restaurant I’ve wanted to visit ever since I first heard that one of its inhabitants… Continue reading Rolie Moore, the Flying Seven and Burnaby’s Hart House Restaurant

Maximum Security: BC Penitentiary was a maximum-security federal prison plagued with riots throughout its 100-year life. There was the 1975 riot and hostage taking resulting in the death of Mary Steinhauser, a 32-year-old social worker. She was one of 15 hostages shot when police stormed the prison. Long before that, there was the 1934 riot… Continue reading Jack Webster and BC Penitentiary

The second CPR station at the foot of Granville Street didn’t make it until its 15th birthday. It was replaced in 1914. From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Even if you don’t love the architecture—and I am a fan of anything that’s gothic and grim and wears a turret—you’ve got to admit… Continue reading The Second CPR Station

You can be forgiven if National Inventors’ Day (February 11) passed you by yesterday, but it gives me a great excuse to write about Barney Oldfield, one of British Columbia’s own treasures. Barney Oldfield: Horace Basil (Barney) Oldfield was a mechanical genius and inventor who lived most of his life in Saanich, just outside of… Continue reading The Marvellous Inventions of Barney Oldfield (1913-1978)

Barr and Anderson, was a Vancouver company founded in 1898 and the name behind the mechanical work in some of our oldest buildings – a few of which still stand. Founded in 1898: Back in the 1960s, Doug Archer was an apprentice plumber with Barr and Anderson, a Vancouver company founded in 1898 and the… Continue reading Barr and Anderson: Established 1898

Heritage Vancouver released their annual top 10 watch list last month (for 2021), and rather than look at endangered buildings, they have focused on space. I was interested to find Victory Square on the list—or rather not the square itself, but the buildings that surround it, some of which date back to the 1800s. The… Continue reading Victory Square: What was there before?

Doug Bennett, lead singer of  Doug and the Slugs and his wife Nancy bought an old house on Semlin Drive in 1987. The house received heritage designation last month. This story is from my book Sensational Vancouver 2146 Semlin Drive: Current owners Adrienne Tanner and Mike Walker now have a Heritage Revitalization Agreement with the… Continue reading Doug and the Slugs (1951-2004)

  Earlier this month, St. John Alexander invited me to hang out at Overlynn, a Burnaby mansion for a CTV news Halloween segment. I spent an amazing Saturday with St. John, Greg Mansfield and Amanda Quill—two experienced ghost hunters. Listen to Cold Case Canada podcast Episode 34 Charles Peter: As the history geek in the… Continue reading Overlynn: Burnaby’s most haunted mansion

It’s been over seven decades, but I’m confident that the mystery of who blew up one of the courthouse lions in 1942 has now been solved. No one will be charged for this crime, but it’s thanks to a reader—we’ll call him Dave. It was his grandfather who made a bang loud enough that Vancouverites… Continue reading The Man who Blew up the Courthouse Lion