Comments on: Chesterfield House

By: Jill

Jill — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 15:55:42 +0000

My grandfather, Walter Pringle, was Vice Principal of Chesterfield School circa 1927 for a short time. My grandmother wrote that he received rock bottom depression wages which barely kept them afloat. Walter was then hired as a master at St. George’s School and remained there until 1941. Would you have any photos of him at Chesterfield or know when exactly he was employed there? I’m trying to ascertain a more precise timeline of his tenure at Chesterfield. I was fascinated by your photos and details about the school. Thank you for sharing them!

By: Don Freeman

Don Freeman — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 01:50:14 +0000

Nice. I grew up 2 houses west of there. 229 W Osborne. 1957-1974

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 04:03:16 +0000

Very interesting! This building was apartments in the 1960s/70s and I had a friend living there. I can still remember the staircase and squeaky floors. The far side (furthest away from Osborne near the back lane) used to have a trampoline that I promptly sprained my ankle quite badly…..twice!

By: Dani

Dani — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 20:06:13 +0000

In reply to Susan J Anderson.

I love reading your recollections and family stories… keep them coming 🙂

Dani

By: Susan J Anderson

Susan J Anderson — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 15:38:13 +0000

I grew up at 26th and Jones in North Vancouver, my mother having grown up at St Georges and 13th… the.Chesterfield school building close by
The house I grew up in had its foundation poured the day I was born, in June 1946, and Chesterfield school was well known to our family for awhile since we had family housed there by North Van City.

Remember that this was BEFORE 1961, so each local government in BC was responsible for any welfare, or similar assistance to be provided to their residents. The “Residents and Responsibilities” legislation meant that if someone applied to any local government for “relief or welfare” the local government where they were currently living HAD to provide assistance, but if the person or family had not lived in that jurisdiction for 6 months, and the previous jurisdiction was within BC, the local government providing the welfare, was legally able to charge those costs back to the place they had lived previously….

My aunt and uncle and two daughters had been living close to us on 26th Street…but when my uncle lost his job, and eventually his house, North Vancouver City housed the whole family in an upstairs 2.5 room housekeeping suite in the old Chesterfield School building.

Neither my cousins or I were in school yet, so the whole family but mostly the girls, spent a great deal of time with us….Having moved from a house and garden in our neighbourhood, to this very cramped facility ..It also didnt have a full service kitchen…just a hotplate….and a fridge shared with others in the hall, so my recollection is that since my sister and I were not yet allowed to eat in the dining room with mum and dad, we used to have a family dinner about 4.30 in our kitchen with all of us, except my mum and dad eating, and then when my dad got home from work around 6PM, my parents would have their dinner in the dining room…..

Funny how these pictures bring this back…I ran into a similar kind of arrangement in New Westminster years later, when it was clear that the Loyal Orange Home there ( women and children only, no men over 12 years of age) had been used the same way by the City of New Westminster…but that it had been very difficult when one of the boys living there with his mother and siblings reached 12, to decide whether to bend the rules and let him stay, or to find another accommodation for the whole family…

By: Loretta Houben

Loretta Houben — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 01:07:35 +0000

I love the photo of all those cute boys! Thanks for sharing this story.