The Trend House at 4342 Skyline Drive in North Vancouver has just sold for $1,375,000.
The house was one of 11 built in 1954 for Ted and Cora Backer, designed by Porter & Davidson Architects, and sponsored by BC forest industries to boost retail lumber, plywood and shingle sales in the province.
The house needs love. What was once wood (and may still be underneath) has been carpeted over, wallpapered and dry walled. It’s looking tired and in need of an update. But at 2,472 sq.ft. it’s still a good sized family home with a dramatic split level open concept plan, sweeping vaulted ceilings, and floor-to-ceiling glass.
4342 Skyline Drive, North Vancouver
Originally the exterior cedar shiplap was painted gunmetal black with terra cotta trim. At the time, the house was a showroom for modern conveniences—the latest thermostatic temperature control, remote control touch-plate lighting, copper plumbing and fibreglass insulation.
When Gwen Cash went to work for Walter Nichol at the Vancouver Daily Province in 1917, she was one of the first women general reporters in the country.
Gwen met Emily Carr when she was sent to Victoria by the Province to interview a woman writer boarding at The House of All Sorts on Simcoe Street. “Frankly I don’t remember much about the visit except that there were all sorts of odd things strung up in the ceiling and I was fascinated and a little scared of Emily,” she writes in Off the Record. Gwen and her husband Bruce settled in Victoria in 1935 and Gwen got to know the artist when when she was public relations officer for the Empress Hotel and Emily lived on Beckley Street.
She wrote three books including her memoir, Off the Record.
Gwen Cash portrait by Myfanwy Pavelic appeared on the cover of Off the Record, 1977. Jack Cash photo, Courtesy Derek Cash
Commissions the Trend House:
In 1954, Gwen had John di Castri design a house to prove that small didn’t have to mean a box. Called the Trend House, it was one of 11 built in Canada and sponsored by BC forest industries to boost retail lumber, plywood, and shingle sales.
At 835 sq.ft. Gwen’s house was the smallest, but also the most talked about. “Mine was the smallest of the trend houses but the most talked and written about. Conventional Victorian viewers, addicted to pseudo-Tudor or modern box construction, were puzzled and vaguely angered by its unique design. Like modern painting it was something that they couldn’t understand” she wrote. The house was opened to the public for three months and more than 34,000 people trekked through.
Trend house photo by Jack Cash appeared in Western Homes and Living August 1960. Courtesy Derek Cash
Lady:
Derek Cash remembers staying at Trend House he was a small boy. He was fascinated by his outspoken and flamboyant grandmother and remembers her dressing in bright clothes with lots of scarves, hats and danging jewellery. She also had her three grandchildren call her “lady.”
Trend House, 3516 Richmond Road, Victoria 2011. Eve Lazarus photo
“I don’t think she really liked being thought of as a grandmother,” says Derek. “We did not call her grandma. We were told to call her “Lady.” At the time it was a name just like nanny. It wasn’t until we got older that we realized it sounded funny.”
After Gwen sold in 1967, the second owner added two rooms and a sun porch.
The other trend houses are in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, London, Winnipeg, Regina and Edmonton. There’s also one at 4342 Skyline Drive, North Vancouver, designed by Porter & Davidson Architects. Michael Kurtz owns the Calgary trend house.
