Barry Downs

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

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

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