Caroline Adderson

Making History with Facebook for 2015

by Eve Lazarus on December 26, 2015

Since this is my last blog for the year, I thought I’d put together a list of my top 10 favourite FB pages. My criteria is pretty simple: the page has to have a strong Greater Vancouver flavour, there has to be a historical element, and the page has to post reasonably often and with original postings.

In Alphabetical order……

1. City of Vancouver Archives (likes: 2,328)

The Archives does an amazing job as our official keeper and promoter of Vancouver’s history. But most importantly the Archives took the step a few years ago of digitizing tens of thousands of photos and making high res versions freely accessible to anyone who wants them. They also have a great blog.

2. Every Place has a Story (likes: 1,643)

I started this page a couple of years ago and it has grown into a mixture of curated material, photos and original posts (you really don’t know what you are getting from one day to the next because I’m never sure myself).

3. Foncie Pulice (likes: 1,384)

Most long time Vancouverites have at least one Foncie photo in their album, and his photos really touch a chord and say a lot about our history. Foncie took his first photo in 1934 and his last in 1979. He was the last of the street photographers

4. Forbidden Vancouver (likes: 5,518)

This is a local business run by Will Woods (shown wearing cool hat). Will has shaken up the idea of the walking tour, added some theatre and shows the sketchy side of Vancouver to locals and tourists. His FB posts reflect this side of Vancouver.

5. Heritage Vancouver Society (likes: 2,091)

For keeping Vancouver’s heritage buildings as an issue, for publishing the top 10 watch list of endangered buildings and for putting on great events that keep us interested in heritage. You need to follow this page.

6. North Vancouver Museum and Archives (likes: 2,091)

The North Vancouver Museum and Archives has been fundraising this year for a new museum that would live at the foot of Lonsdale. They’ve also ramped up their postings on FB and shared some really fascinating bits of local history and photos for people on both sides of the Inlet.

7. Vancouver Firefighters Historical Society (likes: 531)

Not all the photos are of burning buildings, some are shots of old equipment, trucks, parades, old Vancouver and heritage fire halls. And, if you’re in need of some eye candy pop over to The Hall of Flame calendar page — it’s okay it’s for the children!

8. Vancouver Heritage Foundation (likes: 3,334)

Through the annual heritage house tour, lectures series, walking tours, Places that Matter and their collateral, the Vancouver Heritage Foundation does an amazing job of keeping heritage important and fun. Follow this site for information about grants and events.

9. Vancouver Then (likes: 14,861)

I can’t say enough good things about Vancouver Then. Jeremy Hood posts consistently and often and he puts a huge amount of work and thought into his posts and photos about Vancouver. My favourites are his then and now posts that show how much we have changed, or in some cases, how much we haven’t.

10. Vancouver Vanishes (likes: 7,702)

Noted fiction author Caroline Adderson started this page a couple of years ago and has attracted a huge following of people who are just as outraged as she is by the demolition of character houses in Vancouver. Her relentless beating on City Hall has had real results and her page was the basis for Vancouver Vanishes, a book of essays with contributors such as Michael Kluckner, John Atkin, Kerry Gold, and me.

If I have missed any of your favourite pages, please leave a note in the comment section below!

Tags Caroline Adderson, City of Vancouver Archives, Eve Lazarus, Every Place has a Story, Foncie Pullice, Forbidden Vancouver, Hall of Flame Calendar, Heritage Vancouver Society, Jeremy Hood, John Atkin, Kerry Gold, Michael Kluckner, North Vancouver Museum and Archives, Vancouver Fire Fighters Historical Society, Vancouver Then, Vancouver Vanishes, Will Woods

Vancouver Vanishes with Caroline Adderson

by Eve Lazarus on November 20, 2015

Vancouver Vanishes

For a number of years Caroline Adderson wrote outraged letters to City Council about the large scale destruction of heritage houses in her Vancouver neighbourhood. When her letters went unanswered, Caroline sent pictures—she still didn’t get a response.

In January 2013, the award-winning author took her fight to social media and started posting pictures of beautiful character houses and short descriptions of their social history, including the address, when it was built, the first owner and occupation. Sometimes she’ll throw in photos of beautiful interiors and working appliances, just before they are crushed and sent to the landfill or off for recycling. The status is of course, always DEMOLISHED.

“For me, they are more than houses, they are cultural artifacts,” she says. “When you say John Smith, barber, and his wife Mary, suddenly you see this man doing something and a story is there and it makes it not only a horrible environmental waste, but also such a loss of narrative, story and history,” she says.

The FB page struck a chord with others who are passionate about the diminishing heritage stock in our city. Caroline has attracted a bunch of media attention and finally got the attention of City Hall. Now Caroline is the organizer and contributor to a fully illustrated book that was released this week called: Vancouver Vanishes: Narratives of Demolition and Revival.

“This is a tiny tiny sample of what’s actually being demolished in Vancouver,” she says. “This year we will have the most demolitions in the last decade and this is happening right in the middle of the city’s Heritage Action Plan so it’s pretty disheartening. I think it’s something like 1,400 demolition permits that will be issued by the end of this year.”

Caroline has contributed three pieces, one is about her own house, another about the Dorothies—a twin pair of houses that were saved from demolition and appear on the cover. My chapter covers the disappearing West End based on my blog, and other contributors include the Globe and Mail’s Kerry Gold, John Mackie from the Vancouver Sun, civic historian John Atkin, and poets Evelyn Lau and Bren Simmers. Michael Kluckner wrote the introduction.

Tags Bren Simmers, Caroline Adderson, Eve Lazarus, Evelyn Lau, John Mackie, Kerry Gold, Michael Kluckner, Vancouver Vanishes

Heritage Streeters with Caroline Adderson, Heather Gordon, and Eve Lazarus

by Eve Lazarus on April 3, 2015

In February heritage men told us their favourite building and the one building we should have saved. To keep the world in balance, I’ve asked the same question of women working in and with heritage—our answers may surprise you.

Caroline Adderson is an award-winning Vancouver author and the person behind Vancouver Vanishes.

Favourite Vancouver building?

My current favourite house is 3825 West 39^th Avenue, built in 1937 by Jack Wood, who was the builder responsible for all the Dunbar castle houses. The house he built for himself next door and featured in the Vancouver Sun at 3815 West 39^th Avenue was demolished in early March with almost no reclamation of materials. In the article John Atkin describes the style of the Dunbar castles as “a variation of the French Normandy style popular after World War I. The turret is the grain silo of the original (French) farm house repurposed to make a grand entrance.”

I’d argue that 3825 West 39^this the prettier of the sisters because of the shingle roof and the Tudor elements. Like the Dorothies, which were saved from demolition last year, this house just lights up the street. It seems to exude stories. But not for long. As I was walking past the house this morning, I met a pair of surveyors who confirmed it’s slated for demolition.

Caroline's runner-up for favourite “house” still standing is 3492 ½ West 35th. It’s a sort of rondavel constructed out of firewood, driftwood, plywood, cinderblocks, tarpaper and stones, with fanciful ornamentation. "I haven’t been inside because, as you can see, no “gurls” are “aloud”. — Caroline’s runner-up for favourite “house” still standing is 3492 ½ West 35th. It’s a sort of rondavel constructed out of firewood, driftwood, plywood, cinderblocks, tarpaper and stones, with fanciful ornamentation. “I haven’t been inside because, as you can see, no “gurls” are “aloud”.

The one building that never should have been destroyed?

Please see my Facebook Page Vancouver Vanishes.

Heather Gordon is the City Archivist for the City of Vancouver Archives.

Favourite Vancouver building?

Beaconsfield Apartments ca1910 CVA M-11-57

The Beaconsfield at 884 Bute Street is one of a number of West End apartment buildings built in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Every one of these blocks has its own idiosyncrasies and surprises, but I love the Arts and Crafts balconies on the otherwise very-Victorian Beaconsfield, and the way the building integrates with the park-like traffic-calmed block of Bute outside its entrance.

The one building that never should have been destroyed?”

The Glencoe Lodge at Georgia and Burrard was a residential hotel built by B.T. Rogers in 1906 and managed by Jean Mollison, who was known a the “grand Chatelaine,” because according to a 1951 newspaper article, she had previously managed the Chateau Lake Louise. Under her guidance, Glencoe Lodge attracted a highly exclusive clientele, even more so than the C.P.R.’s Hotel Vancouver. The Lodge was demolished in the early 1930s, but if it had lasted longer, I can’t help but wonder if it might have become part of a really interesting development on that corner.

Eve Lazarus is the author of Sensational Vancouver and the person behind Every Place has a Story.

Favourite Vancouver building?

With Aaron Chapman on the 2014 VHF heritage house tour

It was a huge thrill to get inside Casa Mia on the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s house tour last year. Built smack in the middle of the Depression from the proceeds of rum running, this old girl still has the nursery with original drawings from Walt Disney artists, it’s own gold leaf covered ballroom with a spring dance floor, a gold swan for a faucet, and art deco his and hers washrooms.

The one building that never should have been destroyed?

Joe Fortes (1863-1922) — Joe Fortes Beach Avenue cottage CVA BuP111

We honoured Joe Fortes with a fountain in Alexandra Park, but how much more awesome would it have been, if we’d kept his house? Not only would it have been one of the oldest structures in Vancouver, it could have made both a great little museum for black history in Vancouver and for the houses that once dotted the water side of Beach Avenue. Instead it went up in flames in 1928.

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