Chip Wilson

The House that Chip Built

by Eve Lazarus on January 7, 2017

The four lots on the right of photo are now 3085 Point Grey Road

It’s the first week of January, 2017 and if you own a house you’ve received your BC Assessment notice. If you’re like us you’re not popping open the champagne quite yet because your house has smashed through the ceiling of the home owner grant and you’re on the hook for a lot more taxes, all without putting out one lick of paint.

Update: January 2023 – Valued at just over $74 million, Chip Wilson’s house is still #1, but it’s assessed at less that the 2017 level of $75.8 million.

You can thank all those houses that have flipped and flapped over the past 12 months and likely sit empty on your street. The irony is, if you decide to sell because you can’t afford the taxes, good luck trying to get your assessment value.

Be sure to thank Christy Clark in the coming election.

3085 Point Grey Road:

But no use feeling sorry for ourselves, let’s feel sorry for Chip. Now I don’t know Chip Wilson personally, but I do wear his pants, and he has once again come in first for the most expensive house in B.C. To achieve this, all he had to do was mow down four single-family homes, send their parts off to the landfill, and build himself a 30,000+ sq.ft. Kitsilano bunker (imagine half a football field).

You have to love a man who lives his manifesto, note “live near the ocean and inhale the pure salt air that flows over the water.” Lululemon

There have been a few changes in order, but the top 10 houses that I wrote about in 2015, are still the top 10 houses in 2017. The most prestigious address is Belmont Avenue which claims half the spots.

James Island:

The house that comes with its own island, private docks and six guest cottages—James Island—has dropped to the third spot, trailing 4707 Belmont by $16 million.

4707 Belmont claims the #2 spot at $69.2 million. It was designed by Russell Hollingsworth and comes in at 25,000 sq.ft. Vancouver Sun photo

Two years ago, 2815 Point Grey had the 10^th spot, this year it’s moved to number five and a 23% increase in value. Can anyone spell b.i.k.e. l.a.n.e?

The Hollies:

The only heritage house on the top 10, and the only one from Shaughnessy to make the list, bumped up a spot to #6 with a $39.2 million price tag. Built in 1912, the Hollies is a rambling Neoclassical Revival, and less than half the size of Chip’s digs. The house also has an indoor pool, tennis courts, a playground and a coach house. At one point the owners paid their property taxes by renting out the mansion as a wedding reception hall.

Now there’s a thought!

Arthur Erickson designed the indoor swimming pool for the Hollies in the '80s — Arthur Erickson designed the indoor swimming pool for the Hollies in the ’80s

If you’re wondering what your neighbour’s house is going for you can check it out here at: https://evaluebc.bcassessment.ca/ You have until the end of January to appeal your assessment.

Tags 1388 The Crescent, 2815 Point Grey Road, 3085 Point Grey Road, 4707 Belmont, Arthur Erickson, Chip Wilson, James Island, Lululemon, Russell Hollingsworth, The Hollies

The Top 10 Most Expensive Houses in BC: nine are in Vancouver

by Eve Lazarus on January 2, 2015

If you’re a property owner in Metro Vancouver and looking for relief in this year’s property tax bill, well let’s just say it’s not going to happen. For property owners living in one of the priciest regions of the country—the West Coast real estate market keeps going up—and so does your bill.

The good news is that BC Assessment also released the 500 most expensive properties in the province today, and it gives you a glimpse into how the rich get richer.

Number 1:

Kitsilano tops the list with Lululemon founder Chip Wilson’s new 30,000+ SF home coming in at just under $58 million.

The second most expensive house comes with its own island (James Island) 780 acres, private docks and six guest cottages.

Belmont Avenue:

Five of the houses are on Belmont Avenue and all are new except for one from the ‘80s. In fact, with the exception of the 10th most expensive house on Point Grey Road built in 1962 there is only one heritage house in the exclusive top 10, which probably isn’t surprising given the frantic way we’ve been bulldozing these old beauties.

1388 The Crescemt — The Hollies at 1388 The Crescent in Shaughnessy is the 7th most expensive house in B.C.

The Hollies:

Number 7 on the list is the Hollies at 1388 The Crescent, and the only house in the top 10 from Shaughnessy. At $27.4 million it’s less than a half the value of Chip Wilson’s sprawling modern mansion and the only one on the heritage inventory.

The Hollies

I wrote about The Hollies in At Home with History. The heritage inventory describes the 13,000 SF house as a “rambling Neoclassical Revival structure.” The house was built in 1912 by George E. MacDonald, general manager of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. With its giant entrance and huge columns, it looks like it would be at home on some exclusive Greek island.

It’s deceptive from the front gate, but inside, the mansion has six bedrooms, five fireplaces, an indoor pool designed by Arthur Erickson in the ‘80s, a putting green, tennis courts, a playground, and a coach house. The MacDonald’s sold the house and its two acres of land in 1921 and it changed hands several times until 1950 when it became a guest house. At one point the owners paid their property taxes by renting out the mansion as a wedding reception hall.

Ironically, considering the exclusion of “Orientals” in the first stage of Shaughnessy’s development, in 1991 the address changed from 1350 to 1388 The Crescent to attract Asian buyers.

Tags 1388 the Cresent, 3085 Point Grey Road, Arthur Erickson, At Home with History, BC Assessment, Chip Wilson, George E. MacDonald, James Island, The Hollies

Public Art in Vancouver

by Eve Lazarus on June 28, 2014

Eve Lazarus photo - Hug Franca public art Depending on where you live, you’ve probably noticed large sculptures and other forms of public art popping up around your neighbourhood.

I was at Spanish Banks as part of a tour by the Musqueam last Saturday and was delighted to discover these enormous pieces of furniture sculpted by Brazilian artist Hugo Franca from fallen trees.

Franco was a computer programmer in Sao Paulo before he went feral in 1982, moved to a remote village in the Bahia jungle and began working with salvaged wood.

The art is part of an open museum brought to the city by the Vancouver Biennale. The exhibition runs until 2016, features 20 international artists in Vancouver, New Westminster, Squamish and North Vancouver.

There is “The Meeting,” six large red figures squatting in a park off North Van’s upper Lonsdale Avenue by Chinese artist Wang Shugang.

Ammar Mahimwalla, project coordinator, tells me that once they figure out the logistics, expect to see nine eight-foot-tall figures by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz start appearing on Lonsdale between 13 and 21^st.

I’m planning to use the Biennale’s website map to plot a course and bike around all of the public art this summer.

The theme for the exhibition is Open Borders/Crossroads. “Vancouver is a city that’s very international and vibrant,” says Mahimwalla. “It’s a very diverse city and we celebrate freedom of expression and multiculturalism, so we wanted artists to respond to that in terms of their own artistic practices or political history or identities and what this means to them.”

When the exhibition finishes in 2016 most of the public art will either sell to private collectors or return to the artist’s home country. Sometimes, a benefactor will come along—as with Lululemon’s Chip Wilson—who paid $1.5 million to keep the fabulous A-maze-ing Laughter in the West End as a permanent exhibit.

Mahimwalla says the most controversial sculpture was the upside down church created by American artist Dennis Oppenheim in 2005. It was rejected by the Parks Board, went off to the Glenbow Museum in Calgary for five years, and now sits in storage. I reckon it’s time to bring it back.

Tags A-maze-ing Laughter, Ammar Mahimwalla, Chip Wilson, Dennis Oppenheim, Glenbow Museum, Hugo Franco, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Musqueam, Vancouver Biennale, Wang Shugang

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