Ross Lort

Vancouver Heritage House Tour and Manson’s Deep

by Eve Lazarus on June 3, 2016

Never heard of Manson’s Deep? You’re not alone. It’s one of the deepest points in Howe Sound just off Point Atkinson. It’s also been a burial ground for old sailors since 1941.

Manson’s Deep gets its name from Captain Thomas Manson who came to Vancouver from Scotland in 1892.

Captain Manson. From Westcoast Mariner, 2000

According to an article by Kellsie McLeod*, Manson, himself was buried there in 1946. Part of the service, she writes was the recital of a poem: “Now again, ‘Old Cap,’ you’re with your first love, with the sea. We hear you shout, ‘Stand by and tack, when the Shetland Isles you see.”

Kellsie’s own husband, Ernie McLeod, had his ashes scattered from a tug into Manson’s Deep in 1977. Ernie was a rum runner and appears in Sensational Vancouver “built on rum,” chapter as well as in the ghost chapter because the house that he and Kellsie lived in on Glen Drive was haunted.

You may even catch the ghost of Captain Manson on the annual Vancouver Heritage House Tour Sunday. The West 2^nd Avenue house is one of nine houses that you’ll be able to get inside. Others include craftsman houses in Kerrisdale and Kitsilano, a Tudor in South Granville, and WilMar on Southwest Marine Drive. WilMar, a 9,000 square-foot 1925 house on a two-acre lot was in the news recently because of redevelopment plans that will hopefully save the old mansion from demolition.

If Art Moderne is more to your taste, the Vancouver Heritage Foundation has you covered. You can get a peek inside the Barber Residence—that’s the big white concrete house that sits up on the West 10^th Avenue hill near Highbury in Point Grey.

Apparently there is some dispute as to who designed this futuristic looking house (remember this was 1936). My money is on Ross Lort, a super talented architect who is featured in At Home with History. At one point Lort worked with Samuel Maclure, and he designed Maxine’s on Bidwell, G.F. Strong building on Laurel, the Park Lane Apartments on Chilco and Casa Mia on Southwest Marine Drive.

Barber Residence on West 10th. Vancouver Sun photo, 2011

If you need to buy tickets on Sunday, they are $42 or $31.50 with student ID. You can pick them up after 9:00 a.m. at the information booths at 3118 Alberta Street and 2744 Dunbar. These are also two of the tour houses.

* Westcoast Mariner, 2000

Tags Barber Residence, Captain Thomas Manson, Casa Mia, Ernie McLeod, Kellsie McLeod, Manson's Deep, Maxine's, Ross Lort, Samuel Maclure, Sensational Vancouver, Vancouver Heritage House Tour, WilMar

Casa Mia on this year’s Vancouver heritage house tour

by Eve Lazarus on May 24, 2014

Casa Mia is on this year’s Vancouver Heritage House Tour. I finally got to tour it with my partner in crime Aaron Chapman

Casa Mia is featured in Sensational Vancouver: Built on Rum

Owned by Rum Runners:

Casa Mia must be one of Vancouver’s most storied old mansions, and at the moment, one of the most controversial. It’s a late addition to the tour, and a smart move by the owners looking to sway public opinion towards their plan to turn the old girl into a 61-bed home for seniors.

Built by the Reifel's in 1930 — Casa Mia

Casa Mia was built in 1932 for George Reifel, a brewer who made his fortune during U.S. Prohibition. The proceeds from selling rum to thirsty Americans between 1920 and 1933 was so lucrative that he also built a hunting lodge in Delta (now the Reifel bird sanctuary), and with his brother Harry, who built Rio Vista a few doors down, built the Commodore Ballroom, the Vogue and the Studio, all during the Depression.

The Reifels:

Bill Lort told me my favourite story about Casa Mia. Bill’s father Ross Lort designed the hunting lodge and Casa Mia for George Reifel. One Saturday morning in 1931 when Lort was inspecting the property, Reifel pulled up in his long black car. Dressed in a full length coat and fedora and puffing on a cigar, he asked Lort if he’d like some money. Not waiting for an answer, Reifel reached into his pocket, pulled out a wad of bills, peeled off a thousand dollar note and handed it to Lort. Bill, the youngest of five kids, was only four at the time, but still remembers his dad arriving home with the bill. “My father came home, showed the thousand dollar bill to my mother who damn near died of heart failure looking at it,” he says. The Lorts’ hid the note under their bed and took turns sitting on it until the bank opened on Monday morning.

Artists from Walt Disney:

Casa Mia is built in the Spanish-style, with nine fireplaces, 10 bathrooms, a sauna, and a ballroom that had the only sprung floor outside of the Commodore. George brought up artists from Walt Disney Studios to hand-paint murals in the playroom.

While Casa Mia is the most impressive house on the tour this year, the VHF has put together a nice range of houses from both the east and west sides of the city. Tickets are $40.

For more about Casa Mia and the Reifels see:

The Commodore, Casa Mia and others

Developing Casa Mia

Tags Bill Lort, Casa Mia, George Reifel, Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Ross Lort, Vancouver Heritage Foundation

Vancouver Hobbit House has $2.5 million price tag

by Eve Lazarus on March 1, 2014

Vancouver Hobbit House has $2.5 million price tag. It’s one of three in Metro Vancouver designed by Ross Lort

It feels a bit like whack a mole. One hobbit house gets a reprieve from the bulldozer and the next one comes up for sale. Fortunately the Lea Residence has a heritage designation, which means it can’t be torn down—it even comes with its own plaque.

West Broadway:

This is the third time the house at 3979 West Broadway has come up for sale in the last five years. Back in 2009 its future looked shaky when it sold to a developer for $1.65 million. But instead of razing the place, James Curtis did a deal with the City where he sunk close to a million dollars into renovating the house, designated it, and in return was allowed to subdivide and build a second house on the large lot.

The realtor’s blurb says the West Broadway hobbit house offers an option for people wanting to down size, which makes me laugh because that renovation increased the size of the house to 3,000 sq. ft—that’s one gnarly “bungalow.”

The reno also included a new $200,000 thatch-like roof, which is of course the house’s most distinctive feature.

West Vancouver:

The North Shore hobbit house is at 885 Braeside Street on Sentinel Hill in West Vancouver. According to its real estate for sale ad in December 2022, it was completely rebuilt in keeping with its heritage in 1996. This four bedroom house with drop dead views was going for $4.5 million.

Designed by Ross Lort:

The house is one of three story-book cottages in Vancouver designed by architect Ross Lort in the early 1940s. Lort also designed Casa Mia for the Reifel family on Southwest Marine Drive. The others are on King Edward in Vancouver and on Braeside in West Van. The Lea House first appears in the city directories in 1941 and is named for its original owner and builder Brenton Lea. Lea sold his house to William Brown a Vancouver dentist, in 1943.

Hobbit House interior — The hobbit house den. Eve Lazarus photo, 2013

You can get a look inside at the open house tomorrow March 2^nd from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.

Tags 3979 West Broadway, Brenton Lea, Casa Mia, heritage designation, Hobbit House, Lea Residence, Reifel, Ross Lort, William Brown

Vancouver’s Hobbit House

by Eve Lazarus on May 18, 2013

The Hobbit House is for sale at $2.86 million — 587 West King Edward

*See update Hobbit House sold

I toured the Hobbit House this week. The South Cambie house is one of two story book cottages in Vancouver—a third is in West Van. The house has had a ton of media attention since it went up for sale, mostly speculation about its imminent demise.

Realtor Mary Ellen Maasik has been demonized and I’m not sure why. Her job is to sell the property for the highest price she can—and it’s high—a whopping $2.86 million—almost twice its assessed value.

Slated for Development:

According to Maasik, the City would allow a laneway house and a secondary suite on the property in exchange for heritage designation which would lengthen its lifespan. (While the house is on the City’s heritage register, this does not protect it from demolition).

587 West King Edward — The story book features that have turned this house into a tourist attraction

The other Hobbit House sits on a much quieter street at 3979 West 9^th in Point Grey. It sold in June 2009 for $1.65 million and was awarded heritage designation in return for allowing the owner to subdivide and build a second house on the lot.

Cambie Street Corridor:

And while designation is one solution, I’m not convinced it’s the best one. This house is on busy King Edward, smack in the middle of the Cambie Corridor—in an area ripe for rezoning and four-storey buildings. Maasik says that a three house package on nearby Cambie, recently sold for over $8 million.

I think a better option would be to move it. The house is already a bona-fide attraction with up to 10 busloads of tourists pulling up every day to snap photos (imagine that while you’re sipping a latte from your roof deck).

So, why not embrace it as a tourist attraction? Strip it back to its original cottage size and move it into Stanley Park or Queen Elizabeth Park or whatever park makes sense. Pop in a gift store or a tea room or both and let people admire the ship decking floors, the walnut doors and the vaulted beam ceilings. Let them get up close and study the amazing multi-layered cedar shingle roof without fear of trampling a home owner’s prized rhoddies.

Designed By Ross Lort:

And then tell them the story of the house.

All three hobbit houses were built by Brenton T. Lea and designed by Ross Lort. Lort who had worked for Samuel Maclure early in his career, had quite the design range. His commissions include George Reifel’s Casa Mia on Southwest Marine, the edgy cube house (Barber residence) on West 10^th, and he designed the extension to the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1950.

The first owners listed in the street directories at the King Edward house are William H. James, a foreman with the CPR and his wife Winnifred in 1942.

Arn Pentland, a doctor and his wife Mabel bought the Hobbit House in 1976. “Like everyone else my wife and I were in love with it,” Arn told reporter Kim Pemberton in 2004. “I used to drive by it quite a bit and one day I saw a ‘for sale’ sign.”

The Pentland’s knocked down a wall and expanded the kitchen and bedroom. They added a roof top deck and sunroom and put in an elevator. A new multi-layered cedar shingle roof cost them $35,000 in 1991, but the old roof had lasted over half a century.

Arn died a few years ago and Mabel passed away at the end of last year, and the house is now an estate sale. That they loved their house is evident though—from the family photos in the kitchen to the gnome statutes and the painting of their house that hangs over the fireplace.

So what do you think? Destroy, designate or move?

Tags 587 West King Edward, Arn Pentland, Barber Residence, Cambie Corridor, Casa Mia, George Reifel, Hobbit House, Mabel Pentland, Mary Ellen Maasik, Ross Lort, Vancouver Art Gallery, William H. James, Winnifred James

Commodore Ballroom voted 8th most influential club in North America

by Eve Lazarus on July 8, 2011

For more about the Commodore Ballroom see Sensational Vancouver

Billboard Magazine hit the streets last week naming our Commodore Ballroom one of North America’s 10 most influential clubs, right up there with New York’s Bowery Ballroom and the Fillmore in San Francisco. According to Billboard, the Commodore scored a spot on the list because it’s well-branded with great sightlines and amazing sound. “Plus that certain intangible something that just equals cool.”

Photo by Stuart Thomson for Star Newspaper — The dance floor of the Commodore Ballroom, December 1930

As well as hosting a bunch of legendary performers such as Bryan Adams, The Guess Who, U2 and the Police, the club has a fascinating history.

Built by Rum Runners in 1929

I wrote a chapter about the Reifel family in At Home with History, a family name that is probably best known today for the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, brewed the family fortune and built the cabaret during US Prohibition.
Around the same time, the Reifel brothers Harry and George built mansions on “Millionaire’s row” on Southwest Marine Drive. George had architect Ross Lort design Casa Mia—a Spanish-style colonial villa. Harry moved into the equally lavish Rio Vista a few blocks away.

For their weekend getaways, Harry bought a story-book cottage on a farm near Langley, bred jersey cows and trained race horses. Pleased with his architect’s work on Casa Mia, George commissioned Lort to design a hunting lodge at his property on Westham Island just outside Ladner. It’s now the offices of the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Harry Reifel raised jersey cows and trained race horses at his Langley farm — Bella Vista, 6270 Glover Road, Milner

Casa Mia has nine fireplaces, 10 bathrooms a sauna, hand-painted murals in the playroom by Walt Disney Studio artists and a full-size art-deco ballroom similar to the Commodore’s. Rubber tires and horsehair inserted under the dance floor created a spring so that when lots of people stepped onto it, it felt like jumping on a trampoline.

And, Depression it might have been, but in December 1930, the Commodore Ballroom opened to a sold-out crowd of 1,500 soon attracting names such as Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie and Rudy Vallee.

The Reifels Resign

The Reifel’s owned a number of boats that made frequent trips down the coast of the US, but managed to stay fairly clean until 1933. The following July the Vancouver Sun ran a story that the Reifel’s had resigned from the board of directors of Brewers and Distillers of Vancouver–the “best known liquor company of the Pacific Coast” because of allegations that their products had found their way south of the border during Prohibition.

A few days later the Province reported that the Reifels were indicted and being sued by Seattle’s Attorney-General for $17.2 million. “The alleged operations included the formation of special companies and the use of a fleet of boats, some of which were directed by radio from British Columbia.”

The case eventually settled out of court for $700,000.

Tags Billboard Magazine, Bowery Ballroom, Brewers and Distillers of Vancouver, Canadian Wildlife Service, Casa Mia, Commodore Ballroom, Fillmore, George Reifel, Harry Reifel, Rio Vista, Ross Lort, rum runners, Westham Island

Vancouver Heritage House Tour and Manson’s Deep

Casa Mia on this year’s Vancouver heritage house tour

Owned by Rum Runners:

The Reifels:

Artists from Walt Disney:

Vancouver Hobbit House has $2.5 million price tag

West Broadway:

West Vancouver:

Designed by Ross Lort:

Related:

Vancouver’s Hobbit House

Slated for Development:

Cambie Street Corridor:

Designed By Ross Lort:

Related:

Commodore Ballroom voted 8th most influential club in North America

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