The Navvy Jack house was built in the late 1860s or early ’70s which makes it one of the oldest houses in Metro Vancouver. Lloyd and Bette Williams took care of it for nearly 50 years, now it’s in the hands of the District of West Vancouver
Jane Williams kindly gave me a tour of her parent’s house at 1768 Argyle Avenue last week. Her father, Lloyd Williams died in April at the age of 96, and she was getting ready to hand the keys over to the District of West Vancouver. Lloyd and Jane’s mother Bette paid $50,000 for the house in 1971, before the seawall was installed and when the next-door John Lawson Park was still a field with a few scattered houses.
History:
The District has owned the Navvy Jack house since 1990 when the Williams’ made a deal in exchange for life tenancy. It’s the last one following a council decision in 1975 to buy up the 32 houses along the Ambleside waterfront between 13th and 18th either through land sales or expropriation. With the exception of the Silk Purse, the Ferry Building, and the Navvy Jack house, the others have been bulldozed back to nature.
Depending on the source, the Navvy Jack house was built between 1868 and 1873. It was shifted from its original location at 17th in 1921 to allow for the opening of Argyle Avenue. While it’s not the oldest house in Metro Vancouver, it’s pretty darn close.
Originally from Wales, Navvy Jack (John Thomas) came to Canada to seek his fortune in the gold fields. Instead, he operated an unscheduled ferry service in 1866. The following year he bought 32 hectares of waterfront land from 16th to 22nd Street and founded a gravel hauling business on the Capilano River (a sand and gravel mix is named for him).
Navvy Jack married Rowia, granddaughter of Chief Kiepilano and raised four children in the house. By the 1890s he was broke and lost the house in a tax sale.
John Lawson, who was known as the “Father of West Vancouver,” and namesake of the John Lawson Park, bought the house in the early 1900s. It changed hands a few more times until the Williams’ moved in.
Lloyd and Bette Williams:
Lloyd was born in Kitsilano in 1921. He met Bette at Kitsilano High School, and later became a salesman for Simonds saws. Jane says her father’s passion was the garden that faced the ocean and overflowed with sweet peas, roses and vegetables.
According to the Statement of Significance, Lloyd’s uncle Alfred lived in West Vancouver in 1891. He was rescued from drowning at the mouth of the Capilano by Navvy Jack’s son.
How fitting that a couple of Vancouver pioneers would buy a house filled with so much history and then become its caretakers for over half a century.
Present Day:
The house is in rough shape. Over the last 140+ years it has been renovated, changed, and neglected. While it’s on the heritage inventory, it is not on the very small list of designated properties, which means that it has no protection. Hopefully that will soon change.
The District’s Jeff McDonald tells me that while nothing is confirmed, the plan is to turn the house over to the West Vancouver Streamkeepers Society to be run it as a nature house.
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20 comments on “The Navvy Jack House: Past, Present and Future”
Well done, Eve, and thank you.
What tremendous history. The William’s were caretakers of the house and land. They shared it and loved it. What a place of magic and a little bit of heaven. Thank you for a bench mark stake in our Vancouver history from the past to moving forward and having Navvy House continue to be part of it. Be wise, be smart and continue to be part of history. This being Canada’s 150th anniversary would be a very good reason to save such a place! Continue to be a steward of our history.
What a great article Eve. Thank you Jane for providing me with the privilege of meeting your Dad and spending some time at the house.
A most interesting story. I hope the house does become an interpretive centre. It would be most fitting.
Thank you for this article! This home has brought so much joy to many lives and I’m honored to have met Lloyd Williams in this slice of paradise.
Thank you for this very interesting story. I’m confused about the 2 photos dated 1914. One is of the General Store and Post Office and the other of the wedding of John Lawson’s daughter. Is one of these years incorrect because the house and surrounding area look very different in both? Or maybe the wedding photo is at a different house?
I did find a 31 Dec 1914 marriage record in West Vancouver for Elizabeth Catherine Lawson (father’s name is John) to musician William John Pitman so if that’s a picture of their wedding, then it’s correctly dated. If so, then the one with the General Store might be later since there’s a sidewalk, road, fence, fewer trees, and other buildings around the house which also looks very different especially along the roof line, the position of the chimney, front door, windows, etc.
I read that the house underwent many renovations and changes so maybe it’s possible but the wedding photo was taken on the very last day of 1914 and that picture looks older than the other one.
Thank you,
Patti Jackson
I believe the confusion is that the b&w 1914 picture that states it is “Hollyburn General Store, Post Office and Navvy Jacks House” is referring to the house in the background. It was all of the above at one time or another AND it was the early BC Telephone exchange as well. The white “house” in the foreground is actually the New BC Telephone exchange. And it is still there as well hidden between a later addition on the front to pay your phone bill at and a larger addition on the back in about 1950 to make room for more cord boards. You can have a Starbucks coffee in it now.
Terry
Thanks for this great information Terry
Thank you so much for a wonderful story. This is definitely a
heritage home and needs to be preserved as such!
So glad you liked the story Helen! Thanks for stopping by.
It would be a terrible shame if after struggling so long to save it ,the final memory of the effort was it’s destruction. The clear timbers that support it are so pure and solid that to drive a nail is almost impossible without drilling a hole first.
The feature wall in the living room is made up of odd width and odd thickness planks, all saved from the home in its original state.
To some it may look unkept and uncared for but it was left to demonstrate the beauty of natural cedar and natures processes. It finally has a new cedar shingle roof that it much deserved. It also has a beautiful sea wall erected by the city of West Vancouver when a storm obliterated its predecessor.
This house like many houses before it grew with the times, but stayed true to its origins and a motto that we hear so often today. One of recycling. It if memory and lore serves correctly it was a cook house for a logging operation further up the mountain at one time before it was skidded down to the foreshore. Surviving intact thanks to those beautiful clear BC clear Fir timber underpinnings.
Please save it, it’s a pioneer home cared for by a pioneer family.
Respectfully.
Robert Wallace Williams
Nephew
My grandfather was Alfred Percy Williams, who was rescued from drowning by Navvy Jack’s son. Navvy jack was their nearest neighbour. I have my Grandfather’s account of the story but am unable to attach it here. I would love to see Navvy Jack and then Lloyd (my mother’s cousin) and Bette Williams house preserve. It is an important piece of not only of Vancouver’s history, but of B.C. and Canada’s history.
Hello Ms Wall taking a chance that you will see this – regarding the family information connecting with Navvy Jack. Will you kindly get in touch so that we can discuss via phone or email, whichever you prefer. I am a director of WV Historical Society – we have a keen interest in the story of Navvy Jack and of course, the house. thank you, Laura Anderson, 778.279.2275 29.6.20
Do NOT destroy–council does so many unfair moves. Want a big ugly cue house there instead? BAD choices…
My grandmother Selina Madaline lived in the wonderful upstairs floor of this home from September 1935 until October of 1965. Her husband Francis Dale Ellis was with her there until he died in 1947. Her second husband Bill Evans joined her in the mid 1950’s until his death in 1965. Gran finally moved out in February 1967 to an apartment on Clyde Avenue where she lived until her death in 1975. Her son, Bill Ellis, left this house to join the Navy and WW2. He returned with his ‘war bride’ Marie in 1945 and when I was born in Sept 1945, I came home from North Van General Hospital to be with them in the upstairs spare room. Mum and Dad and I moved to a small wartime house in North Van when I was a few months older. My Aunt Sheila and her husband George Gray also lived here for a few months after their son Craig was born in 1948. Gran’s five grandchildren loved to visit here. The rocky beach, the rushing creek, the squeaky stairs up to that top floor. The cosy kitchen – and always, that wonderful enclosed verandah where Gran grew her geraniums year round. You can see them in the photograph. Gran would feed the seagulls from that small outside porch to the right. I am trying to remember the name of the people who owned the house all the years that Gran rented that upstairs floor…..the Hookhams? Now, I bring my daughter and grandson (age 6) to play at John Lawson park and tell them stories about coming to that park as a child. But mostly what I remember are the binoculars Gran always had out on the verandah windowsill – always at the ready to watch the ships come and go…and the wonderful smell of her never ending baking coming out of that old oil stove in the kitchen. Over a period of 22 years I was a granddaughter who loved to visit my Gran at 1768. It has changed drastically but….what it was is still there in my heart.
Hello Ms Ellis I am taking a chance that you will read this note, and will be in touch with me. Thank you very much for posting this information about the house. There is very little information about the owners of the house, apart from the Lawson and Williams families. Please consider getting in touch with WV Historical Society wvhs@shaw.ca or 778.279.2235 so that we may talk! Laura Anderson / WVHS. April 3, 2022.
Hello Ms Ellis I was re-reading Eve’s post on Navvy Jack House and realized I could send a note! We know very little about the Hookham family. Will you please consider getting in touch with me about your grandmother at the house. Posted a message on Eve’s page in 2022. I am with WV Historical Society, and participated in getting the house preserved. Also, I know Eve. thank you. December 4, 2023 lander1@shaw.ca 778.279.2275
Isn’t it great to read comments on social media that are so positive? Nary a “but what about?”
Yes!
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