I walked by the Navvy Jack House in West Vancouver just before Christmas and was delighted to see the amount of progress made since the last time I was by in the summer.
John (Navvy Jack) Thomas:
The house takes its name from John Thomas (Navvy Jack), the first owner, a Welshman who came to Canada to seek his fortune in the gold fields. Instead, he operated an unscheduled ferry service from West Vancouver, and in the 1860s, he bought 32 hectares of waterfront land and founded a gravel hauling business on the Capilano River. Navvy Jack is a sand and gravel mix that’s still widely used today.
Navvy Jack married Rowia, granddaughter of Chief Kiepilano and raised four children in the house. By the 1890s he was broke and the family lost the house in a tax sale.
John Lawson’s Hollyburn:
Navvy Jack’s former house sits at 1768 Argyle Avenue separated from the salmon stream that abuts John Lawson Park by a newly poured concrete retaining wall.
The park’s namesake John Lawson and his family lived in the house from 1910 to 1928. He named the house Hollyburn and ran the first post office and a general store from there.
The house was built in 1873 from old growth fir and cedar, and while it’s not the oldest house in Metro Vancouver, it’s pretty darn close.
I’ve been following the ups and downs of the house since 2017, when Jane Williams kindly gave me a tour. It was a few days before she was to hand over the keys to the District of West Vancouver.
Lloyd and Bette Williams:
Jane’s parents Lloyd and Bette paid $50,000 for the house in 1971. That was before the seawall and when John Lawson Park was still a field with a few scattered houses.
In 1990, the Williams’ made a deal with the District of West Vancouver to hand over the house in exchange for life tenancy. They were the last of the owners to do so, following a council decision in 1975 to buy up the 32 houses along the Ambleside waterfront. With the exception of the Silk Purse, the Ferry Building, and the Navvy Jack house, the others have now been bulldozed back to nature.
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.
Lloyd Williams died in April 2017 at the age of 96, ending the family’s 46-year residency.
Lloyd’s uncle, Alfred Williams lived in West Vancouver in 1891. Ironically, he was rescued from drowning at the mouth of the Capilano by Navvy Jack’s son (whose first name appears to be lost to history).
Robert Wallace Williams, Bette and Lloyd’s nephew says: “The clear timbers that support the house are so pure and solid that to drive a nail is almost impossible without drilling a hole first. [The house] survives thanks to those beautiful BC clear fir timber underpinnings.”
While the house was on the heritage inventory, it was not among the very small list of designated properties, which essentially means that it really had no protection at all. From 2017 to 2020 the house was in rough shape, and it seemed a toss up whether it would be death by demolition or neglect.
A Cafe with a Side of History:
The West Vancouver Streamkeepers Society wanted to save the house and run it as a nature house, but in June 2020 council voted to tear it down. Community outrage put demolition on hold, and the Navvy Jack Citizen’s Group deserve a lot of the credit for its resurrection.
The Group’s John Mawson says a lot of the original material from the interior was carefully taken out and refinished and will be put back inside.
Heritage Consultant, Don Luxton chose the Rookwood blue/green exterior colour when he peeled back nearly a century’s worth of paint layers.
The plan is to open a café and bistro with indoor and outdoor seating this coming summer.
“This house was once a very open, welcoming kind of a community gathering place,” says Mawson. “Now we have the opportunity to not only share the history of the house, but people will have a gathering place on the waterfront once again.”
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keep up your great stories
I always enjoy your newsy stories, good for you. Time for another book, of your stories, no commission.
Thank you for providing us with more interesting history.
Thankfully the building was saved. Far too many old houses, other sorts of buildings have been bull dozed to make why for something which not historical or nice to look at.
I’m so pleased and greatful to hear about this house and how it has been resurrected/saved for generations to come. Thank you so kindly for researching this and sharing with the community!