Monday, April 12, 2010


Monday, April 12, 2010
Victor Larson House

The City of North Vancouver Heritage Inventory 1994 page 126 shows a photo of this 1912 home built by Victor Larson at 335 East 8th Street. The house with the bay on the west side, a front porch on the north side, and a back porch on the south side was originally built for $2000. In 1913 a Building Permit was granted for a $150 house repair. The photo above combined with the Heritage Inventory photo show later additions of dormers in the roof on both the east and west side of the house.

Although Victor Larson is not listed as a bone fide architect in the Heritage Inventory, he did build numerous houses in the City of North Vancouver. In fact, he built 7 homes between the years 1913 and 1937 at construction costs of $1000 to $2000 a piece and a garage with a price tag of $50.

122 W. 22nd Street 1913 $2000
608 E. 3rd Street 1920 $1500
145 W. 2nd Street 1921 $1200
733 E. 7th Street 1924 $1500
307 E. 8th Street 1929 $1500
317 E. 8th Street 1931 $1000
323 E. 8th Street 1935 $1000
145 W. 2nd Street 1937 $50

And then there was his own house built for $2500 at 339 East 8th Street for $2500 where he is listed as architect and builder.

Victor Larson, cannery man is listed as the owner of 335 East 8th Street in both the 1925 and 1931 City Inventories. However, in 1931 there is another, new and very interesting listing at 335 East 8th Street. (rear) is added to the 335 East 8th Street address. Future listing indicate that (rear) is not referring to the rear of the house, but an additional house on the rear of the property at the lane. The first resident of this house, in 1931, was Gordon Davies who worked as a logger. (See tomorrows Blog Post for more on this house.)


By 1940 another Larson is listed as owner of the house. This time the Larson is Mrs. Peggy A., a widow. She continued to live in the house in 1950. By 1960, however, two families are reported as living in the main house on the lot at 335 East 8th Street. Arthur G. and Yopi Fennell and Waldren F, and Marion Patrick. Arthur Fennell worked for Pac Saladmaster Distributors, of housewares. Waldren Patrick was a salesman at Tuckett Ltd., tobacco manufacturers and distributors located at 3644 Grandview Highway. In 1971 Weston A. and Norma Patterson lived in the house at 335 East 8th Street. Weston's occupation was carpentry. In 1980 the new householders were Greg and Elizabeth Mclean. Greg was employed as a mechanic at Finning Tractor. The family that moved in by 1991 and continued to live there until at least the year 2000 was that of Angelica and Werner Weiss. During that time Werner was a cabinetmaker at Oscar Grann's Furniture.

The photo of 335 East 8th Street was taken by Suzanne Wilson as part of her
Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/Our Home. 2000 photos of homes in the City of North Vancouver were photographed. Approximately 800 of these were accompanied by some history from the present or previous home owner sometimes including personal photographs. Following an exhibit at Presentation House the collection was given to the North Vancouver Archives and is available for viewing.


In the month of June 2007 Suzanne Wilson celebrated the City of North Vancouver's 100 birthday by distributing to their home owners copies of 1000 photos taken for the Y2K Project. A photo was delivered to the home at 335 East 8th Street. In December of 2007 Suzanne Wilson took a B&W photo of the house as part of a project for the North Vancouver Archives to document houses to be demolished. Both the year 2000 and 2007 photos can be seen at the North Vancouver Archives.

Demolition: Permit applied for in 2007.  However, only 335A  (See April 13 Blog Post.) was demolished.  The house at 335 only had an address change, to 337 East 8th Street.
Photo: Taken as part of Suzanne Wilson's Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/Our Home.