Tuesday, April 13, 2010

"A" House

The house at 335A East 8th Street was one of two homes on East 8th Street in the City of North Vancouver that had the letter "A" as a recognized part of its mailing address. Another was down the street at 333A East 8th Street. However, the "A" designation did not start out that way. The original main house right on 335 East 8th Street was built in 1912 by Victor Larson. (See Blog Post April 12, 2010 "Victor Larson House".) There is no listing of another house on the property at that time. However, by 1925 there is another listing at 335 East 8th Street. The listing is 335 East 8th Street (rear) and its first resident was Percy P. Broadfoot, manager of Percy Broadfoot Manufacturers. (See photo below of City Directory ad.) The 1926 City Directory has the same listing at 335 East 8th Street (rear) and the same ad.

1925 City Directory

In 1927 the address (rear) is acknowledged although there is no resident; the listing is recorded as "Vacant". In 1931 there is a listing of a resident at 335 East 8th Street (rear). This was Gordon B. Davies, a logger. In 1940 and 1941 Broer A. and Dorothy E. Kruse were living in the house. Broer was a mill worker at Glaspiel Lumber. By 1950 the resident was Mrs. Catherine MacPherson, retired. By 1960 K. A. Askre had moved in. And by 1971 the (rear) listing official became known as "a" , 335a East 8th Street, in the City Directory. The residents at this time were Minnie and Eric Lester, retired. There was no response to inquiries from the City Directory in 1980, but again the 335a East 8th Street address was acknowledged. In 1991 Doug P. MacLaren lived at 335a and in 1996 it was Anna and Brian Johnson, a carpenter.


The house at 335A East 8th Street was a garage sized house sitting on the north side of the lane off the backyard of the larger house at 335 East 8th Street. In the year 2000 when the photo above was taken it was a gaily painted house with a front porch facing not the lane but west and a blue front door. A border of rocks and pink and white flowers marched up to the front steps.

The photo of 335A 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 335A 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 by 335 East 8th Street in 2007   The new house built at the rear of 335 East 8th Street has now graduated from "rear" and "a" to 335 and the 335 address has been assigned 337 East 8th Street.(See Blog Post April 12.)

Photo: Taken as part of Suzanne Wilson's Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/Our Home.