Friday, May 7, 2010
Typical Early 1900 Home

This grey clapboard and shingled home was built in 1912 at 152 East 12th Street. The owner, J. N. Kennedy paid $1500 for its construction. Although there is no mention of it in the Building Permit book it seems from the photo above that a basement suite was added to the home at a later date. The door to the suite can be seen to the left of the front steps with the living room window to the right.

J. N. Kennedy also applied for permits for two other buildings in the City of North Vancouver: a real estate office in 1912 at 111 West 2nd Street for $150 and a house in 1913 at 808 East 3rd Street for $12,000. A whole row of similar houses were built in 1910 on the south side of the 200 block of East 19th Street. These still stand and their heritage is verified in the City of North Vancouver 1994 Heritage Inventory. This row of a dozen homes was affectionately referred to by nearby residents as "The Apostles" They were different from the 152 East 12th Street home in that the 19th Street houses had dormers.
In 1925 Mrs. Elizabeth M. Lundin-Brown, a widow, was reported as living in the house.  In 1931 the resident was Isaac Young, a salesman. In 1940 a couple, Thomas and Christine were living in the house.  Thomas worked as a fireman for North Vancouver City.  By 1945 another couple, W. T. and Rachel A. Chase were in 152 East 12th Street. W. T. Chase was employed as a postman. In 1950 the owners of the 152 East 12th Street home were Chrissie and Thomas Cummings. Thomas was the acting fire captain for the City of North Vancouver. In 1960 Mrs. Margaret K. Moffatt lived in the house. She worked as a clerk for the B. C. Government. Ivan and Jeanine Johnsen were the residents in 1971. Ivan was employed as a laborer for the City of North Vancouver. By 1980 J. R. Higgins and his wife Lil had bought the 12th street house. J. R. worked as a radio communicator at B. C. Rail. After that date there was no return to inquiries from the City Directory office.

The photo of 152 East 12th 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. Family photos were added by the family at 152 East 12th Street.



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. At this time it was discovered that the home photographed at 152 East 12th Street had been demolished and a new apartment building constructed.

 Photo: Taken in the year 2000 by SW.
Reference: The Year 2000 project was donated by Suzanne and Alan Wilson to the North Vancouver Archives and is available for viewing.

Resource: The City of North Vancouver Heritage Inventory 1994 is available at both the North Vancouver Archives and the North Vancouver Library.