DORMERS and DOORWAYS

For nearly a decade, Suzanne Wilson has snapped off photos of North Vancouver houses slated for demolition.  It's a passion that started in 2000 when Wilson, a retired school teacher, photographed 2,000  houses in the City of North Vancouver as part of her "Year 2000 Photography Project: Your House/Our Home".  The houses that she shot came in all different shapes and sizes and ages, and Wilson mounted every one of them on a card and made them available to the homeowners.  In 2002 she began scanning the demolition permits and documenting disappearing houses in the City and the District for her North Vancouver Museum and archives project, "Demolition and Construction".

In 2007 she distributed copies of 1,000 of the photos from her Year 2000 project in celebration of the City of North Vancouver's Centennial Anniversary.  She's shot another 112 rolls of film of about-to-be demolished houses and figures that over nine years that's more than 3, 300 photos!

Wilson checks out building permits, city directories and often talks to the homeowners to compile a fascinating architectural and social history of many of the houses.  The pictures and information are documented and available to researchers at the Community History Centre in Lynn Valley.

"I don't like it if I miss a picture," she says.  "I think there should be a photographic record in the archives."

Wilson, now 71, will hang up her MZ-10 SLR Pentax camera at the end of this year.  " figure 10 year should give a good documentary record of what has gone on in North Vancouver," she says, add that that she's lived in the same house in the Cloverley area since 1972.

Pre 1911 Cloverley area home

To celebrate the last year of the 10 year project Suzanne Wilson is writing a daily Blog, http://www.demolitionmama.blogspot.com/ , inspired by the 2009 movie Julie and Julia.  Each day Wilson features a picture of a different house, church or commercial building along with a detailed history of the building and the surrounding area.

"These blog entries are meant to be a tribute to the people who called these houses 'home', she says.  "I'll go to the archives and research and I get so that I'm part of that person's life.  Someone will start off as a labourer and then he has a carpenter job, then he as a construction company, then he's president of the construction company, and then only his wife's name is listed.  So whole lives are told in the city directories."

Both Wilson and June Thompson, a retired archivist from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives, and now herself a volunteer, would love to see someone else take over Wilson's legacy.  "It's very valuable.  Once these building go, often all that's left is the photographs," says Thompson, adding that the job requires a multifaceted approach.  "It's not just photography, it's not just history, it's not just personal skills-it's a combination of all those things."

Courtesy of Eve Lazarus

Member, Community Heritage Commission

Dormers and Doorways is a publication of the Community Heritage Commission of North Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Demolition Mama

By Greg Hoekstra - North Shore Outlook

Suzanne Wilson received a heritage advocacy award on Monday from the District of North Vancouver. In 2010, Wilson wrote daily about buildings that had been demolished on her blog ‘Demolition Mama.’

Greg Hoekstra photo
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Published: February 23, 2011 2:00 PM
Updated: February 24, 2011 8:39 PM

Some people collect stamps. Others gather coins, trading cards, comic books, or antiques.



North Vancouver’s Suzanne Wilson, however, prefers collecting something a little more unique —demolished houses.



Throughout the past decade, the local history buff has photographed more than 3,000 buildings slated for destruction across the city and district.


As a volunteer at the North Vancouver Museum and Archives, Wilson says she believes every building holds a story about our past. And those tales, she adds, are too important to be lost forever in a pile of dust and rubble.


So, in 2001, Wilson and her camera got to work. Any time a building in North Vancouver was slated for demolition, municipal staff would notify Wilson.


With a small allowance to cover the cost of film, Wilson captured snapshots of the buildings, then developed black-and-white prints in a makeshift darkroom in her home. (When the lights are on, it’s called the laundry room).


The resulting images became part of the museum’s permanent collection, accessible to anyone who visited the archives.


Wilson continued on that path until sometime in 2009, when she saw the film Julie and Julia and was struck with a new idea. 


In the movie the lead character, Julie Powell, attempts to cook all of the 524 recipes in Julia Child’s famous book “Master the Art of French Cooking” over the course of a year.


Each day, Powell records her experiences in an online journal.


The idea of keeping a blog excited Wilson, a former freelance writer and unpublished novelist, who retired from her job as a teacher in the 1990s.


“I like things that are for a limited period of time and are really a challenge,” she says. “So in 2010 I started my blog and called it ‘Demolition Mama.’”


Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, Wilson set to work on a project that would keep her busy for the next 365 days.
From Monday to Friday she wrote daily about a building that had been torn down. On the weekends, meanwhile, she would blog about travel (on Saturdays) and churches (on Sundays).


Using building permit records and city directories, Wilson was often able to piece together the stories of homes in North Van — watching many balloon in value from $2,000 to $600,000 in only a few generations.


“It was fascinating. You’d see people’s lives develop,” says Wilson.


“It would mention someone as a student, then as a labourer, then as a president of a construction company, and then you’d just see their wife’s name,” she adds. “You’d follow their whole lives. You’d get to know this person, and then they’d die.”


The project, she says, took a great deal of effort and work, but in the end it was worth it, because it’s led to something that will be of use to the museum for years to come.


“I like doing things that are permanent. Things that are going to stick around when I’m done,” says Wilson with a smile. “This project is my tribute to the people who lived in those houses.”


This is not the first time that Wilson — who is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin — has embarked on such an ambitious project for the museum.


In the year 2000, she set about photographing 2,000 homes in the city to celebrate the new millennium, culminating with an art show at the Presentation House gallery.


“It was my way of celebrating,” she recalls fondly.


Seven years later, Wilson used 1,000 of her doubles to make decorative cards, which she then bundled in small gift bags and hung from doorknobs.


“That was a huge feat,” she laughs. “It was sort of like leaving a present, then running away and hiding behind a tree.”


When asked what motivates her to invest so much time in such projects, Wilson says it’s simple: she wants to give something back to the community where she’s raised her family.


“This entire community is our home,” she says. “This is our history, and it needs to be shared.”



On Monday, Feb. 21, the District of North Vancouver presented a heritage advocacy award to Suzanne Wilson for her various projects for the North Vancouver Museum and Archives, including the blog ‘Demolition Mama.’ To view Wilson’s work, visit www.demolitionmama.blogspot.com.ghoekstra@gmail.com
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Suzanne Wilson
Posted on February 8, 2011 by Eve Lazarus

Suzanne Wilson spent 10 years shooting photographs of North Vancouver houses either about to be torn down or in the throes of construction. Her project “Demolition and Construction” consists of 4,500 black and white photos and is available at the North Vancouver Museum and Archives.

She finished up Demolition Mama at the end of 2010 and started her second blog Churches on Sunday in January 2011. Her photos of North Vancouver churches are also in the Archives permanent collection.

I asked Suzanne about her blogs:
I was looking for a way to celebrate the last year of my 10 year volunteer photography project for the North Vancouver Archives when I saw the movie "Julie and Julia".  A daily blog just like Julie published was the answer. 

                                                         Suzanne Wilson 2009

My 10 year project was titled "Demolition and Construction" and it was photographs of just that.  Over the 10 years I took approximately 4500 black and white photographs of homes to be demolished and buildings being constructed.  In my basement darkroom I prepared contact sheets for  each roll of film. The contact sheets, negatives, and a record sheet for each roll are on file at the North Vancouver Archives. 

I designed the blog to run every day of 2010 and be a tribute to the families who lived in the houses demolished,  that made these houses their home and contributed to the community life of North Vancouver.  I named the blog, "Demolition Mama".  Monday through Friday featured demolished North Vancouver homes; photos, architectural descriptions, and histories researched at the North Vancouver Archives.  On Saturday I added a Travel Feature and on Sunday a Church Feature.  These were a way of sharing other collections of my personal photography.

                                                 1640 Dempsey Rd., 1938 to 2010

During the 2010 Demolition Mama blog I published histories of  255 homes on my blog.  Since I was out of town from 1 to 3 weeks each month the automatic publishing feature of Blogspot was essential. Having all these blogs ready to be published before I left town was demanding.  I figure for ever day I was in town I spent 4.5 hours working on the blog. This challenge also brought its reward.

"Demolition Mama" received hits from all over the world: Africa, Europe, the Middle East, India, Russia, all across Canada and the US.  Comments included those from the car salesman in Egypt and the student in India. The most important and rewarding comments and e mails came from families who had lived in the North Vancouver homes featured in blog.  The information they shared was then included in the blog.  That is the strength of the blog, it can be changed at any time, even after it is published. 

It is still being changed.  It seems the blog hangs around in cyber space indefinitely.  Even though Dec. 31, 2010 marked the end of publishing "Demolition Mama" families are still accessing it and sending me thank yous for getting them in contact with other family members and adding their own bit of history to the blog.

1879 St. Paul's Episcopal Church                   

 Port Gambel, Washington

2011 has brought a new blog "Churches On Sundays".  I have always attended church and photographed churches where ever I traveled since the year 2000.  I have also photographed all the churches of North Vancouver for the permanent collection at the North Vancouver Archives. Some of these were part of the Sunday Church Feature in the "Demolition Mama" 2010 blog.  Starting in 2011 my new blog "Churches On Sundays" will be published each and every  and only on Sundays.  Churches as a place of beauty and inspiration  are in every community.  The blog is a tribute to the congregations that built and maintain these churches.

http://www.demolitionmama.blogspot.com/
http://www.churchesonsundays.blogspot.com/

Posted in Researching your home's history
Tagged Churches on Sundays, Demolition and Construction, Demolition Mama, North Vancouver Museum and Archives, Suzanne Wilson
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Heritage Award
2011
Suzanne Wilson

During the last 10 years I have taken approximately 6000 photos of mainly homes in North Vancouver.  These photos plus in some cases histories of the home or residents are now all part of the permanent collection at the North Vancouver Archives.

Most of these photographs are from the project "Demolition and Construction" 2001 to 2010.  The main body of these photographs is homes in North Vancouver District and City that have been demolished during that time. To pay honor to the residents of these homes, the families that have contributed to life in our community, in 2010 I published the daily blog "Demolition Mama".  Each weekday a post showed a photo of the home, gave details of the location and architecture, and relayed a brief history of the families who made the house their home. Starting in 2011 is my blog "Churches On Sundays" that will be published each Sunday and will include  all the church buildings in North Vancouver, past and present. This tribute to the congregations that built and support these churches will include interior and exterior photos, give details of the architecture, and relay a brief history of the building. In the year 2011 I received an award for Heritage Advocacy from the District of North Vancouver.

Other photographs housed at the North Vancouver Archives are from my "Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/Our Home" where I photographed over 2000 homes in the City of North Vancouver to celebrate the Year 2000.  Over 800 are accompanied by additional information.  This project was on exhibit January to June 2001 at the North Vancouver Archives in Presentation House. In the year 2002 I received a Queen Elizabeth II Medal for this work. To celebrate North Vancouver City's 100 birthday in 2007 I distributed 1000 copies of the "Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/ Our Home" photos to the residents of these homes. North Vancouver has been our home since 1972.

Blogs:http://www.demolitionmama.blogspot.com/

            http://www.churchesonsundays.blogspot.com/

BLOG

SUZANNE WILSON

"CHURCHES ON SUNDAYS"

http://www.churchesonsundays.blogspot.com/

My Sunday blog features a church I have

photographed accompanied by a brief history and

architectural description.

this is my worship; this is my witness.

Please join me.

churchesonsundays@gmail.com

St. Peter's Basilica Vatican