Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Street Undergoing Change

The 200 block on the south side of East 18th Street in the City of North Vancouver is on the march. The house on the corner lot has been demolished and a modern trim multifamily housing built. The houses on the next two lots have been demolished. Only a couple of trees, some rough low brush, and the entrance sidewalk and steps to where the houses were remains. A church like looking house sits on the next lot with no notice of demolition in its future. To the east of it is 219 and 221 East 18th Street, a side by side duplex with a wrought iron fence across the front yard. Here a demolition permit has been applied for. And then we come to the house in the photo above, 225 East 18 Street, that also has a demolition permit applied for it. So it looks like it is the hopes of the developers that the possibly 6 lots to the east of the corner complex at East 18th Street and St. George's Avenue  will become another modern trim multifamily housing complex. Time will tell.


As to the history of the house at 225 East 18th Street, there are no entries in either the Building Permit book or the City Directories until around 1960. Then Joseph R. and Kathleen Walsh are reported as owners. Joseph was employed as an assistant accountant at Clarke-Simpkins. In 1971 Donald Wilson was the owner and the proprietor of Wilson's Gifts and Coffee Lounge. In 1980 Doughlas J. Renforth lived in the house. He was employed by Pacific Truck and Trailer Ltd. By 1991 Don and Karen Wilkins had moved to 225 East 18th Street. Don was an accountant at B. C. Tel. In the year 2000 children were photographed in front of the house during Suzanne Wilson's Y2K Project, Your House/Our Home so a young family was living there at that time. A photo of the house is on file at the North Vancouver Archives as part of that project.


Two interesting features of the house at 225 East 18th Street are the view and the front low stone wall. If you look through the bare branches of the large tree on the right of the photo above you can see Burrard Inlet. This could also be the view from the back of the house. The front low stone wall looks like it has been there for some time and could tell the more of the history of the house than could be found in research at the North Vancouver Archives.


Demolition: Permit applied for in February 2010.
Photo: Taken in February 2010 by SW.