Monday, December 20, 2010
At Least Since 1925

The two storey house at 211 East 18th Street was built by 1925. Although the address is not listed in the Building Permit Book, there is a listing in the 1925 City Directory.  In 1925 Johan and Alberta Johanson were listed at the 211 East 18th Street address.  Johan Johanson worked as a carpenter.  Alberta Johanson worked as a stenographer at Rankin and Chirell.  

In 1931 the owners were John and Jean Kirkness.  John C. Kirkness worked as a meat cutter.  Jean Kirkness worked as a clerk at Woodwards.  The owners in 1941 were John C. and Ann R. Kirkness.  John C. Kirkness was a ticket collector for the North Vancouver Ferries. Marion A. Kirkness, a B.C. Tel operator, was also a resident, as was Robert B. Kirkness, an apprentice at North Shore Press.

In 1950 the owners of 211 East 18th Street were Fredrick H. and Gertrude F. Smith.  Fredrick Smith was employed as an accountant at the Bank of Montreal.  By 1960 the owners were Alan G. and Dora Harrison.  Alan Harrison was employed as a packer at Eaton's Department Store.  In 1971  the owner was Johann M. Olson, a student.  By 1980 both Johann M. and Beryle E. Olson, retired, were the owners. 

By 1991 C. Wong was the owner of 211 East 18th Street.  C. Wong reported to the City Directory in 1995 that he had owned the property for five years.

211 East 18th Street was demolished in 2006 for $9,000 by D and S Bulldozing Ltd. (See Link.)

Demolition: 2006.
Photo: Black and white photo taken in 2006 by SW as part of the Demolition and Construction Project, Roll #69 Negative #20, available at the North Vancouver Archives.
Link: http://www.cnv.org/c//DATA/2/88/2006%20JUNE%20ISSUED%20BUILDING%20PERMITS%20REPORT.PDF

Friday, May 28, 2010
The Blue House With the Rock Wall

The cheery blue house at 303 East 18th Street was built in 1946. The owner of the $2,700 house was Stanley G. Evans and the architect was Jacobson. Stanley Evans was employed as a builder. He continued to live in the house  until at least 1971 at which time he reported to the City Directory that he was retired. In 1980, 1991, and 1995 the house was vacant, there was no return to City Directory inquiries, or the resident could not be verified.

The photo of 393 East 18th 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.



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 303 East 18th Street had been demolished and a new house had been built.


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.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Bay Window Shingled Home

The white shingled house with the front bay window was built at 211 East 18th Street. The date a building permit was applied for does not seem to be documented. However, a house with similar features, the bay window, the windows in the front gable end of the roof, and the glass panels in the front door was built in 1930 at 206 West 19th Street. (See Blog Post Friday, April 23, 2010.)

The first City Directory listing of 211 East 18th Street was found in the 1931 edition. The owners were John C. and Jean Kirkness. John worked as a meat cutter, and Jane was a clerk at Woodwards. In 1940 John C.  and Ann R. Kirkness lived in the house. Now John was the proprietor at Norland Smoke Shop. By 1950 Fredrich H. and Gertrude F. Smith were the owners. Fredrich was employed as an accountant at the Bank of Montreal. In 1960 Alan G. and Dora Harrison were now the owners. Alan was a packer at Eaton's. By 1971 the Olson's had moved in. Johann M. and Beryl E. Olson were the owners. Johann was the caretaker at the North Vancouver Drill Hall. Johann (no initial) a student was also a resident of 211 East 18th Street. Johann M. and Beryl were still living in the house in 1980, but by this time Johann had retired. In 1991 C. Wong was the owner and in 1995 he reported to the City Directory that he had been living there for five years.

The photo of 211 East 18th 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.



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 211 East 18th Street had been demolished and new housing was under construction.


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.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Two For One

The Blog Post for 225 East 18th Street published on March 30th, 2010 tells the story of what is possibly being planned for this area. It looks like four of the five lots in this block near St. Georges Ave. have been gathered up for a large multifamily housing complex. The multifamily complex all ready built on the corner indicates the start of this change.

But the side by side stucco duplex at 219 and 221 East 18th Street has two stories to tell, one for each address. There is no listing for the brown duplex in the Building Permit book at the North Vancouver Archives. And there is no listing for either address in the 1950 or 1953 City Directories. But there are listings in 1955.

Thom is the name at 219 in 1955 but not in 1960. By then Nora M. and Cecil R. Hall lived at 219. Cecil worked at the Lux Theater at 55 East Hastings Street. By 1971 Christine and Bartello Desisto were the residents. Bartello was employed as a plumbing contractor by by P. Ciambelli at 235 East 18th Street. In 1980 the 219 side of the duplex was reported as being vacant. In 1991 Grant Richards was the resident upstairs at 219 and Dorothy Ryan had just moved in as the basement resident. In the 1995/96 City Directory Grant was reported as living at that address for five year and there is no mention of Dorothy Ryan.

As for the 221 East 18th Street address, in 1955 that resident was Mrs. Roberta Hammond. Roberta was a widow and taught in the North Vancouver School District 44. In 1960 Ann S. and Cornelius M. Neiwerth lived at 221. Cornelius worked as the proprietor of Skyline Sports Center. There were two, one at 1637 Lonsdale Avenue and a second at 3066 Edgemont Avenue. In 1971 the 221 side of the duplex was reported as being vacant. But by 1980 Harry Chan was living there. In 1991 the resident was L. Emmbach who was an employee of CIL Paint. He must have moved in by 1988 since in the 1995/96 City Directory he was reported as having lived there for 7 years. Sharole S. Emmbach also lived there and worked as a clerk at The Bay. Another resident reported as living at 221, but only for four years, was N. Sylvester, an auto body repair man.

Demolition: Permit applied for February 2010.

Photo: Taken February 2010 by SW.

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.