Thursday, January 21, 2010

Pink Posies on Chesterfield

Pink posies in a rock planter grace the front of the pink house at 1805 Chesterfield Avenue.  It could be called the Blanchett House, since Sid and Charlotte built it and lived in it for over 30 years.  The house was built in 1947 for $5000.  At that time Sid was a carpenter.  In 1955 Sid was working for Leslie Construction. By 1970 it seems he was a building contractor out on his own with Blanchett Construction.  Blanchett Construction is again listed in the 1980 City Directory under the name of Sidney G. Blanchet.

Chesterfield Avenue runs north from Esplanade near the waterfront up the base of the mountain and crossing the Upper Levels Highway and Queens Road and then all the way to Osborne Road.  Although most of Chesterfield Ave. is in the City of North Vancouver, at the north side of 29th Street is extends into North Vancouver District.  The whole way it is parallel to Lonsdale Avenue which is the main drag of  the City of North Vancouver.  At one time Chesterfield Avenue was a street of homes. Much of the street as far up as the Upper Levels Highway is now lined with apartment buildings.  With the shops, library and recreation center just a block away on Lonsdale Ave. Chesterfield Avenue is a desirable and convenient place for a denser population.

A prominent complex on Chesterfield Avenue between West 3rd and 4th Street  is Presentation House, the home of the North Vancouver Museum, an art gallery and a theater.  On its campus is the old Church of St. John the Evangelist.  Presentation House was built as Central School in 1902 and has been the home of the North Vancouver City Hall,  jail, and the North Vancouver Archives. 

Demolition Permit: Applied for September 18, 2009.

Photo: Taken October 4, 2009 by SW.

Book: Heritage Inventory City of North Vancouver 1994 

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Seylynn at Fern 

The house at the corner of Mountain Highway and Fern Street is addressed 1502 Fern Street. It was built in 1931, a garage was added in 1940, and a green house in 1974.  The first listing for Fern Street in the City Directories was found in 1949.  In 1955 the address is listed at 1602, with the resident being Mathew Watson, a notary Public. The address and resident remained the same in 1960.  In 1970 the address had changed to 1502 and the residents were Doreen and Ervine Demers.  Ervine worked as a mechanic.

Fern Street now leads from Mountain Highway to the on ramp to the Upper Levels Highway.  However, until a few years ago, the on ramp was at the end of Keith Road just after the bridge across Lynn Creek.  It will be the southern border of the new Seylynn Village.  Demolition of the homes on Fern Street has begun.

Thank you to Elaine Oakes, RM Clerk, Admin. Svcs. NVD.

Photo: Taken August 30, 2008 by SW.

 

Tuesday, January 19, 2010
St. Denis /Mountain Highway


Today this bright white house with its broad front port sits in Seylynn at 652 Mountain Highway.  It was built for $1000 by E.C. Cave in 1925. At that time it was listed as a commercial property. E. Cave lived there until at least 1931. the City Directories indicate that Irene and Arlo Barkley lived in the house from 1952 to the 1970's.  Arlo was a shipper at Burns and Co.  By 1980 Terry Green was the resident at 652 Mountain Highway.  Behind the house are two out buildings.  One looks like a little house with a door between two windows.  It even has a mailbox. The other building is a small one car garage. Both have entrances on Bruce Street.


Mountain Highway was not always called that. As Mountain Highway wove its way down from Lynn Valley, its name changed in Lynnmour to St. Denis. The City Directories list the Lynnmour Grocery which is the southern neighbor of 652 as being on St. Denis up to 1948.  In 1949 the address was listed at Mountain Highway.  However, remnants of St.Denis Avenue still exist on the east side of the Upper Levels Highway. The 2007 Greater Vancouver map book by MapArt Publishing  indicates that St. Denis Ave. is the northern end of East Keith Rd. and extends into Inter River Park.


It seems therefore that when E. C. Cave built the house it was on St. Denis and when the Barkley's lived there is was on Mountain Highway.  The house didn't move, only the address changed.


Researcher:  Thank you to Jim Lawrence.
Photo: Taken August 30, 2008.

 

Saturday Travel Feature

Concrete Grade School

Concrete, Washington

Photo: Taken in Concrete, Washington in September 2007 by SW.

Link:

Monday, January 18, 2010

Seylynn Cottage

This perky bright blue cottage with its white picket fence is at 1526 Bruce Street.  "The property at 1526 Bruce St. was formerly addressed as 1460 Bruce St. and was built in 1935, in 1946 a garage was added.  Later in 1959 the garage was moved to the neighbouring lot.  The Willow Tree Family Daycare operated at this address from 1994 – 2006." Elaine Oakes, NVD.  It is a house that grew and grew as west side and back additions were built.  

The house and Bruce Street are the area deigned to be Seylynn Village.  The area was first known as Lynn Creek, which runs to the west through Bridgeman Park.  Next it was called Lynnmour and finally this section of Lynnmour was named Seylynn.  A Sey-Lynn Hall was built in 1950 and remains in the park on the west side of Mountain Highway across from Fern Street which is the street south of Bruce.  A 1961 building permit indicates there was a library in that building.  

Seylynn Village calls for the demolition of the 25 homes on Bruce St., Fern Street, and Mountain Highway to the east of Bridgeman Park and stretching the one block east to the Upper Level's Highway.  It seems only the Lynnmour Grocery store will remain.  The environmentally friendly, mixed use complex to be built includes numerous community amenities and 690 units, 70 of which will be affordable housing.  (North Shore News Oct. 26, 2009.)

Thank you to Elaine Oakes, RM Clerk Admin.Svcs. NVD.

Photo: Taken August 30, 2008.  

Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sunday Church Feature
Lynnmour United Church

According to the City Directories, Lynnmour United Church on Mountain Highway started out as River Avenue Methodist Church in Vancouver on River Ave. east of Fraser St. This was 1915 and the Rev. Wm. Pearson was the pastor. During the 1920's although the location and name remained the same the address listing changed to 941 River Ave., then to 900 East River Ave., then to 945 River Ave. East, and finally to Marine Dr. East. In 1926 the church became the River Avenue United Church with Rev. B. Black as pastor. In 1929 the address was listed as 1195 block East Marine. And finally in 1930 with only a Sunday School listed the address was 1195 Marine Dr. That address was vacant in 1931.

The big change for the church came in 1933. This was the year the building was "taken apart, hauled away to North Vancouver and resurrected at Lynn Creek" (North Shore news 9/21/62). Here at E/S St. Denis it became Lynnmour United Church. In 1944 the church address was listed as both E/S St. Denis and E/S Mountain Highway with Rev. Allan as pastor. The address changed to 700 block in 1957 and 600 block in 1959. 

1103 Mountain Highway

1962 Church Building

At Easter in 1962 a new church at a different site "up the hill" at 1103 Mountain Highway. The West Lynnmour United Church, was announced in the North Shore News. The pastor was Rev. Allan I. V. Dawe.  The congregation finally joined that of the Lynn Valley United Church in 1966.

In 1964 the old church was vacant. And in 1964 the first of a series of businesses bought the building. They included Inanex Woodwork Shop, Pragon Electric, Metallic Design, and finally from 1975 to 1998 Bero Mettalic Design. The building was demolished in the spring of 2004. Now in 2010 the land will be part of the new Seylynn Village Project.


Researcher: Thank you to Jim Lawrence.
Photo: Top photo, copy of photo in The Province, September 21, 1962.  Bottom photo taken in 2005 by SW.  The building is now a residence.

Saturday Travel Feature

Old Town San Diego 

Old Town State Historic Park is north of downtown San Diego and accessable by a special trolley car.  It is where  the city of San Diego began.  The original mission and presidio were nearby.  The town developed as retired soldiers and setters built homes  there.  Old Town recreats life there as it was in 1821 to 1872.  It became a historic park in 1968. 

Casa de Pedrorena de Altamirano was built in 1869 by Maguel Pedrorena Jr.  It was the last adobe structure built in Old Town.   Maguel Pedrorena gave the building to his sister Isabel and her husband Antonio Altamirano.  Their father, also Maguel Pedrorena, represented the San Diego area at the California State Constitutional Convention held in 1849.  Antonio Altamirano came to San Diego in 1849 to explore the mining possibilies of the area. The Historican Landmark Marker, number 70, describes these events.  The actual address of the house is 2616 San Deigo Avenue and can be seen above the front door.

Today the Casa de Pedrorean de Altamirano  is a shop with its wares advertised on signs hanging from the roof above the front steps: Jewelry, Gems, Beads, and Carvings.   But on the wall behind the right post next to the front steps  there is perhaps an echo of Antonio Altamirano's mining pursuits, the Assey Office sign.  Other historic buildings that line the street include: a theater, a barn, a school, a newspaper office, a museum, an outdoor market, and a church.  It is all a step back into 1800 San Diego history.

Links: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=11777

Photo:  "Casa de Pedrorean de Altamirano" was taken in 2008 by SW.