Friday, January 29, 2010
Ship Shape

This ship shaped house is at 222 West Kensington Crescent. This street is just off Lonsdale Ave. at West Braemar Rd. in the North Lonsdale area of the District of North Vancouver. The distinctive house was built by H. Lancaster in 1956 for $12,000. The construction company was Robin Construction Ltd. at 892 East 12th Street. The style of the house with its rounded living room area and port hole windows in the front door may indicate that it is a Streamline Modern residence. A few of these had been built in North Vancouver 1940-1945.

Two other Streamline Modern residences, pictured in the City of North Vancouver Heritage Inventory 1994, are the 1945 Cunningham Residence at 172 East 25th Street, architect H. L.S. McCullough and the 1941 Logan Residence at 508-519 St. George's Avenue designed by Hal Norman of the Streamline Construction Company. The Logan Residence was modified in 1959 for use as a duplex. Both of these homes exist today and have the same rounded style of the house at 222 Kensington Crescent.

H. Lancaster lived in the house for at least a year. Then the 1960 City Directory lists Dora and Raymond E. Phillips as owning 222 Kensington Crescent. They actually bought the home in 1958. (Ann Mossop, daughter of Dora and Raymond Phillips.) Raymond taught in the North Vancouver School District. In 1970 Raymond was teaching in the West Vancouver School District. The Phillips family continues to own the house and will be building a new two storey home on the property. That is 52 years and counting for the Phillips family. Beyond the high thick shrub hedge on the west side of the house lies a dramatic view of The Lions and Vancouver. And from the living room the view includes downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park, and Vancouver Island. Both views are spectacular.

The 222 Kensington Crescent home is featured in the book "The Modern Architecture of North Vancouver 1930-1965", Heritage Building Inventory by Donald Luxton and Associates. (See the entry below.)

The interior architectural details of the 1950's period in which 222 Kensington Crescent was built remain. (See photos below.)

Demolition Permit: Applied for November 2009.

Photo: Taken December 1, 2009 by SW.
Thank you: To Ann Mossop, daughter of Dora and Raymond Phillips, for the tour of the interior of her home at 222 Kensington Crescent.

Thursday, January 28, 2010
Round 4 Pane Window

The house at 2888 Crescentview Dr. was built in 1950 for $9000 by H. Williamson.  It features the welcoming round four pane window and windowed front door of eight panes. In 1955 Chas and H. Jocelyn Crocker were living in the house.  Chas was an engineer at B.C. Equipment. By 1960 the City Directory indicates the resident was Mrs. A. R. Daly.  And in 1970 there was no reply to City Directory inquiries.


The  Crescentview Drive house sits on the north side of the ridge above Murdo Fraser Golf Course in the District of North Vancouver.  It is only accessible by both the east and west intersections with Edgemont Blvd.  and is in walking distance to Edgemont Village. The village has an abundance of shopping: supermarket, children's shop, jeweler, produce market, book store, drug store, garden shop, dress shop, bakery, liquor store, and convenience store.  It also has a bank, restaurants, coffee shops, and a library. It is a perfect  business or leisure destination.


Murdo Fraser Golf  Course is a 9 hole course with a pond and an off the cliff  T-off.


Demolition Permit: Applied for October 2009.

Photo: Taken October 24, 2009 by SW.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Turquoise on a Heritage Street

Little is revealed in the Archive documents about the modest turquoise horizontal clapboard and white stucco house behind the chain link fence at 365 East 9th Street.  There is no listing in the Building Permit book and the first listing in the City Directories is around 1970.  All that is known at that time is that the house was occupied by R.E. Davies. However, the history of its neighbors is a different story.

The City of North Vancouver Heritage Inventory of 1994 includes a total of six heritage homes in the 300 block of East 9th Street.  321 with its second floor balcony and saddle bag dormers and 336 with a porch across the front were both built in 1910. The 348 F. Tarn Residence was designed and built by Frederick Tarn for himself in 1911.  The 345 Chubb Residence was designed and contracted by F. W. Garnett in 1913.  This craftsman style house has articulated eave brackets, notched verge boards and window boxes and exposed rater ends. The 334 K. Stewart Residence was designed by F.J. King and later owned by Mr. Darwin who was a principal at Ridgeway School. The last is the 335 home that was built in 1926.

A neighbor reported that he thought two or three homes would be built on the lot at the corner of 365 East 9th Street and Ridgeway Avenue.  The homes will be facing Ridgeway Avenue and the playground of Ridgeway Elementary School.  The school is now undergoing seismic upgrading. 

Demolition Application: Applied for October 2009.

Photo: Taken October 24, 2009 by SW.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The James' Residence

The house at 891 Leovista Avenue is truly the James' Residence. D. A. James built the house for $8500 in 1951.  Nine years later, in 1960, he built a $2500 addition.  For both jobs the builders were Bridgeman and Williams.  In 1955 Doug was working as an adjuster for Turner Meredith  and Co., and he and his wife Norma were living in the house.  In 1960 Doug and Norma still lived  at 891 and he was the casualty manager for Underwriters Adjustment Burrard.  Ten years later, in 1970, the D. in D. James was David and he was a student.  After another 10 years, in 1980, only Norma James was listed at the Leovista Avenue James' Residence. So, after building the house a member of the James family lived there at least for 29 years.

Leovista Avenue  continues to be a desirable place to live.  It is north of and convenient to Edgemont Village and just off Highlands Blvd, west of Mosquito Creek.  The new house being built at 891 Leovista by Noort Homes will be considerably larger than the James' Residence.  It will be 5487 square feet with four bedrooms, a den and four full bathrooms. Perhaps the new owners will enjoy the quiet and convenient location for 29 years as well. 

Link: http://www.noorthomes.com/index.cfm?method=residential.list&cityid=FB3FE305-36CC-4E4B-B486-22A7CCBDE26D
Demolition Permit: Applied for October 2009.
Photo: Taken October 24, 2009 by SW.

Monday, January 25, 2010
"Where did all the gas stations go?"

Three, count them 1, 2, 3. Three gas stations have been closed in North Vancouver in the last four months of the year 2009. The Shell Station on the corner of East 13th and Lonsdale Avenue in the City of North Vancouver closed first, in September 2009. The Esso Station on the corner of West 3rd Street and Chesterfield Ave. also in the City of North Vancouver and the Petro Canada Station on the corner of Queens Road and Woodbine Avenue in North Vancouver District closed soon after.


The Shell Station has all ready been demolished. And following an environmental impact study the Esso Station will also be demolished. Both City lots will be sold for development. The Esso Station will be remembered for its Car Wash facility. It was the only car wash in North Vancouver where customers could put coins in a slot and use a wand to wash the car themselves.


The Petro-Can Station at 3015 Woodbine Drive is the gas station in the photo above. The sign in the photo says "Temporarily Closed", however, Celia at the Petro-Canada office in Alberta states the gas station will be demolished and the property sold for development. That is three for three.

Photo: Taken Fall 2009 by SW.
Demolition: All three demolished in 2010.

Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sunday Church Feature
St. Andrew's United Church

St. Andrew's United Church at 1044 St. George's Avenue in the City of North Vancouver was built in 1912.  The architects were Alexander and Brown.  However, the first St. Andrew's, which at that time was a Presbyterian Church, was located on East 6th Street facing Victoria Park and built in 1904.  The "new" church built in 1912 is the one we see today, a shingle-clad adaptation in the Gothic Revival style.


In 1925 the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregational Churches in Canada joined together to form the United Church of Canada.  The following year, 1926,  two churches in North Vancouver, Sixth Street Methodist at the south west corner of St. Georges Avenue which has opened in 1910, and St. Andrew's Presbyterian joined to form St. Andrew's United Church.   At the time of the union, St. Andrew's had a membership of 340 and the value of its property was $19,000.  Sixth Street Methodist had a membership of 140 and the value of its property was  $7,050. 

In the early 1970's there was some talk of the St. Andrew's United Church  being demolished and an apartment building being built on the site.  The church would continue at that address, but in the street floor of the new building.  This idea was never carried out.

Directly behind the church and across the lane to the north is the St. Andrew's United Education Centre. Here over the years many programs have been provided for the community. In the 1970's there was the Margaret Fulton Centre, an adult day care to give a daytime break to adult children caring for senior parents that benefited from supervision.  To the east of the Church Hall is St. Andrew's Park, a children's park where in recent years an annual Teddy Bear's Picnic has been held. From the front steps of the church you can look down St. George's Avenue right to the blue waters of Burrard Inlet.


Today the inspiring church spire of St. Andrew's continues to act as a witness to the Christian Community in North Vancouver. 

Book: Heritage Inventory, City of North Vancouver 1994.
Reference: St. Andrew's United Church, North Vancouver, 1925-1975 a history by J.S. Terry. 
                 Available at the North Vancouver City Library.

Photo: Taken March 2002 by SW.

Saturday Travel Feature

San Francisco Cathedral

The Cathedral Hill Hotel entertained its last guest October 31, 2009.  This 44 year old San Francisco hotel opened its doors in April 1960 as the Jack Tar Hotel.  It remained under that name for 22 years. The 12 story hotel  on Van Ness at Geary just off Union Square included 400 rooms, a mezzanine ballroom, and a fourth floor outdoor pool and plaza that could be rented for weddings. At one time it had a rooftop skating rink.   As the Jack Tar it was painted pink and turquoise and then as the Cathedral Hill Hotel painted beige. Some called the hotel's modern architecture "ugly".  It was even nicknamed "The Ralston Checkerboard Square" and  "the box that Disneyland came in".  The hotel was  San Francisco's first  with air conditioning.  It also boasted an indoor parking garage, a rarity in San Francisco.  The Jack Tar name remained part of the Cathedral Hill Hotel in the naming of  the Jack Tar Bar and Grill.  

"Jack Tar was a common English term used to refer to seamen of the Merchant or Royal Navy,  particularly during the period of the British Empire.  Both members of the public and seafarers themselves made use of the name in identifying those who went to sea. It was not used as an offensive term and seafarers were happy to use the term to label themselves." Wikipedia.

The Cathedral Hotel will be demolished and the California Pacific Medical Center will be built.  The 555 room hospital is expected to be ready for occupancy in 2015.  A glass and steel design is planned. 

Resource: The San Francisco Gate Newspaper 

Photo: Downloaded from www.hotels.com 

Link:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Tar