Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Moved Not Demolished


If you look at the far left on the front wall of the building, you can see an address, 111 West 22nd Street, that is in the City of North Vancouver. However, if you pull back and see where the building actually is, you will not see West 22nd Street, you will see Shavington St., also in the City of North Vancouver. How does this large portable school building happen to be somewhere other than the address mounted on its front wall?


This portable school building was originally at 111 West 22nd Street. It was a actually used to augment the space for Lonsdale Elementary School at 2151 Lonsdale Avenue and placed behind the school to the west with its long wall, and hence address, on West 22nd Street. Lonsdale Elementary was closed in 2005 and has since been demolished. Luckily, the portable didn't suffer the same fate.


In the summer of 2009 the 111 West 22nd Street portable was moved to the east, to the old playing field, of the old Cloverley Elementary School at 440 Hendry Avenue. The photo was taken soon after the move, at the beginning of the refitting of Cloverley School building to serve a new school population. And the new school was not going to be Cloverley. Cloverley Elementary School was closed in the early 1980's because of low enrollment. The students coming to the new school were actually from a very old school, Ridgeway Elementary School. The original Ridgeway Elementary School built in 1911-1912 with additions in 1926 at 420 East 8th Street was having a seismic upgrading. For the two years that the process would take, the students would attend the old Cloverley Elementary School. However, since the building was not quite large enough, the portable from the old Lonsdale Elementary School was moved to the playing field to house the additional student.


When the Ridgeway Elementary School students leave in 2011, another school population will move into the old Cloverley Elementary School building. This time it will be the students from Queen Mary Elementary School, built 1914-1915 at 230 West Keith Road in the City of North Vancouver. Again, this school will be closed for two years while it undergoes seismic upgrading. 


Photo: Taken September 11, 2009 by SW.
Book: Heritage Inventory, City of North Vancouver 1994.

Monday, January 11, 2010Start the Demolition


Mahon Avenue is two streets to the west and parallel to Lonsdale Avenue, the main drag of the City of North Vancouver. It runs from Esplanade on the south and into the District of North Vancouver up as far as Braemar Elementary School. Edward Mahon (some pronounce it "mohn") was "a prime figure in the North Vancouver Land and Improvement Company" which also owned the Capilano Suspension Bridge from 1910 to 1935.  The avenue and a park are named in his honor.


J. F. Leighton built the initial house at 1920 Mahon Avenue for $2775. In 1935 he added a $50 garage. In 1938 he added a $250 dairy. And in 1940 J.S. Leighton did a $100 house alteration. The white stucco house looks like it was built originally as a box with additions of side and front structures, a punch out front window and upstairs dormers.


There are several listings of John Leighton being a dairyman. He received a building permit to add a dairy to the Mahon Avenue house in 1938. The 1925 City Directory lists him as a dairyman living at 264 West 19th Street. West 19th and Mahon Ave. is the site of the 1920 Mahon Ave. house. And at the North Vancouver Archives there is a photo of Wagg Park on West 19th Street being the site of the Leighton dairy.


A Permit for Demolition from the City of North Vancouver was applied for in August of 2009.


Photo: Taken  August 27, 2009 by SW.
Quote from: "The Ambitious City, A History of the City of North Vancouver",
                            by Warren Sommer.

Sunday, January 10, 2010Sunday Church Feature

Jehovah Witness's on Philips

Around the corner from St. Richard's Anglican Church (see Blog January 3, 2010) is the Tomahawk Restaurant. But this building qualifies for the Blog Sunday Church Feature because it was built as a Jehovah's Witness Church. It was built in 1956 for $6500. If you sit at one of the tables at the Tomahawk and look at the bones of the building, you can imagine a church congregation sitting there. The room is a long rectangle which would facilitate a center aisle bordered by rows of seating.The ceiling is pointed and there are lines of small windows at the tops of the side walls. The partition at one end, blocking off part of the kitchen even looks like it could have been the backdrop for an alter. However, the native wall mural, paddles and artifacts remind you that you are indeed in the Tomahawk Restaurant.


Before the Jehovah Witness Church moved into the 1550 Philip Ave. building, services were held across the street in one of the store fronts in the Norgate Shopping Center. The Tomahawk BBQ started in 1926 on the north side of Marine Drive at Mackay Road.  Then it moved to the shopping center.  At this time it was a drive-in. It was in 1962 that the Jehovah Witness congregation moved out and Chick Chamberlain brought his Tomahawk Restaurant to the building on Philips Ave. He modified the building with a $1000 addition.


Photo: Taken in 2009 by SW.
Books: City of North Vancouver Heritage Inventory 1994.

Saturday Travel Feature
Catalina Casino

"26 miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is waiting for me, the island of romance" (the song recorded by The Four Preps in 1958) and the gorgeous Art Deco Catalina Casino. The casino was built on Sugarloaf Point in 1928 by Wrigley, of Wrigley chewing gum fame. It replaced a 12 story dance hall on the same site, appropriately named Sugarloaf Casino. "The lower level of the Casino houses the Avalon Theater. The upper level houses the world's largest circular ballroom with a 180-foot (55 m) diameter dance floor. French doors encircle the room, and balcony views are spectacular." Wikipedia. Today, the Catalina Casino is open for tours.


Catalina Island itself is 22 miles long and 8 miles wide. "The total population as of the 2000 census was 3,696 persons, with almost 85 percent living in its only city of Avalon ." Wikipedia. "The use of motor vehicles on the island is restricted; there is limit on the number of registered cars, which translates into a 10-year-long wait list to bring a car to the island. Most residents move around via golf cart." Wikipedia. Crossing the actual 22 miles of Pacific Ocean to get to the Island itself is by Cruise Ship, the "MARINA FLYER", a high-speed 149 passenger catamaran making the crossing to Avalon in about 1 hour 30 , or to fly to the Island "Airport in the Sky".


The first person to swim to Catalina Island was George Young. He won the Wrigley Ocean Marathon swim across the Catalina Channel in 15 hours, 44 minutes, and 30 seconds on January 15, 1927.


Besides the Casino, the Island also boasts California's first permanent desalination plant which opened in 1991.


Photo: Taken May 2007 by SW.

Friday, January 8, 2010
$125,000 Buys Ruthina

This 1956 home is in the Canyon Heights area of the District of North Vancouver. 1089 Ruthina Avenue is off Montroyal Blvd., just east of Capilano Road. A bit farther north on Capilano Road and you will be at Grouse Mountain Gondola, ready to go up for a day's skiing. Because of its proximity, some home owners in the area call Grouse Mountain "their mountain".


The house was built by H. D. Evens, but the following year R.D. Thomas put on an addition for $600. This brought the total value of this home to a whopping $131,000. The house that will be built on this lot today has not yet been priced, but similar houses in the area by the same builder are  listed at over $1,000,000. What would Mr. Evens or Mr. Thomas thought of that.


The house planned for the site will be built by Noort Homes, builder of numerous home throughout the lower mainland and Vancouver Island since 1960. The Ruthina Place home will be 4937 sq. ft. with 6 bedrooms, 1 den, 5 full bathrooms, a rec room, and a media room. Maybe Mr. Evens and Mr. Thomas wouldn't be surprised at the planned price tag. Look at the Noort Homes website for a complete building plan.


A North Vancouver District Permit for Demolition of 1089 Ruthina Avenue was applied for in September, 2009.


Photo: Taken October 4, 2009 by SW.

Link: http://www.noorthomes.com/

Thursday, January 7, 2010
104 Fires in the City

The Villa St. Georges Apartment Building at 1033 St. Georges Avenue was built of red brick and white stucco and stands on the south west corner of St. Georges and East 11th Street. It is across the street from St. Andrew's United Church. Other apartment buildings in the area have equally romantic names. On St. Georges Avenue are The Royal St. George and St. Georges Place. On the adjacent 11th Street are The Spanish Villa and the Royal Villa.

The Villa St. George was severely damaged by fire January 2009. 35 people lived in the self owned apartments of this wood framed building. The fire gutted the top floor of the three storeys. One tenant was killed, "two firefighters injured and at least five residents as well as three police officers were treated for smoke inhalation." CBC website. Sandy Miller, the Assistant Chief-Prevention, North Vancouver City Fire Department reports that this same year 104 fires in the City of North Vancouver were reported to the Office of the Fire Commissioner in Victoria.

Fires have destroyed other prominent buildings in the City of North Vancouver. Paine's Hardware, in the Aberdeen Block at 78-90 Lonsdale Avenue was built in 1910-1911. Until the fire on New Year's Eve 1997 it maintained its old fashion charm and stock. It has been rebuilt as an apartment building with stores on the street floor. The Barraclough Block at 201-203 Lonsdale Avenue was built in 1929 with a second floor being added in 1940. When it burned, also in 1997, it was housing the popular Great Outdoor Equipment Ltd. It has been rebuilt in the same style with a modern two storey apartment building on top. The street floor store is now RDS Skate and Snow Supply with a floor of apartments above.

A Permit for Demolition of 1033 St. Georges Ave. was applied for in November 2, 2009.  It was demolished by December 2, 2009.  A new 54 unit apartment building built on the original foundation is proposed.

Photo: Taken September 12, 2009 by SW.
Books: The Ambitious City, A History of the City of North Vancouver
             by Warren Sommer.

            Heritage Inventory, City of North Vancouver, 1994.
Web site:The History of Metropolitan Vancouver/Chronology/1941.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Upper Mosquito Creek

649 Sylvan Avenue is in the Forest Hills area in the District of North Vancouver. This area is west of Mosquito Creek and south of Montroyal Blvd. Mr. J.N. Smith built the unpretentious house in 1956 for $1200. However, even an unpretentious house can have distinctive features. Of particular note is the wrought iron railing that extends across the front of the house. It has a decorative triple curved design. A similar double curve design trims either side of the top of the roof supports. The view from the front yard is special as well, to the west of the house you can see one of the foot hills of West Vancouver. And in a more recent renovation, two skylights brighten the rooms on the right side of the house.


One area resident reported that many of the homes in this area were built on fill. Now that the fill has settled, cracks have formed in the foundations. For that reason when extensive renovations are desired, new foundations, and therefore, new houses seem to be the best plan.


A Permit for Demolition to the District of North Vancouver was applied for in August of 2009.


Photo: Taken August 27, 2009.