The issue of preserving Vancouver’s character homes has taken on a much keener edge since 2003, when the first Heritage House Tour took place in the city.
With the growing pressure of densification and soaring real estate prices, older houses in areas such as Dunbar and Shaughnessy are facing demolition to make way for larger modern homes that don’t always match the character of their respective neighbourhoods.
It’s caused a surge of interest in Vancouver’s heritage homes, driven by activists such as writer Caroline Adderson, who documents the disappearance of these unique buildings on her Facebook page Vancouver Vanishes.
MAP: Demolished character houses in Vancouver
The 15th annual Heritage House Tour further underlines the public interest in the city’s architectural history, with as many as 1,500 people forecast to take the self-guided tour of nine lovingly restored and maintained properties.
“It’s always great to see more people interested in heritage,” says Kathryn Morrow of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, which organizes the fundraising tour.
“That’s a big change in the past couple of years. There seems to be more public support for retaining heritage and telling the city and bylaw makers that it’s important.
“That’s part of the educational part of this event, showcasing what can be done with heritage homes and hopefully encouraging people to retain them.”
This year’s tour takes in a variety of architectural styles, from vernacular to craftsman, storybook and grand Beaux Arts. The latter is represented by the Shannon mansion, once home to sugar magnate BT Rogers. The tour offers the public a first glimpse of a recent restoration of the mansion’s principal rooms. It’s an ideal destination for those seeking the “big, grand, splashy homes, the richest of Vancouver’s history,” Morrow says.
Other homes have a cultural significance, such as the Walter and Mary Lee Chan House, the unofficial headquarters of a grassroots bid to stop freeway construction through Strathcona in the 1960s.
It shows that the pressures of development are hardly a new issue in Vancouver.
“If you go back in the history of Vancouver, there are a number of cases where there is development pressure, city pressure to demolish parts of the city or change parts of the city, and the community rises up and says this is important, this is where we live, we like it how it is,” Morrow says.
“Just where Vancouver is situated, it’s always going to be an issue. There’s not a lot of landmass, so that pressure’s always going to be there.”
But the Strathcona story is particularly inspiring, Morrow adds. “It was just average people who lived there and thought it was important, and [they] effected change.”
Tickets include a guidebook rich in detail about each home and its respective neighbourhood, as well as suggestions for bathroom breaks and lunch stops during the day. If you want to leave the car at home, limited bus tickets are available for $100, allowing a 20-30 minute stop at each home.
• The Heritage House Tour takes place Sunday, June 4 from 10am-5pm. $40/$30. vancouverheritagefoundation.org
