Fabulous Pre Fab

When I think of the people who originally came to this area and homesteaded I tend to think of them slaving for hours as they cleared the land, planted crops and built homes. Those pioneers of yesteryear had to have been so handy; natural born carpenters the whole lot of them. I think of my own aptitude with a hammer and realize if it were up to me to build a home I would have frozen to death!

A little research has shown me that perhaps not everyone was as handy with a hammer and nails as I would have thought. For those who didn't have the time or were perhaps building challenged BC Mills Timber and Trading Co. in Vancouver would ship you a prefabricated kit house.

This kit house is on Grant Street and was constructed for Vancouver City Councillor Edward Faraday Odlum. A professor and realtor, Odlum is reputed to have named the neighbourhood Grandview.

This house on East 1st Avenue is Vancouver's only remaining example of BC Mills Design O-O-O. It is one of the larger and more elaborate examples of the Town House series.

Vancouver's last example of a BC Mills Church. Built in 1908 this was the Robertson Presbyterian Church until 1977. Then it became a Fijian Hindu temple and cultural centre.

The Shiv Mandir Shree Sanatan Dharm Ramayan Mandali of Fiji had a congregation of 600 and many of the parishioners could trace their roots back to Fiji.

The church is now deserted and plans are to incorporate the heritage building into a multiple conversion dwelling.

This last home I am showing you is on Adanac and is listed on the Heritage Register. It is an example of BC Mills Design L-L-L.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, BC Mills Timber and Trading Co., kit homes, Edward Faraday Odlum, Grandview, British Columbia

Strange Stories and Broadway

These are 630 and 636 East Broadway. Both homes were  built in 1908.

The first resident in 630 was Robert Welsh's widow Christina. A mariner by the name of Robert C. Melon occupied 636 first.

I am going to tell you more strange and wonderful stories about Vancouver and just to give credit where credit is due I am getting this information from The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website. The info on the buildings is from Bob_2006's Photostream on Flickr.

The current address of this building is 163 West Broadway but when it was built in 1907 it was 143 Ninth Avenue.

If you have ever been in Stanley Park you may have noticed the numerous grey squirrels running around. All of those furry little creatures are descendants of eight pairs of squirrels brought from New York City in 1909.

A Leslie W. Richmond is the first resident listed for this address and that record appears for 1908. Richmond worked as a clothier at the Belfast Clothing Store at 42 West Cordova Street.

A young English actor by the name of William Pratt stopped for awhile in Vancouver in 1910. Pratt worked as a carpenter on what was to become the PNE before going onto Hollywood where he became known as Boris Karloff.

Two years later an English revue company by the name of Karno's Comedians performed in Vancouver. Among the cast were  Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel.

In 1910 there was a neighbourhood formed in Vancouver that got its name from the Interurban train stop there, Cedar Cottage\. The stop was named for the Cedar Cottage Brewery.

There were a group of Vancouver businessmen who wanted to build a dam across the Second Narrows. The dam would have been 15-metres high. The only problem with that was that it would have flooded Port Moody and, naturally, the residents of that town protested. Successfully too since there is no dam and Port Moody still exists.

Marie Lloyd was an English music hall performer who wanted to visit Vancouver in 1914 but the mayor banned her from appearing. The disgraceful performer actually had the gall to raise her floor length gown two inches to show her ankles during her performance. How dare she!

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Boris Karloff, Charlie Chapliin, William Pratt, Broadway, British Columbia

Bakeries and Stories

This building at the corner of Victoria Drive and William Street doesn't look like a lot and believe me it looked worse before the renovations started.

When the workers removed the stucco from the side of the building there was a unique addition found.

This sign dates back to the 1920s. Shelly's 4X Bakery Products was a Vancouver business that is now history.

William Curtis Shelly was born in Ontario in 1878 and moved to Vancouver in 1910 in order to expand his bakery business. The name apparently comes from the fact that Shelly started his business with a little more than forty dollars to his name.

Shelly's was around along. By 1929 records show that the bakery was part of Canadian Bakeries and had various locations around the city. A 1940 directory shows that a Shelly, Wm C. resided at 1563 Williams Street. Shelly died in 1951.

This is Washington Court at 998 Thurlow Street. It was built in 1910.

In 1895 Burnaby had to hire some police.. They needed someone to control the rowdies, let owners know that swine was running loose and enforce the wide tire bylaw for wagons. The salary was $2 a day and he was dismissed due to lack of funds two years later.

Our city's first CPR building was a tiny structure. It was moved from the north end of Howe Street to 10 Heatley Street in 1899. A CPR worker by the name of William Alberts had been injured on the job and he was allowed to move in and live rent free for the rest of his life. He resided there for fifty years.

It snowed in South Vancouver. On June 23, 1901.

In 1903 W.S. Holland shot and killed a timber wolf. It was at the corner of Burnaby and Cardero Streets.

The first auto club race around Stanley Park was held in 1905. There were eleven cars that started this race and only five completed it. All five vehicles were made by Oldsmobile.

Jeff  'the Boxing Kangaroo' delighted audiences at the Pantages Theatre in 1908. This is a bittersweet note because the last time I was in that area I noticed that the theatre has now been torn down. There went the last vaudeville house in Canada.

Victor McLaglen was an Oscar winning movie actor. But in 1909 McLaglen fought an exhibition fight in Vancouver with world heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Shelly's 4X Bakery Products, Victor McLaglen, Jeff the Boxing Kangaroo, Pantages Theatre, British Columbia