. At the last monthly meeting of the Grandview Heritage Group, Jak presented his research on an early church in Grandview. The following is a version of that presentation (1). This story began with a mystery. In the 1905 Vancouver City Directory, there are just a few listings for Park Drive, the original name of … Continue reading A Church, Lost and Found
The one-and-a-half storey house at 1761 Grant was built under a $2,250 building permit issued to W.H. Creitz at the beginning of January 1910. By May it was on the market, described as having seven rooms “with every up-to-date convenience built in.” It was “not an ordinary house; come and see it; if you see it, … Continue reading Drugs and Booze: The Rowdy History of 1761 Grant Street
I wrote the following for the Vancouver Heritage Foundation in support of their Grandview Heritage Tour (see below). It has been published today in Spacing, along with photographs. * * * * For scores of generations, the wooded hills of Grandview were prime hunting and trapping land for First Nations. Once the Europeans arrived, Grandview … Continue reading A Very Short History of Grandview
We have today uploaded a new and updated version of the Grandview Database. This version incorporates several hundred new and amended data points since the previous release. Much of this update is based on a thorough review of the 1921 Census reruns which also led to these three articles: Population Distribution in Grandview, Population Growth in Grandview 1911-1921, and … Continue reading Grandview Database v.30
An innovation of the 1921 Canada Census was to ask detailed questions regarding those who rented, how much rent they paid, and how many rooms they occupied. According to the 1921 Census counts, in the core district of Grandview, there were: 4,547 people living in rental accommodation, or 44.27% of the Census population; They were … Continue reading The Rental Market in 1921 Grandview
Further to my previous post about the geographic distribution of population in Grandview in 1921, the following map illustrates the same using the 1911 Census returns (For a description of the block system used to map these results, please see here.): The 1911 Census showed a population count of 7,356 compared to the population in … Continue reading Population Growth in Grandview: 1911-1921
When the suburb of Grandview was first surveyed and laid out for planning, the area within the core boundaries of Clark Drive (west), Hastings Street (north), Nanaimo Street (east), and Broadway (south) was divided into surveyors' blocks, each with a unique legal designation. Grandview, at that time on the very edge of the new Vancouver, … Continue reading Population Distribution in Grandview
At the most recent GHG meeting, I presented some preliminary research on house prices in Grandview from 1918 to 1946. Select graph for a better view. The data is drawn from real estate ads in the "Vancouver Daily World", "Province" and "Sun" newspapers. The data was filtered to include only those ads that (1) related … Continue reading Historical House Prices in Grandview
In the late spring of 1939, as the political situation in Europe darkened and war with Germany became inevitable, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured Canada by train to meet their subjects and bolster the bonds of Empire From small-town whistle stops on the Prairies to bustling cities coast to coast, eager crowds cheered, … Continue reading When the King & Queen of England Came To Grandview
In the summer of 1913, the part of Commercial Drive south of First Avenue was being widened. This expansion took place after a number of major buildings had already been erected on that route since 1910, some of which were in the way of the new road. This inconvenient fact was not allowed to stand … Continue reading Moving A Building On Commercial Drive
Our Centenary House signs project was the subject of an informative article by Naoibh O'Connor of the Vancouver Courier today. We thank her for her interest!
Today — May 5th — is the seventh anniversary of the very first meeting of the Grandview Heritage Group! Modest though we may be, I believe we are all proud of our achievements over this time, including the Grandview Database, the annual Heritage Signs, helping to save the Green House next to the Cultch, advocating, … Continue reading Happy Birthday To Us!
It was another lively meeting last Thursday, with a wide range of topics discussed. After introductions, Eric took us through a 1967 Beaver Kit houses brochure. The brochure loudly proclaimed the use of Zonolite insulation which, today, is the cause of much asbestos distress for those seeking to renovate their older houses; We discussed the … Continue reading Meeting Notes: April 2018
We had another interesting meeting last Thursday. Thanks to our logistics wizard Eric and others we weren't thrown too much by a last minute change of venue. Donato gave an illustrated report on the refurbishment of a heritage fireplace in the oldest house in Grandview; Eric presented some fascinating material on the use of bricks … Continue reading Notes From The March Meeting
In the most recent Changes On The Drive, I reported that the building at 1301 Commercial, which most of us these days know as the Wonderbucks Building, is now for sale after lying empty for more than a year. The building has a fascinating history which I thought I might relate here. The Fraser family … Continue reading The Wonderbucks Building
We had another full house for the meeting yesterday evening, and as usual covered some fascinating topics. We began with a presentation from a group of residents concerned about a proposed 6-storey project in the 1500-block Grant Street (the presentation is covered in more detail here). There were many questions and responses seeking to clarify … Continue reading Notes From February Meeting
Last Thursday we had the first GHG meeting of the year, and we had a very large attendance with several new faces; great to see everyone. As usual the discussions were wide-ranging. We first discussed the demolition of the General Paints building on Venables. This was originally the site of Ayers Paint. Although this is … Continue reading Notes From January Meeting
Tomorrow is Remembrance Day when we celebrate our veterans. It seems an apt time therefore to look at how our newly-painted Legion Hall at 6th & Commercial came to be. The story is told through the pages of our local newspaper, "The Highland Echo". ***** Branch 179 of the Royal Canadian Legion was founded in … Continue reading Building The Legion Hall
Today is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Grandview Woodland Area Council. In the early 1960s, while Commercial Drive was beginning to enjoy a renewed prosperity following the wave of Italian merchants and families into the neighbourhood, there was great concern about the health, welfare and education of children in other areas of … Continue reading GWAC’s 50th Anniversary
I am sure most readers will recall that last month we presented a plaque to Donato Calogero, the owner of 1350 Graveley, the oldest surviving house in Grandview. Donato's family also own the house next door, at 1358 Graveley, and it too has an interesting family history which has now been reported at the Vancouver … Continue reading 1358 Graveley
grandviewheritagegroup.ca 