Three in Three Days

It has been a busy couple of days for the excavators near where I live. On May 22, this garage and house came down.  I was chagrined to find out that I did not have a photo of the front of the house; it is just 1 block away and I walked by it so often. The house was built in 1948 on this narrow corner lot bordering Crown Street. If you wish to see the front of this cute and well-cared for house, there is an image from August 2011 on Google Streetview, 3996 West 31st Avenue.

Three blocks north on Crown Street sat this house that had undergone a raising and a renovation. It was on a 50 foot lot and was torn down the next day, May 23.  This wintery photo is from February 29, 2012, and the following photo shows the house's last springtime.  4492 Crown Street.

 

About one block away, at 4078 West 28th Avenue sat this house, one of the typical 1950's bungalows that are fast disappearing.  This was torn down May 24 or 25. I did a blog in March 2011 about this block of West 28th, where 5 houses got sold in quick succession. This is the third one of those to be torn down.

 

On West 19th Avenue

This modest stucco was built in 1962, perhaps a replacement for a 1920's house. Prior to being demolished in April 2013, it stood east of Dunbar at 3478 West 19th Avenue.

A Lovely Home--Gone

Apologies for this sun-spotted photo, but it is my best photo for this large fine-looking house that I assumed would not be torn down.  There were signs of a possible demolition, but I assumed the protective fencing for the trees must be for the construction of a laneway house or maybe for a renovation.  However, I was wrong: this house at 4028 West 34th Avenue was torn down in early April 2013.

A Little House Built in 1915

This blog began with a house built before 1918.  It was situated at the back of the lot like many houses built before 1922 because they were built before the current regulations.  Here is another of those houses, renovated over the years, this one built in 1915. Do we value these older non-conforming houses enough to retain at least a few of them?

Unfortunately, I did not get a photo until April 22, when the red fencing had already been set up.

When it was demolished on May 6, a neighbour made and edited a video and has offered a link to it:

http://youtu.be/GtrAfqIhE6Q 

A Corner Lot on West 24th Avenue

Builders like corner lots because there is the opportunity to design houses that take advantage of the additional light.  When this house was built, probably in the 30's or 40's, the design of the house was focused at the front only, just as it would have been if it had been situated in the middle of the block.  However, the residents took advantage of the corner plot to have two gates into their fairly private front yard.  That privacy made it difficult to get a photo of the entire house.  Note the stone used for the chimney, stonework that is now imitated in houses built during this decade of the 21st century in Vancouver.

Someone living near this house informed me that it was demolished on April 27, 2013.  The house stood at 3906 West 24th Avenue.