Whose History Anyway? Staycation Planning Lesson #3
This historical home (pictured above) is for sale in my staycation neighbourhood. It makes me ache because it will, no doubt, be demolished and replaced by a home twice its size.
It is one of the few houses in this area that feels like it carries some of Vancouver's more everyday, post-colonial heritage. It has a farmhouse feel, vernacular, somewhat modest and with a flat, austere back entranceway.
It reflects to me an important time in Vancouver's history - when homes like this were being built in newly emerging neighbourhoods. It is especially interesting to me because it doesn't reflect the often imitated 'craftsman style' which seems to be the most popular type of single family home on heritage lists. Buildings like this more simple, austere and no doubt working homes rarely make the lists.
The house is built on the flat part of the Arbutus Ridge area, what was once a swamp land. It is also next to Valley Drive, the first 'road' through the area that was built as a logging route. If it were protected, it could be an interesting example of one layer of the neighbourhood's history.
Looking at the heritage inventory, there are only two homes on the heritage register in this area of Vancouver, two homes between 16th Ave and 35th Ave, and Blenheim to Arbutus - almost a perfectly square 20-block span (https://www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org/map/). It appears my temporary home is in a neighbourhood that both density and time forgot.
I love reading the history of places through the built form, especially areas that show a complexity in building form and design. It is interesting to see a variety of architecture and placemaking, to get a sense of the layers of history.
This, of course, always privileges built form over land use that doesn't involve permanent structures. From a reconciliation perspective, these buildings don't do much to recognize the pre-colonial history of Vancouver. But, what I also find is interesting, is they do reflect a history of displacement, relocation and attempted genocide.
This part of Vancouver would not have been a lot of use to the original people who lived here, given that it was originally swamp land. But nearby, on the water's edge there were permanent settlements. These settlements were burnt to the ground as the First Nation people who lived here were transported to their new reservation lands on the other side of the water in North Vancouver. However, there are no markers, or historical signage, of this history in Vancouver either.
I look at this house as an interesting remnant of post-colonial history. If we lose it, does it really matter? It does. It provides a reflection of the variety of ways people lived in Vancouver, both settlers and Indigenous, in a city where history is being constantly erased and people seem to be constantly displaced.