East of Dunbar Street

This large Dunbar character house used to be at 3538 West 18th Avenue, but it was torn down in April.

Dunbar Really Is Disappearing!

Photography by J. Evan Kreider

Are we oblivious as to how many character and liveable homes are disappearing in the Dunbar area of Vancouver, ending up in the landfill?

At Last--An Appropriate Demolition!

When I began this blog, I made a mental note to myself to cease adding to the blog when this particular house was demolished because it was one of the very few that definitely deserved to be torn down.  It was vacant for a long time before being put up for sale in January 2011.  It was a tiny cottage with no basement, built in 1937, probably on a low budget and resembled several others on the 4000 blocks of West 32nd Avenue and 31st Avenue, most of which have been torn down or extensively remodeled.  There still is a remarkable example on West 31st Avenue of a similar small cottage, which has been impeccably maintained and landscaped.  All such cottages may not have been created equal, however.  In any case, both the front of this cottage and the back show how far gone and rundown this one had became, certainly not worth saving.

 In June 2011, the garden got rather wild!

The house continued to sit vacant until sometime in 2012 when it was torn down.  Here is a photo of the new construction:

As I stated in the first paragraph, I intended to close down this blog after this entry.  However, because I cannot walk by and overlook the issue of continuing demolitions in my neighbourhood, I am planning to profile more of these sad and unnecessary happenings as time permits.  This is not the LAST one!

On My Block

A large house has been built on my block.  It replaced a house that was torn down prior to the beginning of this blog, but I received a photo of the original house from a Dunbar resident who shared my concern about demolitions. According to the neighbours, the house was in good condition and had undergone remodeling. In preparation for the demolition, the lawn was not mowed in 2010; by June it looked like this:

 

At our 2010 Canada Day block party, Sonny, the miniature horse living a few blocks away, came to visit and enjoyed grazing on the meadow. 

In 2011, a large house was completed, and someone may have lived there, at least intermittently. The new house dwarfs its older neighbours, casting more shade than the original 1950's one-story houses. This adversely affects a next-door neighbour's long-standing vegetable garden. Currently the 6 1/2 bathroom house is for sale for nearly five million dollars, by far the most pricey house on this block, where veggies grow on some of the boulevards and front yards. Will anyone ever live in this house and come to the next Canada Day block party?