West 23rd and West 24th

This house was built in 1979, likely already a replacement for an earlier house. It looks attractive, with the large south-facing window, but it was sold in February 2012 and torn down in December 2013 or January 2014. The address: 3575 West 23rd Avenue.

A few houses away stood this 1929 original, a well-loved home. It was torn down in March or April 2014.

 Over on West 24th Avenue, this red house at 3475 stood across from the Lord Kitchener Elementary School. It was torn down in February 2014. Vancouver Vanishes listed this home as being built in 1932.

On the 3800 block of West 24th Avenue, so many houses in a row have been torn down and given new numbers that I have become totally confused. What I do know is that the "sort of" Vancouver Special shown partially on the left side of the photo is no longer there. As of February 28, there was new construction that appeared to be on that site. Sorry for the cropped view of this  house, but is it all my fault that I lost track of the demolitions on this block? I am going to assume that the address was 3851 West 24th Avenue.

Reuse, Recycle, and Replant

A concerted effort was made to recycle or reuse many things from this old house and garden. For example, the elderly owner's son worked with neighbours to move the large rhododendron seen at the front of this house before the demolition on April 8 or 9, 2014. In 1960, the rhodo cost $1.99. The view from the back alley shows a flowering cherry, which I do not think was saved.

This typical 1920's or 1930's house stood at 3564 West 28th Avenue, and according to the son, it had quite a few structural problems, so demolition was not a bad solution.

Missed These Ones

Because it is difficult to keep up with the demolitions in my self-assigned region, I am thankful for the assistance of residents of Dunbar who alert me to upcoming demolitions. But it doesn't always work. By the time I got around to taking a photo of 3941 West 18th Avenue, it had already been demolished; construction was underway in October 2011. This was a typical 1930 house, but it had been renovated. Here is a link to photos:

Realtor's link  

This is another one that I missed. It was demolished on January 10, 2014, but I never got a photo of the house. It was high on the hill, and even on Google Street View, there is little to see of the house. However, you can see a bit of the house on the Vancouver Vanishes Facebook entry of March 14.

The property at 3881 West 39th Avenue sold for way over $2 million in May 2012.

PS of November 2014: a reader of this blog sent me a Google streetview from 2009: