Changing Dunbar

At my Changing Aging exercise class at the Dunbar Community Centre this morning, I looked out the window and saw the shovel of an excavator hovering over the trees to the east. Another demolition? A classmate said that there was a second demolition a block south. So...I took the long way home to check out these demos. Both houses must have been demolished on Monday or Tuesday, November 21 or 22. This typical 1945 house was on the corner of 33rd Avenue and Dunbar Street:

The rear of the house appears to have had two add-ons plus the deck.

The second house was at 3587 West 32nd, just east from the corner where the house at 3593 West 32nd was demolished in January 2016, and the empty lot is still there. The lot at 3587 is only 59 feet wide, but surprisingly for its size, it is two legal lots. This unique house was already a replacement house, since it was built in 1975. It was sold in February 2016.

In April, the garden flourished along with a lot of rogue plants.

I am pondering Changing Aging and Changing Dunbar.

Four Houses for Sale on West 31st Avenue

Four houses are for sale in my immediate neighbourhood, three on my block and one in the next block. Each one is a different age. None are selling at the time of this writing. They are good representations of the variety of houses in the Dunbar area.

4085 West 31st is a former demolition, now a luxury home marketed at $7,680,000. To the left of it is a 1950's home (similar to the original 4085), marketed at $4,888,000. Both are on 53 feet lots.

Across the street is 4058, built in 1941 and completely remodeled in 2010 and like new inside. Its price has been reduced to $3,499,000. The lot is 33 feet wide.

On the next block is 3942 built in 1990, also on a 33 feet lot. Its price is $3,180,000. (Update November 17: this is now sold.)

What we are missing in this listing is a pre-war original. There is one on 32nd Avenue, built in 1931. The house at 3908 was listed for $2,450,000 and sold fairly promptly within the last month.

Of these 5 houses, which ones will be "tear-downs"? Which ones will be rentals? Which ones will be occupied? Which ones will be second homes? Which ones will be re-sold? Those are the current questions in the Dunbar area as the leaves continue to fall.

Family Home Gone

To the left of this character house, there is a new build. That is the space where a 97-year-old Heritage B house was moved to Vancouver Island in 2012. You can see more information on that here.

This house was built in 1930, sold in May 2015, and demolished in October 2016. Note the pogo stick on the porch. The house and garage were assessed at $212,000, so it must have been a comfortable family home. Will it be replaced by something similar to the house on the left?