Description du lieu patrimonial

The Grant Residence, located along West 8th Avenue in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, is a two and one half-storey with full basement, Edwardian-era residence, distinguished by its flared gabled form and full-width porch.

Valeur patrimoniale

The Grant Residence was built in 1904 and is valued for its connection with the early, pre-World War One growth, development, and on-going evolution of the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, and for its Edwardian-era Gabled Vernacular architecture.

The Grant Residence is located within the Fairview neighbourhood, which was so named in 1887 by the Canadian Pacific Railway's Lauchlan Hamilton, who was surveying the future community and was struck by the hillside views of the downtown peninsula and of the North Shore mountains. Development of Fairview began in the 1890s, after the completion of the Granville Street Bridge (1889), the Cambie Street Bridge (1891) and the new Fairview Beltline streetcar (1891). In addition to its spectacular views, the centrally located neighbourhood offered convenient access to downtown, attracting many new residents during the early 1900s. As the industries forming along the shores of False Creek continued to grow through the 1910s, more modest housing was constructed in this area and, by the height of the pre-war construction boom in 1912, most lots in Fairview boasted single-family houses. Constructed for Russell J. Grant, a clerk who lived in the house through 1908, the house was subsequently owned and occupied by numerous working professionals who typically stayed for one to two years at a time. Following the war, the need for housing in Vancouver increased significantly. In 1929 this house, like many others across the city, was converted to a rooming house operated by a woman, in this case, Beatrice Wood. The Grant Residence is valued as one of the earliest remaining houses in the neighbourhood and as a rare surviving example of a grouping of original housing stock in the area, which also exemplifies the evolution of the neighbourhood.

The Grant Residence is also valued for its Edwardian-era Gabled Vernacular architectural style, which is distinguishable by its symmetrical proportions and wooden materials. Constructed by prolific local contractors Purdy & Lonergan, known for their prestigious clients and high quality work in posh areas of the city, including First Shaughnessy, the Grant Residence is a good example of classic residential Edwardian architecture. The Grant Residence is characterized by its frontgabled roof structure with hipped skirt, bay windows, full-width verandah, and its thin, two and one-half storey profile. In addition to its pleasing Edwardian aesthetic, the prominence of the house is enhanced by its height and its position on a corner hilltop lot allowing occupants to take advantage of the expansive views to the north.

Éléments caractéristiques

The elements that define the heritage character of the Grant Residence are its:

- location on a corner lot along West 8th Avenue in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver;
- continuous residential use;
- main floor set at grade at the front;
- residential form, scale, and massing as expressed by its two and one-half storey height with rectangular plan, front-gabled roof with hipped skirt, bays on the front and west elevations, and full-with open verandah on the front elevation;
- wood-frame construction, featuring a variety of cladding materials, including decorative cedar shingles on the second level of each elevation, as well as lapped siding across the main level;
- gabbled vernacular architectural details including: closed soffits, fish scale shingles in the upper gable, bay windows, bellyband, and front verandah featuring rounded wooden columns with square capitals, closed balustrade, tongue-and-groove wooden floor, and wooden steps;
- wooden window assemblies, including double-hung assemblies and casement examples some featuring stained glass or multiple panes, arranged in a diamond or rectangular pattern, with projecting sills;
- wooden paneled front door assembly featuring central light; and
- internal chimney.