Description du lieu patrimonial

The LeFeuvre Residence is located in the western lane off the 1800-block of Yew Street in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Valeur patrimoniale

Constructed in 1905, the LeFeuvre Residence is valued for its social and cultural significance as illustrated by its connection with the early growth, development, and ongoing evolution of the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, and for its aethetic significance through its Colonial Revival architecture.

Kitsilano experienced relatively little development until 1905, when the Canadian Pacific Railway leased its trestle across False Creek and its right-of-way along English Bay to the B.C. Electric Railway Company (BCER). The BCER started regular streetcar service to the area that year, spurring the development of a lively community in the area of West 4th Avenue and Yew Street and prompting the construction of houses like the LeFeuvre Residence. In 1909, development in the area was further stimulated by the completion of the second Granville Street Bridge and the establishment of a streetcar line along 4th Avenue. Street after street of high-quality, middle-class housing, mixed with denser multi-family buildings, developed along Kitsilano thoroughfares in just a few short years. This house was one of the early, speculatively constructed residences in Kitsilano. It was built for French immigrant and local real estate developer Phillip LeFeuvre, one half of the Maxwell & LeFeuvre Real Estate Brokers team; he remained in the house through 1910.

By the late 1920s, as the economy recovered following the war, the need for housing increased and multi-family dwellings were constructed across the city, including Kitsilano. In 1928, the Yew Street property was redeveloped to allow construction of The Manoa, a 19-suite apartment building. The development resulted in the new building being constructed in front of the LeFeuvre Residence, which was subsequently turned to face north and moved to the lane, thereby establishing it as an early laneway house. The LeFeuvre Residence is valued as one of the earliest remaining houses in the neighbourhood, and one of the very few to face the lane, which also exemplifies the early and ongoing evolution of the neighbourhood.

The LeFeuvre Residence is also valued as an excellent example of Colonial Revival architecture with a Foursquare plan. Large windows, along with open verandahs and prominent bay windows, provided ample light and views, which would have showcased English Bay, Downtown Vancouver, and the North Shore Mountains in its original location along Yew Street.

Éléments caractéristiques

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

- location off Yew Street, on the lane, in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver;
- continuous residential use since 1905;
- main floor set a half-storey above grade;
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its hipped-roof structure with three hippedroof dormers, and two and one-half storey height with full basement;
- wood-frame construction, with narrow lapped siding across the first storey, with corner boards, and bellcast cedar shingle cladding on the second storey and two dormers;
- features of Colonial Revival architecture including: its closed, flared eaves; carved curved brackets; and bay window on two storeys;
- variety of original wooden-sash and frame windows including double-hung assemblies across all elevations;
- glazed wooden front door with paired glazed sidelights and other wooden doors;
- internal chimney.