Clearly, David Banks finds historic photos as fascinating as I do.
He sent an image that reveals dramatically how certain residential streets in the West End – the ones the streetcars went down – transitioned to commercial when property owners built retail space in their front yards (no zoning back then!), incrementally creating the commercial villages we love today and that so well serve the residents from three blocks on either side:
North side of Davie between Thurlow and Bute (map here)
As David notes: “One of the two houses west of the Davie Renovatory is still there, also with a business, likely the reason the house survives”
Storefront houses 1000 block Denman, 1928 and now
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/uploads/r/null/8/5/854281/4252ecbf-7b81-4c5f-99c1-d7b02f1d1061-A09806.jpg
http://g.co/maps/3yhaq
Glad you enjoyed Gordon… I should start a blog 🙂
Not a NIMBY in sight?
Look at that billboard fronting the neighbour’s yard.
Billboard on to yard, on Broadway in 2013 https://www.google.ca/maps/preview#!data=!1m8!1m3!1d3!2d-123.104282!3d49.262996!2m2!1f176!2f92.71!4f54.57!2m9!1e1!2m4!1smFtT_kj4fsg4ijZlw6I5fQ!2e0!9m1!6sBritish+Columbia+7!5m2!1smFtT_kj4fsg4ijZlw6I5fQ!2e0&fid=5
One surviving house is home to Gurkha Kitchen—and it’s well worth checking out! http://tinyurl.com/d6shbql
Does anyone know what year the Davie Street photo at the top was taken?