1386 Thurlow St

Built in 1911, the house at 1386 Thurlow Street is significant primarily for its cultural and aesthetic values, and particularly important as a rare surviving example of original single-family residential development of Vancouver’s West End (similar to 1390 Thurlow St).

The property on which the house stands is of cultural significance for its typical early speculative ownership pattern by owners of British ancestry in advance of the house construction, as part of the formation of a middle class British enclave in Vancouver.

The break-up of the single-family house into apartments in the 1940s is an important record of the conscious decision by the civic government to allow for the subdivision of houses in the West End.

As a multiple dwelling, the house records the need for a significant increase in affordable apartments in the city as a result of the population shifts during the Second World War, and the tight financial constraints faced by the population at the time.

The house is a good example of the Craftsman bungalow design, a style prevalent at the time, and well-suited to the geography and climate of the West Coast.

Source

Canada’s Historic Places

More information

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=10666