The Davis houses on West 10th Avenue, Vancouver.Courtesy the Davis family/Courtesy the Davis family
Since 1973, John Davis has been working on the restoration of a collection of brightly coloured heritage houses on West 10th Avenue, in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. The eye-catching project, undertaken by his mother, father and brother in the early years, became a landmark for anyone who walked along the leafy street west of Main Street, in the block between Columbia and Manitoba streets.
They bought up eight houses in total, restoring them to their Victorian and Edwardian glory, painting them the bright jewel colours, becoming Vancouver’s version of San Francisco’s famous “painted ladies.” All the houses have heritage plaques. Inside Mr. Davis’s house is a wall of framed heritage awards. But theirs was a labour of love, a passion that took a lot of expense, without any government subsidy or tax breaks, and a ton of work. The eight houses were purchased through mortgages, divided up into suites to cover the payments, and four were sold off. Today, the Davis brothers own four houses that have 15 spacious rental suites.
But the city has changed, and although it’s considered one of the most beautiful pockets of Vancouver, these side streets south of Broadway are within the higher-density makeover that is the city’s Broadway Plan. Signs for the development of towers are going up all around the Davis family houses. For Mr. Davis, the last straw was the proposal for an 18-storey tower at 121 to 129 West 11th Avenue, to the rear of his properties.
“The fact that the city would even contemplate a tower like that back there is just a signal to us that it’s time to move on,” said Mr. Davis.
“I have no problem with towers all along Broadway … but I would never imagine a tower on these streets.”
John Davis says the last straw was the proposal for an 18-storey tower at 121 to 129 West 11th Avenue, to the rear of his properties.Kerry Gold/The Globe and Mail
And so, the time has come. After 52 years, they have decided to sell their four houses at 140 to 150 West 10th Ave., as a single listing, for $13.8-million. They are selling them as a grouping because there is an easement on one of the properties that makes it tricky to sell, and it could also take longer to sell them individually.
“I’m 77. My brother’s 75, and we’re still working like idiots,” said Mr. Davis, seated in his living room, which is Arts and Crafts perfection. “We never go anywhere except Home Depot.”
The Davis family’s retreat is the end of a 52-year passion that belongs to an earlier Vancouver, one that had embraced its historic turn-of-the-century buildings and sought to protect them against encroaching development.
Realtor Christian Chiappetta is marketing the houses for their proximity to the Broadway-City Hall subway station and the upcoming Mount Pleasant station. They fall within the city’s Broadway Plan policy, which allows two high-rise towers per block, and the provincial government’s transit-oriented area, which mandates towers within 800 metres of a transit hub. Mr. Chiappetta said that a developer owner could apply to transfer that density to another property.
“Certainly, some creative folks have come out of the woodwork for it so far, mostly with questions and enthusiasm,” said Mr. Chiappetta in an e-mail. “Of course, I cannot speak for the Davis [brothers], but I sure would like to see the property stay the way it is and not change at all. But being Vancouver, I can see how that is unrealistic.”
Mr. Davis’s hope is that if the buyer wants to redevelop, they do townhouses – not a tower – to the rear of the property, where there are converted barns and garages.
“It’s sad. It’s like one of the foot soldiers has just given up and gone home,” said Robert McNutt, an antiques collector and resident and manager of the historic Wenonah Apartments at West 11th and Main.
“The Davis family were hard workers, and I absolutely love what they did. They worked hard and they gave us something really beautiful,” said Mr. McNutt.
Although residents are expected to recycle and reuse, there is little appetite for heritage homes, and antiques and salvaging, said Mr. McNutt. New building codes continue to thwart efforts to restore and preserve the old buildings, with perfectly good wood features such as windows being replaced with vinyl.
“I find it very depressing. I think I might be the only one that really cares. I’m close to giving up,” said Mr. McNutt, who has spent 30 years restoring vintage light fixtures, hardware and stained-glass windows. “At first, I thought the Broadway Plan would be a good thing. I thought it would clean up Broadway. But Broadway is now all the way up to 16th,” he says of the Broadway Plan, which covers 1st Avenue to 16th Avenue, and Clark Drive to Vine Street. The area includes a significant many historic houses and apartment buildings.
The houses are Vancouver’s version of San Francisco’s famous 'painted ladies.'Christian Chiappetta/Christian Chiappetta
Historian Michael Kluckner said there used to be tour buses that would drive past the Davis houses to show off the city’s past.
“I think it’s certainly the end of an era in areas affected by this development chaos, unleashed first by the city and supported now by the NDP, and all because of that subway,” said Mr. Kluckner. “I think it means [the family] have just given up on the idea of Vancouver becoming a mature city that respects its past as well as moving on to its future.”
Mr. Davis’s father died in 1983, and his mother Pat died in 2019. He and his brother still live in units on the properties, which is a collection of four pristine and separate houses in a row.
Up until about 20 years ago, Main Street was a rough part of the city. Mr. Davis was in his 20s when his family purchased their first house on the block, a small Victorian with a winding staircase, at 166 W. 10th Ave.
“It was a beautiful thing,” he said.
The family worked on the house for two years and the house received the city’s first heritage plaque. They purchased four more in 1977, all of them in “terrible” shape. Their efforts appeared to have set off a trend. In the streets around them, there are heritage houses that have undergone painstaking restoration.
Carrying a lot of mortgage debt, the Davis family eventually sold the first house.
“They’d been rooming houses for years and years,” said Mr. Davis. “You know, the foundations, everything was just a mess. But we were hooked because the front façades had never been changed, so there had never been any alterations done to them … all the woodwork was original.”
They purchased another house across the street at 117 West 10th. It was missing the chimney, so they put in a chimney with a fireplace on each floor.
“We just couldn’t stop,” he said.
When his father died, his mother used the $75,000 he left the family to purchase 156 W. 10th Ave. Again, they went to work stripping the wood trim and windows, sanding and staining floors, rewiring the electrical and updating the plumbing. They scoured antique shops for the original light fixtures and hardware. His mother loved the process, said Mr. Davis.
“She had an extraordinary life.”
Other than accolades, Mr. Davis said the city didn’t place a lot of value on their efforts. There is a sign in front of the houses that says: “These restorations are privately owned and were completed without any government assistance.”
In fact, the city raised their taxes because of the improvements made to the houses, he said.
“These houses and the neighbourhood are appreciated hugely by the public. But the council don’t give a damn. They just couldn’t care less,” said Mr. Davis.
As for their next move, it won’t be into another major heritage project, he said. Mr. Davis and his brother are thinking of moving to the Okanagan.
“I’m prepared to live pretty simply.”