| 2006
Top Ten Endangered Sites
Top 10 2006 |
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(Lost - updated)
 SW corner, Salbury & Napier
This
unique site, known in the neighbourhood as “Salsbury
Garden”, comprises three city lots at the southwest
corner of Napier St. and Salsbury Drive, including two historic
BC Mills cottages (#1117 & #1121) and an extraordinary
heritage garden/forest.
The two small working-class homes, built in
1907, were probably the first houses built on this part of
Salsbury Drive and are rare surviving examples of early pre-fabricated
construction. They document an important period in the city’s
socio-economic history, serving as examples of the small,
utilitarian workers’ cottages common in Vancouver’s
early days.
What makes the site particularly significant
is the close to 100-year-old garden, which presently occupies
60% of the site. The garden was created by an unusual placement
of the two BC Mills cottages. Instead of placing each cottage
on its own lot facing north to Napier, owner Charles Reid
placed them in what would normally be the back yard, then
turned them ninety degrees straddling both lots and facing
east to Salsbury. This placement created a large rectangular
space at the corner of Salsbury and Napier, framed on the
west by 1760 Napier.
Arthur Greenius, who bought the property from
Reid in 1914 and lived at 1760 Napier until the 1950s, was
committed to Reid’s garden vision and planted many unusual
trees such as a California redwood, a giant butternut tree
and a California spicebush.
The growth of the garden continued undisturbed
through the next 80+ years, even though Dr. Greenius was the
last person to own the entire property. Throughout the 20th
century, Salsbury Garden had a special place and value within
the community.
Now, one hundred years later, the Garden and
homes are threatened. Developer Richard Niebuhr, the new owner
of 1117 and 1121 Napier, wishes to obliterate the existing
BC Mills cottages and garden treasures, which have absolutely
no heritage protection. (1760 Napier, which is separately
owned, is not at risk.)
Once again, the vulnerability of our heritage
is exposed. Like so many areas in Vancouver — and particularly
in East Vancouver — this neighbourhood is sadly underrepresented
in the Heritage Register. For example, most (90%) of the 54
houses with addresses on Salsbury Drive between 1st Drive
and Venables were built before WWI; none is on the Heritage
Register.
Little cottages such as those on the site are
a fast-disappearing element of our historical record. Even
more significant is the potential loss of a unique, intentional
development configuration that might be termed a historic
‘vernacular’ landscape.
Although the community cherishes the configuration/
landscape, the 1986 Register, which focuses on individual
buildings and architectural merit, is woefully under-equipped
to evaluate its significance or to provide mechanisms for
retention.
We applaud the previous City Council’s
decision to update the Register and anticipate that ways to
recognize and protect sites such as Salsbury Garden in the
future will be considered. In light of this, we urge the City
to explore creative alternatives for the preservation of this
unique resource.
Updated 14 April
2006: Developer Richard Niebuhr has appealed to the
Supreme Court of BC the August 2005 Board of Variance decision
in favour of the Friends of Salsbury Garden. (This decision
had overturned the development permit.) We await the outcome
of the current appeal. The two 1907 BC Mills prefabricated
cottages remain vacant. We will request the City of Vancouver
to conduct a heritage evaluation of the cottages and garden.
Updated 20 October 2006: In August 2005, the Supreme Court of BC ruled against the Board of
Variance having the jurisdiction to overturn the previous development
permit for the site. Accordingly, development and demolition permits
were recently re-issued, and today, developer Richard Niebuhr had the homes torn down, and also cut down the largest trees,
including the cypresses and the butternut. No heritage evalution was made by the City.
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