Binning Sale Blocked

The potential sale of the Binning house has been blocked, in a ruling from the B.C. Supreme Court.

Among other reasons, Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick ruled that TLC must demonstrate efforts to find a suitable trustee for the house before any possible sale could be considered. 

It's a (temporary) win for the preservation community and a chance to find a suitable long term solution for one of the most important modernist houses in the country.

Binning House News

As The Land Conservancy is now under creditor protection, it is divesting itself of some properties, including the 1941 Binning residence. 

A $1.6 million offer has been received and will be reviewed by a court-appointed monitor on November 18. Stay tuned.

Ron Thom Exhibit

This is the final week to view the West Vancouver Museum's excellent Ron Thom exhibit, guest curated by Adele Weder. 

It comes down after September 21 and will then travel East to Toronto and Peterborough in the coming year.

See also the exhibition-related website that explores Thom's work.

West Coast Modern Home Tour

There are still a few tickets left for the self-drive option on the West Vancouver Museum's West Coast Modern Home Tour.

It's a strong group, including Ron Thom's Carmichael (shown above) and Grinnell houses, Barry Downs' own stunning 1979 residence, a recently renovated Bob Lewis design and a contemporary residence by Greg Dowling of DGBK.

The tour takes place on Saturday July 13th.

Photo: Kenneth James Dyck, urbanpictures.com, 2013

Downs + Pullan Interview

A recent North Shore Outlook article on Barry Downs and Selwyn Pullan features the two reminiscing and discussing their respective professions. A photo of them outside Pullan's studio is a nice touch.

Kim Smith and Bo Helliwell, featured as well, talk about their renovation and sympathetic addition to Downs' 1963 Rayer residence.

Daniel Evan White

Dan White is the subject of an upcoming exhibition this fall at the Museum of Vancouver. 

The show runs from October 2013-March 2014 and is guest curated by Greg Johnson and Martin Lewis with Viviane Gosselin of the Museum of Vancouver.

In the meantime, check out the tumblr site dedicated to White's architecture - primarily late modern residential with a strong linear quality and close connection to site.

White's is a unique body of work that hasn't received its due, perhaps because his career blossomed in the shadow of the initial wave of West Coast Modern architects or perhaps because of his focus on the residential sphere. 

Whatever the reason, the exhibition looks to reassess a quiet but important West Coast legacy.

Image: Lunn Residence, 1987 www.danielevanwhite.com

Melding Architecture with Landscape

Barry Downs' exhibition runs at the West Vancouver Museum from May 8-June 15th, 2013. The opening reception happens on May 14th.

It's part of a strong West Coast Modern line-up the museum is mounting through the summer and into the fall, including West Coast Points East: Ron Thom and the Allied Arts, guest curated by Adele Weder.

Both will be essential viewing for anyone interested in a deeper understanding of two of Vancouver's finest practitioners.

Barry Downs: Architecture and Landscape

This summer the West Vancouver Museum is mounting an exhibition of Barry Downs' work. The title of the show, Melding Architecture with Landscape: A Collaboration in Design speaks to Downs' intimate connection to the West Coast landscape as well as his proclivity for inspired collaboration.

In the meantime, the museum has organized an evening in support of the publication of an exhibition catalogue. Held at the home studio of Blue Sky Architecture – housed in Downs' Rayer residence pictured above – the evening features Leslie Van Duzer, Director of SALA at UBC, in addition to Downs in attendance.

It's an opportunity to support an essential West Coast architectural record.

The event takes place on Thursday April 11, from 6-9pm. More information can be obtained through Kiriko Watanabe at the West Vancouver Museum.

Image: Rayer Residence, Barry Downs c. 1964

Boyd/McPhedran Relist

Ron Thom's Boyd/McPhedran house has been relisted in West Vancouver, well below its assessed value.

See the website for photos and information on this little gem of a house with a notable history. 

It's an opportunity to pick up a significant piece of West Coast modernism and carry on its tradition as a writer's hideaway, or artist's studio, or salon and gathering spot or...

Carmichael Renovation

An update on Thom's recently renovated Carmichael house.

Architecture of Religion: St. David's United

A sort of companion building to Redeemer Lutheran Church, St. David's United in West Vancouver was completed a year earlier (in 1958) but anticipates the design of the later Massey Medal nominee.

St. David's is a larger, more refined building. However the general design program is the same and was to become fairly standard for churches in the city: an A-frame structure, supported by ascending glulam beams that buttress concrete base walls. The result is a vast, open area of worship.

A central skylight runs the length of the nave, admitting light that filters down the wood decking. Stained glass windows line the exterior walls. There is an absence of elaborate ornamentation that is consistent with other religious structures of the time and the modernist ethos. 

As with Redeemer, the chapel is offset by low-slung post and beam service areas that house offices, meeting rooms and administration. An interior garden area acts as a nice counterpoint to the shifting structure and spaces of an open stairwell. 

After 50-plus years, the landscaping is fully mature and the church is enveloped in a border of green that buffers it from the adjacent busy roads and highway.

St. David's was designed by G.W. Peck and Thompson, Berwick and Pratt.

Binning Open House

The Land Conservancy is hosting an open house at the B.C. Binning residence on Canada Day.

The National Historic site will be open from 1-4pm, with guided tours by Matthew Soules happening at 1:30pm and 3pm.

It's an opportunity to see the home and work of one of our original modernists and to support the good work of The Land Conservancy.

John Fulker: Images of Architecture

John Fulker's career flourished alongside the Canadian architects whose work he captured: Barry Downs, Arthur Erickson and Clifford Wiens among others. In the process he created an invaluable visual record of architecture on the West Coast and beyond.

For the first time in thirty years his work will be exhibited at the West Vancouver Museum. Following the 2009 exhibition of Selwyn Pullan's work, "Images of Architecture" is another opportunity to reacquaint with a local legacy.

The exhibition opens on November 15th with a reception with the photographer and runs until January 14th, 2010. There is also a photographer's talk on December 3, 2011 at 1:30pm.

Photo: Graham Residence, John Fulker, 1967

Staples Residence

Erickson Massey's 1967 Staples residence in West Vancouver is currently for sale.

It sits next door to the old Graham residence location on Cliff Cove and takes advantage of a breathtaking waterfront site that looks up Howe Sound. As with many houses from the era, the lot is now considered 'under-built'–in developer parlance–and there is concern that the house will come down.

However, unlike the Graham residence, which was badly renovated and allowed to deteriorate, the Staples residence has had no modification over the years and remains in beautiful and original condition.

It shares a common DNA with the Smith and Graham houses in its post and beam-based spatial explorations and a material palette of cedar, glass and bush-hammered concrete. All three houses showcased Erickson's renowned ability to design for difficult sites.

Soaring beams shoot past floor to ceiling glass into the surrounding foliage. The house achieves a quiet but powerful drama through clarity of design and an intimacy with the site. A Japanese influence is felt in the austerity of the composition and elements such as shoji screens, sand-float stucco and a koi pond.

Landscaping was designed by Don Vaughan and focused on native plantings and bonsai trees which still cling doggedly to the craggy slope.

The Staples worked closely with Erickson Massey and project architect Bruno Freschi to achieve a stunning design that happily accommodated a family of four for decades. The home now needs a new custodian to imbue it with the vitality and appreciation that has been its hallmark.

Barry Downs' North Vancouver Civic Centre

Downs/Archambault's 1975 North Vancouver Civic Centre has been in transition for some time and the recent redesign by Mcfarlane Green Biggar is close to completion.

The original complex of City Hall and the library, designed by Barry Downs, was a remarkable if under-recognized work of West Coast Modernism that was diluted through incremental change and evolving civic priorities.

Downs conceived the Civic Centre as an unassuming, functional pair of buildings that inspired a more inclusive idea of politics and civic interaction.

Material choices spoke to this: raw cedar, concrete and an emphasis on landscaping of native plantings. Downs designed a pronounced planted berm and water feature that softened the connection between buildings and the urban surroundings.

It was a vision of politics that embraced integration and subtlety - hallmarks of Downs' work. The civic centre was so deeply connected to place, it felt as if it literally rose out of the fecund North Shore landscape.

Sadly this vision has largely been dismantled. The berm and water feature are long gone. The library building was demolished last year. Across the street is Diamond & Schmitt's new library – a sign of a changing urban mandate that is now transforming North Vancouver's Civic Centre and community buildings in general.

Meanwhile, Downs' lone remaining City Hall structure sits as a testament to the ingenuity, understatement and priorities of a different time and a master of the site.

B+W Photos: John Fulker