Odlum Residence

The Odlum residence was designed by RJ Thom in 1963 while at Thompson, Berwick + Pratt, replacing an earlier TB+P residence from 1954 that was destroyed by fire.

It sits on a large property on a main road in West Vancouver - a site which was recently sold and is slated for imminent demolition, to be replaced by a Senior Living Residence.

The house is listed as a Secondary Building in the West Vancouver Survey of Significant Architecture and possesses many features typical of Thom's other residential work.

The design is clear and unfussy but is now hampered by neglect and aesthetic choices (eg.exterior paint) that distract from the overall design. Nonetheless, the house still embodies the ethos of the era through modest, human scale, deference to the site and the importance of natural light.

The roof forms in the carport dominate the entrance area and echo the sweeping intersecting planar shapes of the grander Forrest Residence. It's a theme that runs throughout the house: wall planes project past usual corner points into the landscape, creating a dynamic structure and intimate garden corners.

Currently, the property is overgrown and in the process of reverting back to its natural state; a state that will soon be razed and completely transformed.

Lost in 2014

This past year saw the passing of important West Coast architects Catherine Chard Wisnicki (above) and Vladimir Plavsic.

Wisnicki was a pioneering Modernist designer who had a hand in many important early Vancouver buildings, including the Saba, Brooks and Nemetz residences. She worked as a Senior Designer at Sharp, Thompson Berwick + Pratt, starting in 1946 alongside Ned Pratt and also formed a partnership with John Porter. 

Wisnicki was the second female member of the AIBC and later taught at UBC before retiring in 1986.

Vladimir Plavsic was born in Belgrade, but defected after World War II, finding his way to Canada and the architecture school at the University of Toronto. 

Eventually ending up on the West Coast, Plavsic designed many buildings in the city, including the superb Medical Dental Centre, which has aged well. See ouno's post on the building here.

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.

Thom's Sauder Display House

On the market for the first time in nearly 45 years, Ron Thom's Sauder Display house was designed at the height of West Coast Modernism for the Sauder Lumber company to showcase its extensive line of plywood.

But that commercial origin belies a design that has generously accommodated family life over the years and continues to resonate with grace and beauty.

Many of the qualities found in Thom's best work are here. Sensitive siting, material integrity and human scale are brought together with features like butt-joint glass, impeccable finishing and spaced beams that draw the eye out as they pass through the building envelope and into the landscape. 

A Japanese influence shows in decorative roof crests, a koi pond at the entry path and a spareness and purposefulness of attributes like gutters held back to reveal a thin, delicate roof edge. Inside, on what would ordinarily be a ninety degree turn, one wall plane extends outward, meeting the other through a recessed section as edges pull back to underscore the transition. 

Though the approach varies from the freeform spatial inventiveness of something like the Case Residence, the connection between structure and site remains elemental and the house is grounded in a calm confidence. As the split-level plan pivots, views double back through layers of glazing, framed by structure and landscaping. 

The result is a sort of architectural fugue that cascades from one room to the next, culminating in the living room amongst unexpected turns and quiet corners. Open framing acts like tensioned webbing to define the space and provide unexpected depth and height.

Thom's colleague Dick Mann worked closely with him on the house, at a time when Thom was immersed in the construction of Massey College in Toronto; many of the details are the result of Mann's careful eye.
                                         

Mid-century houses are an endangered species in Vancouver. The Sauder Display house particularly so, given its location on a major urban artery. In a city like Los Angeles there is an understanding that houses by Schindler, Neutra and Wright are civic, even national, treasures. Not so in Vancouver where we tend to bulldoze our heritage before it gets too old.

Not every building or house should be saved, of course. But the city can only benefit from the best exemplars of their place and time being protected for the record, even as we move forward. 

The house has a history of public viewings, beginning in 1962 when Vancouverites toured it throughout the summer. It was profiled in the August 1962 issue of Western Homes + Living and more recently featured on the Vancouver Heritage Foundation's house tour–the first modernist property to be included. 

As the Sauder Display house transitions again, here's hoping it will find a new custodian to carry it through the next mid-century as a reminder of a particularly fertile moment in the city's history.

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

Thom's Boyd/McPhedran

 

Add one more to the list of Ron Thom-designed houses currently for sale: the Boyd/McPhedran house in West Vancouver has just been listed.  

It's an earlier design (from 1954) that shows his evolving approach and increasing mastery of the rocky terrain of the North Shore: hipped roof, deep overhangs, limited palette of natural materials and integration to site. 

It was originally built for art school friends of Thom who only lived there for a short time. The house has been sensitively maintained and expanded over the years and retains a graceful sense of proportion and scale.

See Kerry McPhedran's Western Living article that explores Thom's Vancouver work and her relationship with the house.

It's a notable piece in Thom's oeuvre, mostly for it's muted architectural beauty but also because of its influence: it had a profound impression on a young Paul Merrick as well as the numerous clients Thom showed the house to as an example of his work.

It joins the Forrest (for sale, again), the Work/Baker and the Norman houses on the market– a group that spans not only the geography of Vancouver but also Thom's architectural output in the city.

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