Vancouver Special
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Vancouver Special is a term used to refer to houses built in a particular architectural style in the period from roughly 1965 to 1985 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and its suburbs. They are characterised by their "box-like" structure, low-pitched roofs, balconies across the front of the house, and brick or stone finishes on the ground-floor level of the facade with stucco elsewhere. Vancouver Specials have similar floor plans with the main living quarters on the upper floor and secondary bedrooms on the bottom, making them ideal for secondary suites.
In response to public reaction to the proliferation of this design, the City of Vancouver made changes to the single-family zoning regulations in the 1980s with the intent to stop additional Vancouver Specials from being built.
Vancouver Specials evolved into what were frequently derided as "monster homes" in the 1990s that critics[who?] claimed were ruining the aesthetic character of their neighbourhoods. In contrast to the earlier Vancouver Specials, monster homes were appearing in wealthier areas on the west side of the city, and critics were sometimes charged with being concerned as much about immigrants invading their exclusive neighbourhoods as they were about the aesthetics of those neighbourhoods.
The much maligned Vancouver Special, however, may yet see its bad reputation improve. Some indications include a locally produced music compilation compact disc in 2000, "Vancouver Special," which features several examples of the house design on the cover, and a renovated Vancouver Special that won the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia's Innovation Award for Architecture in 2005. A home design store on Main Street bears the name "Vancouver Special" and Arsenal Pulp Press of Vancouver published "Vancouver Special," a book of essays about the city by Charles Demers, in November 2009, showing that the reputation of the homes may have now gained a certain vintage glamour.
Today one can find Vancouver Specials all over Greater Vancouver in Richmond, Surrey, Burnaby, Delta, and the Tri-Cities of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody, and elsewhere in the Lower Mainland and other parts of British Columbia.
[edit] See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Houses in Vancouver |
[edit] External links and sources
- Home Improvements, by David Carrigg, Vancouver Courier (5 November 2004)
- Vancouver Special Redux, by Christopher MacDonald, Canadian Architect (July 2004)
- A 'Special Renovation by Brian Lynch, The Georgia Straight, (24 November 2005)
- Vancouverspecial.com, a gallery and location-map of Vancouver Special houses
- Vancouver Special by Arsenal Pulp Press (November, 2009)
- Flickr set of examples
- Heritage Foundation of Vancouver
