One of Vancouver’s oldest houses is the focus of a heritage battle and a debate over whether it’s worth saving.
The house on Alexander Street was completed just two years after the city of Vancouver was founded. And while that might seem like a logical reason to save it, it’s a little more complicated.
Not-for-profit organization Atira Women’s Resource Society has submitted a demolition application.
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It purchased the property two years ago with the plan to build 12 new self-contained suites for women at risk.
Atira says it tried to find a solution to save the heritage home, even to have it moved to another location, but there were no takers and renovating the house is too costly.
“It is sad that it is going, and I am not sure what the answer is,” says Janice Abbott with Atira Women’s Resource Society. “I don’t know where everybody else was for the last 45 years while it was allowed to deteriorate, and why it’s only come up on the radar in the last couple of years. If it had been properly maintained, we would not be in this position now.”
We tried to get a comment from someone at the Vancouver Heritage Society, but no one was available.
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