1007 Pacific Street was on the north side of Pacific Street, west of the intersection with Burrard Street. It was one of a series of similar houses that arose on that block between 1906 and 1910.
The image above comes from a postcard that was mailed from Vancouver to Los Angeles, California on April 22, 1912. (Images of the back of the postcard appear below.)
Details from the postcard image show the house number of 1007 on a porch support, along with the house number and the word “Aboyne” on the top two concrete steps that lead up from the street. (Aboyne is a Scottish village about 26 miles (42 km) west of Aberdeen. William McPherson, who lived at 1001 Pacific Street, was born in Aboyne.)
The House
The house at 1007 Pacific Street was on a narrow lot near the northwest corner of Pacific Street and Burrard Street.
Legal Description: District Lot 185; Block 13; west half of Lot 18.
1007 Pacific Street first appeared in the Vancouver directories in 1907.
The house next door, at 1001 Pacific Street, first appeared in the Vancouver directories in 1908.
The Vancouver directories listed the following occupants of 1007 Pacific Street and 1001 Pacific Street from 1907 to 1954.
1007 Pacific Street
| 1907 to 1919 | George Calder |
| 1920 to 1922 | Mrs. Margaret Carty |
| 1923 | Gladstone Johnson |
| 1924 to 1926 | William E G Johnson |
| 1927 | Unnamed Japanese family |
| 1928 | George Calder |
| 1929 to 1930 | William G. Calder |
| 1931 to 1932 | George Calder |
| 1933 | G. W. E. Johnson [sic] |
| 1934 to 1935 | George Calder |
| 1936 to 1937 | Frank G. Calder |
| 1938 to 1940 | Thomas H. Cheavins |
| 1941 | George Beattie (rooms) |
| 1942 to 1947 | Miss Elizabeth Craig (rooms) |
| 1948 to 1949 | Mrs. Charlotte McDonald |
| 1950 to 1951 | Mrs. Stella Plante |
| 1952 | Miss June E. Sinclair |
| 1953 | Mrs. Vlasta Cunningham (rooms) |
| 1954 | Miss Bertha Novak (rooms) |
| 1955 | Not listed under Vancouver streets |
George Calder, who lived at 1007 Pacific Street for many years, died in 1942.
1007 Pacific Street was still offering rental accommodation in late 1954.
1001 Pacific Street
| 1908 | Vacant |
| 1909 to 1917 | William McPherson |
| 1918 | Mrs. William McPherson |
| 1919 to 1921 | Mrs. Jessie McPherson |
| 1922 | Gladstone Johnson |
| 1923 | William McPherson |
| 1924 to 1932 | Jessie McPherson |
| 1933 | Francis G. Calder |
| 1934 to 1952 | William E. Gladstone Johnson |
| 1953 | George E Haskins |
| 1954 | Frank Mikeli |
| 1955 | Not listed under Vancouver streets |
William McPherson, who lived at 1001 Pacific Street, died in 1917.
Before the Burrard Bridge arrived in 1932, Burrard Street was a relatively quiet street, since it came to a dead end at the north side of False Creek.
By the late 1920s, there were plans to build a bridge that would connect downtown Vancouver with Point Grey and South Vancouver. The bridge was to run from Burrard Street, across False Creek to the north end of Cedar Street. (The portion of Cedar Street from the south shore of False Creek to 16th Avenue later became known as Burrard Street.)
The bridge opened in 1932.
Although the construction of the Burrard Bridge required some street widening along Burrard Street, all of the houses along the north side of Pacific Street remained in place until the early 1950s.
In late 1954, house wreckers began to demolish the house at 1001 Pacific Street.
The Vancouver City Archives image below is from about 1957. A billboard occupies the former site of 1001 Pacific Street. The lot that held 1007 Pacific Street appears to have retained a portion of the house foundation, but the rest of the house is gone.
For many years afterward, the lots at 1001 Pacific Street and 1007 Pacific Street were still unoccupied, except for the advertising signs on the corner.
Pacific Heights Housing Cooperative
In 1984, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation announced a project that would renovate or replicate many of the remaining houses along the north side of Pacific Street. The project also added a seven-storey building at the rear of the property.
The construction continued until about June 1985.
The result was a series of eight houses, arranged in groups of two on Pacific Street, with the new seven-storey building forming a backdrop on the north side of the project.
The Pacific Heights Housing Cooperative leased the properties from the City of Vancouver, and the cooperative has continued to provide accommodation since then.
SeaStar Apartments: 1003 Pacific Street
In 1996, a developer began to build a 21-storey apartment building at the northwest corner of of Pacific Street and Burrard Street. The building is called SeaStar, and the address is 1003 Pacific Street.
The Back of the 1912 Postcard
The images below are from the back of the 1912 postcard.
Sources
Pacific Heights Housing Co-Op; http://phhc.ca/: “Eight heritage-designated homes have been completely rehabilitated and divided into two units each. A courtyard area and seven-storey apartment building are situated behind the homes making up a total of 91 units.”
Pacific Heights Housing Co-Operative, Exploring Vancouver, by Harold Kalman, Ron Phillips and Robin Ward; Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 1993, page 125, entry 258.
Turf war reaches new heights in Vancouver’s West End, by Joanne Lee-Young, Vancouver Sun, February 15, 2016; http://www.vancouversun.com/business/turf+reaches+heights+vancouver+west/11719783/story.html: “At the north end of the Burrard Bridge, eight brightly painted, Victorian-era homes sit in front of a seven-storey low-rise built in the 1980s. Together, they are known as the Pacific Heights Housing Co-op.” Describes the effects of rising assessment values in Vancouver: “. . . they want to know if this new assessment is a foreboding sign the co-op could eventually lose its lease with the city, which expires in 9 years.”
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