![Goad’s Atlas of Vancouver, volume 1; Plate 62 [Chilco Street to Burrard Inlet to Stanley Park boundary to Pendrell Street]; 1972-582.37; detail; https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/plate-62-chilco-street-to-burrard-inlet-to-stanley-park-boundary-to-pendrell-street.](https://westendvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/goad_s-atlas-of-vancouver-volume-1-plate-62-chilco-street-to-burrard-inlet-to-stanley-park-boundary-to-pendrell-street-1972-582-37-detail.jpg)
2045 Barclay Street was a house that Samuel Maclure designed for Lewis Griffith McPhillips, who was a prominent lawyer.
The house itself was on lots 19 and 29. At the west end of the block, Lot 18 was apparently vacant until the early 1950s. To the east, lots 21 and 22 were the site of 901 Chilco Street.
There are several references to lots 19 and 20 in Heritage Vancouver Society’s database of historic building permits: http://permits.heritagevancouver.org/index.php?cID=1 [searched November 24, 2018].
The first permit relates to the main house.
| District: | Vancouver |
| Permit: | |
| Owner: | McPhillips, L. G. [Lewis Griffith] |
| Architect: | Maclure, Samuel |
| Builder: | Hepburn, W. |
| Legal Address: | DL: 185 Block: 67 Sub: Resub: Lot: 18, 19 & 20 |
| Date (Y-M-D): | 1904-07-26 |
| Street Number: | [2045] |
| Street Name: | Chilco Street [Barclay Street] |
| Value: | $7,000.00 |
| Remarks: | Frame dwelling |
| Reference ID: | VN-8264-8265-43 |
The second permit is for a garage.
| District: | Vancouver |
| Permit: | 6750 |
| Owner: | McPhillips, L. G. |
| Architect: | Owner |
| Builder: | Coulson, G. C. |
| Legal Address: | DL: 185 Block: 67 Sub: Resub: Lot: 18, 19 & 20 |
| Date (Y-M-D): | 1914-06-01 |
| Street Number: | 2045 |
| Street Name: | Barclay Street |
| Value: | $700.00 |
| Remarks: | Office/Store; One-storey frame garage [DBR] [added legal desc.] |
| Reference ID: | VN-3500-3501-689 |
The third permit appears to be for an addition to the main house.
| District: | Vancouver |
| Permit: | A-2119 |
| Owner: | McPhillips, L. G. |
| Architect: | |
| Builder: | Caulson, G. |
| Legal Address: | DL: 185 Block: 67 Sub: Resub: Lot: 20 |
| Date (Y-M-D): | 1921-10-24 |
| Street Number: | 2045 |
| Street Name: | Barclay Street |
| Value: | $750.00 |
| Remarks: | Dwelling/House; Repairs/Alterations; Frame addition [BCR] |
| Reference ID: | VN-19215275-42 |
The fourth permit seems to be for a separate house with an initial street number of 2043 Barclay Street. (Later directory references have 2035 Barclay Street as the address.)
| District: | Vancouver |
| Permit: | A-2120 |
| Owner: | McPhillips, L. G. |
| Architect: | |
| Builder: | Caulson, G. |
| Legal Address: | DL: 185 Block: 67 Sub: Resub: Lot: 19 |
| Date (Y-M-D): | 1921-10-24 |
| Street Number: | 2043 |
| Street Name: | Barclay Street |
| Value: | $2,250.00 |
| Remarks: | Dwelling/House; New; Alterations [BCR] |
| Reference ID: | VN-19215275-43 |
Vancouver directory listings for 2045 Barclay Street:
| 1905 to 1941 | McPhillips, Lewis Griffith |
The house was vacant in 1942. By 1943 it was a rooming house.
In late 1943, the federal government converted the house into apartments. Tyldesley and Company auctioned the house contents.
In 1944, the Vancouver directory showed that George Oldfield was living in the house. (The directory did not list individual occupants for the apartments.)
![British Columbia and Yukon Directory, 1944, page 936 [edited image].](https://westendvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/geo-s-oldfield-british-columbia-and-yukon-directory-1944-page-936.jpg)
George Oldfield was a military veteran and civil servant. He later lived in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
By 1945, the individual occupants of the apartments did appear in the directory.
The house continued as a rooming house until the 1950s.
In 1953, a new building called the Willowstan Apartments began construction on lot 18, at the west end of the block. The street address was 990 Lagoon Drive.
The Willowstan was ready for tenants at the end of 1953.
In 1954, the houses at 2045 Barclay and 2035 Barclay were still standing. The building at the west end of the block was the Willowstan Park apartments. The building at the east end of the block was the Chatelaine Apartments, which had appeared in 1931.
According to the Vancouver City Archives caption for the photograph below, this scene is from 1957. It may be a year or two earlier, because the trees have been cleared away from the middle lots of the 2000 block of Barclay Street, but there has been no new construction on the lots. The house at 2045 Barclay is gone, but 2035 Barclay still seems to be standing.
By October 1956, a new rental apartment building was at 2045 Barclay Street. (The name of the building is currently “Bella Vista”; in earlier years it was sometimes spelled “Bela Vista” with one “l.”)
2035 Barclay Street
Ben Sparham Realty sold 2035 Barclay Street in 1958.
The demolition of the house at 2035 Barclay Street was in September 1958.
The replacement building was “Barclay Towers.”
Construction began in 1958. When the building appeared on the market in 1959, the apartments were initially for sale, but it quickly became a rental building.
Sources
2045 Barclay Street
Samuel Maclure, Architect, by Janet Bingham; Ganges, B.C. Horsdal and Schubart Publishers Ltd., 1985, page 138.
Portions of 2045 Barclay Street appear in the following photographs from the Vancouver Public Library:
Large houses; VPL Accession Number: 7167; Date: 190-; (left centre) http://www3.vpl.ca/spePhotos/LeonardFrankCollection/02DisplayJPGs/73/7167.jpg.
Nelson Street houses; VPL Accession Number: 7130; Date: 190-; (right centre, at rear) http://www3.vpl.ca/spePhotos/LeonardFrankCollection/02DisplayJPGs/72/7130.jpg.
Willowstan Park apartments
Preliminary plan: entrance court for Willowstan Park Apartments, Lagoon Drive, July 24 1953; Vancouver City Archives; #53-29; https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/53-29-preliminary-plan-entrance-court-for-willowstan-park-apartments-lagoon-drive.
Barclay Towers
2035 Barclay Street, sales brochure; Re/Max Bill Goold Realty; http://media.inspiredrealty.ca/3767/pdf/2035+Barclay+Street%2C+Vancouver.pdf: “Legal Description Lot C (see 275441L) of Lots 20 and 21; Block 67 District Lot 185 Plan 92; PID 015-739-686.”
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