1837 Morton Avenue

1841 Morton Avenue, 1839 Morton Avenue, 1837 Morton Avenue and 1830 Morton Avenue; detail from First Beach, 1954; BO-54-211; http://vintageairphotos.com/bo-54-211/.

 

1837 Morton Avenue was on the north side of Morton Avenue, west of Denman Street.

Legal Description: District Lot: 185; Block 71; west half of Lot 3.

 

1800 Block Beach Avenue – Detail from Goad’s Atlas of the city of Vancouver – 1912 – Vol 1 – Plate 8 – Barclay Street to English Bay and Cardero Street to Stanley Park.

 

1841 Morton Avenue, 1839 Morton Avenue, 1837 Morton Avenue and 1830 Morton Avenue; 1913; detail from Denman Street to Comox Street to Stanley Park boundary to English Bay; Reference code – 1972-582-38 – Plate 63; https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/plate-63-denman-street-to-comox-street-to-stanley-park-boundary-to-english-bay.

 

There are no references to this property in Heritage Vancouver Society’s database of historic building permits: http://permits.heritagevancouver.org/index.php?cID=1 [searched April 1, 2019].

Vancouver directory listings from 1909 to 1923.

1909 to 1910	Jefferd, Arthur
1911	Jaggard, Robert Piercy
1912	Grundy, William
1913	Cooper, Emily Jane
1915 to 1916	Payne, Robert Alexander
1917 to 1923	Lucas, Francis Godfrey

 

The house was often available to rent. As well, in 1911 it served briefly as a private maternity nursing home.

 

Vancouver Province, August 23, 1911, page 22, column 6.

 

Vancouver Province, March 23, 1912, page 50, column 5.

 

Vancouver Province, December 6, 1923, page 18, column 7.

 

In September 1931, the contents of the house were for sale by auction.

 

Vancouver Sun, September 23, 1931, page 19, column 7.

 

In 1937, the City of Vancouver’s civic board of planning appeal gave permission to move the houses at 1837 Morton Avenue and 1839 Morton Avenue to the Pendrell Street end of the lots. There were plans to use the Morton Avenue frontage for a two-storey apartment building.

 

Vancouver Province, February 5, 1937, page 10, column 6.

 

The proposed move of the houses did not occur. They were still in their original places in 1954.

 

1841 Morton Avenue, 1839 Morton Avenue, 1837 Morton Avenue and 1830 Morton Avenue; detail from First Beach, 1954; BO-54-211; http://vintageairphotos.com/bo-54-211/.

 

By 1959, the house had disappeared to make way for the Ocean Towers apartment building. (Also gone were Morton Lodge and the houses at 1841 Morton Avenue, 1839 Morton Avenue and 1835 Morton Avenue.

 

Ocean Towers apartments under construction, April 1959, Vancouver Public Library, VPL Accession Number: 40480; http://www3.vpl.ca/spePhotos/LeonardFrankCollection/02DisplayJPGs/654/40480.jpg.

 

Sources

“This Week in History: 1959: A new wave of highrises transforms the West End; The block-long Ocean Towers blocked the view, which was so controversial to the city opted to build tall, thin towers instead,” by John Mackie, Vancouver Sun; November 23, 2019, page A2; https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/this-week-in-history-1959-a-new-wave-of-highrises-transforms-the-west-end.