Heritage Schools: Behind the Upgrading of Ridgeway and Queen Mary. Mark Ehman, partner with DA Architects + Planners, will describe the approach used in the renewal of Ridgeway and Queen Mary Elementary Schools in North Vancouver. The presentation, hosted by North Shore Heritage, will be held on Thursday, Jun. 21, 7-8:30pm, at Ridgeway School Library, 420 East 8th Street. Click here for details.

North Shore Heritage on Facebook. The North Shore Heritage Preservation Society is on Facebook. Click here to visit us. Don't forget to "like" our page! 

Ridgeway's Birthday. The newly restored Ridgeway Elementary School in North Vancouver celebrated its 100th birthday with a party on May 5, 2012. Click here for details.

Lions Gate Hospital. North Shore Heritage is campaigning to save the 1929 North Vancouver General Hospital building, saying it must be incorporated to Vancouver Coastal Health's plans to redevelop the site. Current plans envisage demolition of the registered heritage building in phase two. See North Shore Heritage on Facebook for more details.

Whole Foods Sponsorship. The North Shore Heritage Preservation Society was the grateful recipient of a cheque for $1,195.70 from Whole Foods' Community Chest program! In July-September 2011, North Shore Heritage was one of the three options that shoppers chose from, when donating their 10 cent bag discount. 

Wood Floors Workshop. North Shore Heritage hosted a workshop on restoring and maintaining heritage wood floors led by Brian Marjakangas of Western Heritage Hardwoods and Recycling on Thursday, Apr. 14, 2011. See North Shore Heritage on Facebook for a slideshow.

Heritage Gardens Workshop. To mark Heritage Week, North Shore Heritage hosted an illustrated talk on heritage gardens by Dennis Cornies, principal of The Well-Tempered Gardener, on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011. Topics included the Victorian-Edwardian period, indigenous woodland and mid-century gardens. See North Shore Heritage on Facebook for a slideshow.

Masonry in Heritage Buildings: North Shore Heritage hosted a presentation by Dwayne Friesen, certified brick specialist at I-XL Industries, on the use of masonry in heritage buildings in Vancouver and Western Canada on Sep. 30, 2010. The talk included the historical use of brick and stone as a building material; design features and trends, and construction techniques; historical and contemporary brick manufacture; the availability of reproduction masonry; and identifying and matching heritage bricks. 

Restoring the Green-Armytage Residence: An article on the restoration of this striking North Vancouver home appears in the latest issue of the North Shore Heritage newsletter here. 

Heritage and Sustainability: The North Shore Heritage Preservation Society was awarded a grant of $1,000 from the City of North Vancouver’s Sustainable City Grant Program to promote information on energy efficiency and sustainability in heritage homes. The society will contribute a further $200 from its own funds as well as labour costs. North Shore Heritage will use the funds to acquire and distribute 500-600 copies of a new Heritage and Sustainability Guide, a booklet of practical tips and tools being produced by the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. through outlets in the City and at society events. North Shore Heritage aims to promote awareness of the connection between heritage conservation and environmental sustainability, including the promotion of energy efficiency within the existing building stock and the prevention of waste from demolition and reconstruction.

Ridgeway School: The Ridgeway Heritage Committee, a group led by school parents and teachers, campaigned long and hard to save Ridgeway Elementary School from demolition. Under a proposal accepted by City of North Vancouver Council in July 2008, both Ridgeway and Queen Mary schools received heritage protection. In December 2008, the Ministry of Education approved a North Vancouver School District proposal to move ahead with the restoration and seismic upgrading of the two schools, with the ministry providing $32.4 million and the School District $6.6 million to cover heritage costs. For details, see the ministry announcement here. For more details of the campaign, see the Ridgeway Heritage Committee section of this website here.

Election Questionnaire 2008: North Shore Heritage canvassed election candidates for Council and School Boards in all three North Shore districts for their views on heritage preservation. Details have been posted on the website's Reports page here.

BC Binning Residence: The Land Conservancy has been granted title for this important West Vancouver heritage building, and has launched a campaign to raise an endowment of $300,000 to guarantee its long-term future. North Shore Heritage is supporting the TLC's fund-raising campaign. For details, see The Land Conservancy website here.

Doors and Hardware Workshop: North Shore Heritage hosted a workshop on heritage doors and hardware during September's North Shore Heritage Weekend, led by local expert Milton McCrystal. North Shore Heritage gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Heritage BC and the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts with support for this workshop. Previous workshops were held on wood windows and the True Colours paint program.

West Vancouver Permits and Planning Workshop: Bob Sokol, Director of Planning for the District of West Vancouver, was the guest speaker at the North Shore Heritage Preservation Society's AGM at 7:30pm on Thursday, October 16, 2008. Venue: The Silk Purse, 1570 Argyle Avenue, West Vancouver.

Top 10 Endangered Heritage Sites: The North Shore Heritage Preservation Society has published a listing of the most significant heritage resources in North and West Vancouver that are threatened by development, economics and other factors. Click here to download the report as a pdf file, or here to view the web version, with more photos.

City of North Vancouver Heritage Awards 2007: Residential Heritage Conservation: Ken and Myra Statham (272 West 5th Street, Eliza Piper House); John and Melanie King (276 East Keith Road, Foster House); Noort Holdings, Peter Amat and Kerri Maxwell (1500 Grand Boulevard, Humphrey Residence); Small Scale Heritage Improvement: Jay Slater and Sylvia Ducceschi (519 East 7th Street, Archibald Residence); Mary Tasi and Wade Baker (322 West 6th Street, Walden Residence); Heritage Awareness Achievement: Warren Sommer (The Ambitious City: A History of the City of North Vancouver).

District of North Vancouver Heritage Awards 2007: Heritage Landscape and Enhancement: Michael Smith (2357 Riverside Drive); Maintenance of a Heritage Building for Public Use: Ecole Andre-Piolat (380 West Kings Road), Michael Hill (architect), Ken McKillop (landscape architect), School District #93; Sensitive Maintenance of a Heritage Home: Catherine Forbes and Ogden Gavanski (740 East 9th Street); Laura Meyers and Matt Herdon (1299 Frederick Road); Heritage Advocacy: North Vancouver Museum and Archives (Sea to Sky Heritage Fair); North Vancouver District Public Library (Lynn Valley Library).

West Vancouver Heritage Awards: Renovation/restoration: Tom Houg (144 Stephens Drive); Nicky Morgan and Don Tupper (The Gerson House); Padra and Sarah Farhangi; Awareness: RL Carlile and J Bernard (Creeks Conservation Society); Peter Miller and Nancy Smith (North Shore Heritage Preservation Society); Paul Berlinguette and Randall Lewis (Sway'wey Creek); Elspeth Bradbury (West Vancouver - A View Through the Trees).

Hollyburn Lodge: Past, Present and Future: The West Vancouver Archives has launched a new short film highlighting the history of the Hollyburn Lodge at First Lake, near Cypress Bowl. The film has been created in support of the Hollyburn Lodge Restoration Project – one of the District of West Vancouver’s 2010 Olympic Legacy Projects. Hollyburn Lodge: Past, Present and Future can be viewed on the West Vancouver Museum & Archives website by clicking here.  

Lonsdale School: Under the same School District proposal, this closed school building, a community cornerstone from 1910, will be demolished to make way for new housing and administrative buildings. For more information, see the Heritage Watch section. 

Gleneagles Great Hall. The Great Hall at Gleneagles Golf Course in West Vancouver has been saved, thanks to a campaign by the Western Residents Association. Council in March 2007 agreed to the construction of new facilities and restoration of the Great Hall, allocating a budget of around $1 million to the latter. The decision was confirmed in March 2008.

City Inventory. The City of North Vancouver is finalizing an update of its 1994 Heritage Inventory, a list of significant buildings. Most of the existing 253 heritage buildings from the previous inventory have been retained, with just nine deleted due to demolition, destruction by fire or severe alteration. Some 71 new heritage properties are proposed for addition due to changes in appreciation or assessment of heritage value, particularly for postwar buildings; rehabilitation and restoration since the last inventory; obscure location causing prior oversight; and, in one case, relocation to the area.

Ottawa Gardens: The City of North Vancouver has prepared development and design guidelines for the Ottawa Gardens heritage area, in West 6th, West 5th and West Keith. They include creating a Heritage Conservation Area to cover the 200 and 300 blocks of West 6th, upgrading its status from a Heritage Character Area and extending the area to the west to include St. Edmund's Church, Rectory and Catholic School. The plan also introduces block-by-block rules on development.

Community History Centre: North Vancouver's new Community History Centre opened its doors in May 2006. The building -- the renovated Lynn Valley Elementary School, at 3203 Institute Road (northwest corner of Mountain Highway and Lynn Valley Road) -- houses the commission offices, archives reading room, collections storage, education resource centre and  public meeting room. 

North Shore Heritage: This website is dedicated to the North Shore Heritage Preservation Society, a not-for-profit group formally incorporated in June 2005, with a mandate of raising awareness of the merits of heritage and distinctive buildings, providing a resource for preservation of these buildings, and helping to protect buildings under threat. For membership details, click here. For more information, email info@northshoreheritage.org.

Financial Incentives: The society published a new report, Financial Incentives for Heritage Preservation on the North Shore, as part of Heritage Week in February 2006. It outlines options for restoration grants, property tax incentives and public-private sector initiatives. For this and other reports, see the Reports section.

Heritage Watch: The society publishes an online report, Heritage Watch, to monitor buildings threatened by demolition or development. It's also available in the Reports section. 

Research Guide: The North Shore Heritage Network has published a guide to researching house history in North and West Vancouver. To see it online, click here. To download a pdf copy, please click here.

Articles: To read two articles on the launch of the North Shore Heritage online service in the North Shore News, click here and here.

Hodgson House: A group was formed in West Vancouver in 2005 to try to save Hodgson House, an inventoried heritage house that was shipped to Vancouver Island. Unfortunately, funds could not be raised before the house was sold to a buyer in Sechelt. For an article on the issue, click here. 

For entries or enquiries, please email us at info@northshoreheritage.org.