Neighbourhood character, Chinatown top 2017 Heritage Vancouver watch list

Character homes/neighbourhoods and Chinatown tied for the top spot in Heritage Vancouver's 2017 Top 10 Watch List.

It’s the first time the organization has selected two number ones.

Bill Yuen, a Heritage Vancouver spokesman, said both represent an important concept — historic urban landscapes.

“We really want to focus on this idea of a historic urban landscape as an area as a whole. It’s really beyond individual buildings. They both represent that,” he told the Courier Friday.

That point was highlighted in debates about the proposed development for 105 Keefer in Chinatown.

Earlier this week, city council rejected a rezoning application for the site after activists argued that the building being considered threatened the historic neighbourhood’s character and culture.

While it’s currently an empty lot, Yuen said the property’s value is in the contribution it can make to the whole of Chinatown, in terms of the building on the lot itself, as well as how it fits into the social and culture context of the community.

Similarly, Heritage Vancouver maintains it’s important to look at character homes as not only buildings but for what they represent — “the interconnectivity between the physical and the social, cultural and natural values of the urban environment.”

Yuen points to ideas such as neighbours saying hello, people growing things in their gardens and children playing in the street, all of which create a sense of place.

“Heritage has really broadened and I think with the Heritage Action Plan update, the city is starting to look at a broadening of these values beyond just historic and aesthetic values but how we can include social values and how places are interconnected — buildings are interconnected with people and our daily practices that we carry out.

In fact, Heritage Vancouver describes “character” as being the look and feel of a place created by its physical and non-physical features.

The organization says the character of single-family neighbourhoods is undergoing rapid change as hundreds of pre-1940s homes are knocked down to make way for new builds.

But it acknowledges the two issues at play — the importance of conserving historic homes and the reality that single-family homes are unaffordable for most Vancouverites who would like to see more affordable housing forms such as multi-unit developments, town houses or row houses.

Heritage Vancouver supports zoning incentives to help preserve pre-1940s homes but has reservations about mass downzoning of entire areas, Yuen said.

It wants to see the retention of pre-1940 and post-1940 homes, established streetscapes and special historic areas, along with the addition of high-quality new houses and new infill.

“If you have a situation where you can’t conserve a home, we think it’s very important that whatever is going in fits into the context and contributes to the neighbourhood,” Yuen said.

He suggested the city have conversations with neighbourhoods, asking residents what they value.

Meanwhile, Wallace Crescent Houses landed in eighth place on the organization's watch list. It's their first appearance. The cluster of 1930s and 1940s homes are at 2540, 2548, 2554 and 2562 Wallace Crescent and they reflect a design broadly known as “storybook style.”

But the homes are smaller in size and in footprint than is currently allowed in single-family zones, so they're threatened by development. Two are empty, one just sold and two are up for sale. There are currently no incentives, such as allowing for infill, to encourage their retention, according to Heritage Vancouver. It categorizes them as a “special streetscape” on the top 10 list.

Yuen said they’re important because they create a collection of four notable homes.

“In the end, we, as an organization, say that there’s value as a collection, but also the neighbourhoods need to be expressing what they believe is valuable. It may be the houses, it may be corner stores, it may be community character, it may be neighbours doing things together,” he said.

Aside from the Wallace Street houses, also new to the top 10 list are lawn bowling clubs and greens under the category of "historic urban landscapes." They landed in the 10th spot.

“They are natural spaces but they’re associated with the sports heritage of the City of Vancouver and also [serve] as a social place. So it ties into social values and historical sports value and also natural beauty,” Yuen said.

In 2016, Bayview elementary, a heritage school, topped Heritage Vancouver’s watch list, while this year two schools made the ranking — David Lloyd George in the number three position and Simon Fraser annex in the fifth spot.

Celtic Shipyards earned the fourth slot for 2017, while Sinclair Centre landed in sixth position.

False Creek South is in seventh place and in ninth place is the Powell Street area (Nihonmachi or ‘Japantown’).

Ultimately, when considering heritage, Yuen believes it's important to look at the big picture.

“We as a city need to start embracing the idea that heritage is not only about individual objects. Sometimes those are absolutely important but if you look at areas like Commercial Drive or Chinatown, it’s the area in its entirety that’s important,” he said.

“[But] historic urban landscape also respects the idea that we need to grow and we need to accommodate change. It’s a direct response to this idea that heritage is static and it’s trying to freeze places and time. That approach is not what it’s about. Heritage is not only about that — it's about how do we allow for change and allow for new development but make sure that the new development respects the values of that place.”

Heritage Vancouver's Top 10 tour aboard a vintage bus with tour guide Don Luxton takes place Sunday, June 18.