Photo - Address: 4085 West 33rd Avenue Built: 1930* First Owner: Alex T. Hewer, Manufacturer's Agent, and wife Gladys* Status: DEMOLISHED * The City Directories (not always accurate) first list this house in 1938. However Dunbar resident Terry Slack posted this story of the house on the Dunbar Mail List. Even a modest house like this is handcrafted from the best materials available and built to endure. Sustainability = the capacity to endure. “The Dunbar cottage was build in the winter of 1930 by a unknownbuilder and was not the first home built on 33rd Avenue. The builder, who could have been Caldwell House Construction and used good first growth B. C. Douglas Fir full dimension lumber for the framing. In1930 the little cottage was probably connected to a concrete built "Sewage Septic Tank" located some were on the property. It had afairly low basement ceilings because the manual hand digging crewran into the famous "hard as the hubs of Hell” Dunbar blue claylayer about 4 feet down. That kind of determined how high thebasement ceiling might be! The house survived numerous Earthquakes, as it was sheathed with "Douglas fir ship Lap" and could move a little during the shaking. Locally produced and still famous "Tree Island Steel" hammer driven-in nails that lasted forever were used as fastenings, not staples, and they held the house securely together for 85 years. All the outside walls and floors were criss-crossed with ship lap and trimmed true to the outside floor joists with small carpenter axes, not power saws. All window sash and trim were made from # 1finishing Fir and a few fancy leaded windows were included for the front of the house. No Hemlock wood was used anywhere in the building of the house. The roof was made from "Number 1 Red Cedar Shingles" probably made at the "Red Band Shake and Shingle Mill" located at Boundary Road and the North Arm of the Fraser River. The roof eve gutters were also made from #1 Douglas Fir and coated on the inside with coal tar before they were installed. All downspouts were made from double hot dipped galvanised tin and the corner parts were soldered together and screwed onto the barge boards with brass screws. Now all the concrete was probably made with mixers and placed by a crew on the site into ship lap built forms and when they were removed, they were used as exterior sheathing. The Red Clayburne Brickdrain tiles around the house carried the roof water down into a natural drainage, or out into city-installed sidewalk drain tiles. The little house was clad with overlapping fir or cedar siding or horse hair and mortar stucco, with scattered decorative pea gravel onthe outside. All exterior wood was double undercoated and finished with a lead base oil paints. Many 1930 houses were constructed by wooden ship builders, who built them with "lasting a very long time" in mind, using the best of soft and hardwoods that could be found insome specially Vancouver lumber yards during the beginning of a world wide depression. Many families have moved into the little cottage over the years, from teachers to symphony conductors and all enjoyed living here close to today's Pacific Spirit Park. Please feel free to ask questions: Terry at: tslack33@ gmail.com

Address: 4085 West 33rd Avenue Built: 1930* First Owner: Alex T. Hewer, Manufacturer's Agent, and wife Gladys* Status: DEMOLISHED * The City Directories (not always accurate) first list this house in 1938. However Dunbar resident Terry Slack posted this story of the house on the Dunbar Mail List. Even a modest house like this is handcrafted from the best materials available and built to endure. Sustainability = the capacity to endure. “The Dunbar cottage was build in the winter of 1930 by a unknownbuilder and was not the first home built on 33rd Avenue. The builder, who could have been Caldwell House Construction and used good first growth B. C. Douglas Fir full dimension lumber for the framing. In1930 the little cottage was probably connected to a concrete built "Sewage Septic Tank" located some were on the property. It had afairly low basement ceilings because the manual hand digging crewran into the famous "hard as the hubs of Hell” Dunbar blue claylayer about 4 feet down. That kind of determined how high thebasement ceiling might be! The house survived numerous Earthquakes, as it was sheathed with "Douglas fir ship Lap" and could move a little during the shaking. Locally produced and still famous "Tree Island Steel" hammer driven-in nails that lasted forever were used as fastenings, not staples, and they held the house securely together for 85 years. All the outside walls and floors were criss-crossed with ship lap and trimmed true to the outside floor joists with small carpenter axes, not power saws. All window sash and trim were made from # 1finishing Fir and a few fancy leaded windows were included for the front of the house. No Hemlock wood was used anywhere in the building of the house. The roof was made from "Number 1 Red Cedar Shingles" probably made at the "Red Band Shake and Shingle Mill" located at Boundary Road and the North Arm of the Fraser River. The roof eve gutters were also made from #1 Douglas Fir and coated on the inside with coal tar before they were installed. All downspouts were made from double hot dipped galvanised tin and the corner parts were soldered together and screwed onto the barge boards with brass screws. Now all the concrete was probably made with mixers and placed by a crew on the site into ship lap built forms and when they were removed, they were used as exterior sheathing. The Red Clayburne Brickdrain tiles around the house carried the roof water down into a natural drainage, or out into city-installed sidewalk drain tiles. The little house was clad with overlapping fir or cedar siding or horse hair and mortar stucco, with scattered decorative pea gravel onthe outside. All exterior wood was double undercoated and finished with a lead base oil paints. Many 1930 houses were constructed by wooden ship builders, who built them with "lasting a very long time" in mind, using the best of soft and hardwoods that could be found insome specially Vancouver lumber yards during the beginning of a world wide depression. Many families have moved into the little cottage over the years, from teachers to symphony conductors and all enjoyed living here close to today's Pacific Spirit Park. Please feel free to ask questions: Terry at: tslack33@ gmail.com

from https://www.facebook.com/VancouverVanishes/photos/a.518051718235571.115896.518041868236556/1122136974493706/?type=3