At the dawn of the 20th century, newly formed municipalities on the North Shore were booming alongside the burst of industrial advancement in the Edwardian era.
While commercial enterprises bellowed in Vancouver’s ports, some seeking a quiet residential life moved to the District of North Vancouver.
Early settler George Young Cross was one of the first to settle in the Lynn Valley area, and his home was one of the first built there.
Now, 120 years later, a newly approved heritage revitalization agreement will preserve the home, which had been falling into disrepair on its unkempt property.
At a meeting Jan. 27, district council voted in favour of a proposal to restore the Cross Residence – a registered heritage property – which adds several new homes in the process.
The Cross property was originally constructed on more than 3.5 hectares of land, which the family farmed until the lot was subdivided in 1910.
After George died in 1926 at age 98, and his wife two years later, his youngest child Chester – a soap maker – lived at 1120 Harold Rd. until he and his second wife moved to Burnaby in the early 1940s.
In 1946, Edna and Martin Jensen bought the home. Martin died in 1978, but Edna kept the home as she travelled the globe into her late 70s, and continued to live at the Harold Road home through the 1980s. She died in North Vancouver in 2009.
According to the applicant’s report on the Cross Residence, the home is valued for its connection to the period of growth before the First World War, and its Edwardian-era Foursquare farmhouse architecture. That style was among the most popular in B.C. at the time, and considered to be a reaction to frivolous Victorian designs.
A veranda added around the home in 1911 adheres to the Foursquare principles, and remains an excellent example of the style in North Vancouver, reads the report.
Excellent example of heritage revitalization plan, councillor says
As for the Cross Residence building itself, the plan is to preserve exterior design elements that define the home’s character, while restoring missing or deteriorated parts.
The home will also be relocated to the southwestern corner of the site, and two independent dwellings will be created within the existing structure.
Per the plan, the applicant will also build a new principal residence to the east, facing Harold Road, and two infill houses at the rear.
Agreeing with staff’s recommendation to approve the revitalization agreement, Mayor Mike Little said the plan was a reasonable accommodation to preserve a heritage structure.
“It is, I think, a sensitive density change in that space in order to make this take place,” he said.
Coun. Jordan Back said he’s very familiar with the property as he walks by it often.
“I know it’s been deteriorating over many years,” he said. “The applicant has been working with our staff proposing to revitalize the heritage residence for over two years.
Back said this is an excellent example of how a heritage revitalization agreement should be used.
“It’s in the right part of the neighborhood in Lynn Valley for this this sort of density, and in its proximity to the town centre. And it is in a very walkable, bikeable neighbouhood,” he said. “I look forward to seeing this project move forward.”
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