When it was built, the small octagon-shaped summer house on a rocky West Vancouver outcrop was a decidedly fancier version of many beach cottages that dotted the landscape.
At the time, West Vancouver was a much more remote and more rural community than it is today.
“What is really interesting is what it signifies,” said heritage consultant Donald Luxton. “You don’t really think of West Vancouver as cottage country.”
Now, the small 1938 summer cottage at 6043 Gleneagles Close, known officially as the “Finqueneisel Summer House”, has had a temporary stay of demolition granted after West Vancouver voted Monday night to give it 60 days’ protection.
The vote allows stop-gap protection of heritage structures in cases where owners have requested demolition permits.
In this case, the building being temporarily protected isn’t the main structure on the property – the summer house, which Luxton described as the size of a garage, is set back on a narrower outcrop on the lot, overlooking Howe Sound.
The octagon-shaped building was designed for owner Andree Finqueneisel, a teacher at York House Girls School in Vancouver, by architect Theo Komer.
Komer was well-known at the time, and had designed a number of larger homes in West Vancouver as well as the art deco Bay Street Substation in Victoria.
“It’s one of the more unusual and sophisticated of the summer homes,” said Luxton, adding Finqueneisel apparently built the vacation house after inheriting a small sum of money.
The cottage’s appearance on the heritage inventory doesn’t grant it any permanent protection. But it does offer a chance for the owners to negotiate special agreements in return for protecting heritage buildings.
So far, municipal staff have sent a number of emails to the owners, offering to discuss potential options for keeping the cottage. But “so far the owner has not indicated that they would like to meet or have further discussion with staff,” according to Michelle McGuire, with the planning department.
Peter Miller, of the North Shore Heritage Preservation Society, said the summer house “stands for the more modest holiday cabin atmosphere that West Vancouver started from.”
“I’m glad West Vancouver is paying attention to this now,” said Luxton. “I applaud their efforts to protect some aspects of their history.”
