British Properties | |
---|---|
Neighbourhood | |
Location in Metro Vancouver | |
Coordinates: 49°21′00″N123°08′00″W / 49.35000°N 123.13333°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | British Columbia |
Region | Lower Mainland |
Regional district | Metro Vancouver |
Area | |
• Total | 2,000 ha (4,000 acres) |
Website | www |
Originally known as Capilano Estates, the British Properties is a residential area in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [1] The 4,000 acre area was sold by the municipality of West Vancouver to the British Pacific Properties Corporation in 1931, which continues to develop the land to the present day. [2]
The development is credited with starting West Vancouver's slow transformation from a ferry-access only, resort-style beachside enclave into a leafy suburban community with roads, parks, and shopping centres. [3]
In 1931, the British Pacific Properties, a corporation consisting of a group of investors led by the Guinness brewing company, [4] acquired 4,000 acres of land from the municipality of West Vancouver stretching from the Capilano River to Horseshoe Bay. The land was purchased during the Great Depression, when the municipality was nearing bankruptcy due to residents being unable to pay property taxes. The Guinness family, led by Walter Guinness committed to funding $1 million in local improvements over a five-year period and constructing the Lions Gate Bridge. [5] The corporation ended up paying $75,000 to the municipality for the land with the agreement of $1 million in improvements. [6]
The original landscaping was designed by the prestigious Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm from Boston. Olmsted Brothers was founded by Frederick Law Olmsted—the father of North American landscape architecture and the creator of Central Park in Manhattan, Mount Royal in Montreal, and the innovative Riverside suburb in West Chicago. [3]
The neighbourhood was known for its strict whites-only policy. Property titles including covenants such as barring sales to "any person or persons of African or Asiatic race or of African or Asiatic descent." [7] Jewish people were also excluded, although, eventually, the first synagogue in West Vancouver was built opposite the entrance to the British Properties. [8] In modern times, the resident population is diverse due to the property values and other factors attracting Asian and other international investors. [3] It is said that residents are just as likely to speak Persian or Mandarin as they are to speak English. [8]
West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is to the northwest of the city of Vancouver on the northern side of English Bay and the southeast shore of Howe Sound, and is adjoined by the District of North Vancouver to its east. Together with the District of North Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver, it is part of a local regional grouping referred to as the North Shore municipalities, or simply "the North Shore".
The Lions Gate Bridge, opened in 1938 and officially known as the First Narrows Bridge, is a suspension bridge that crosses the first narrows of Burrard Inlet and connects the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, to the North Shore municipalities of the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver. The term "Lions Gate" refers to the Lions, a pair of mountain peaks north of Vancouver. Northbound traffic on the bridge heads in their general direction. A pair of cast concrete lions, designed by sculptor Charles Marega, were placed on either side of the south approach to the bridge in January 1939.
The City of North Vancouver is a city on the north shore of Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. It is a suburb of Vancouver. It is the smallest in area and the most urbanized of the North Shore municipalities, although it has significant industry of its own – including shipping, chemical production, and film production. The city is served by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, British Columbia Ambulance Service, and the North Vancouver City Fire Department.
The District of North Vancouver is a district municipality in British Columbia, Canada, and is part of Metro Vancouver. It surrounds the City of North Vancouver on three sides. It is largely characterized as a relatively quiet, affluent suburban hub home to many middle and upper-middle-class families. Homes in the District of North Vancouver generally range from mid-sized family bungalows to very large luxury houses. A number of dense multi-family and mixed-use developments have popped up across the district in recent years; however, the district remains a primarily suburban municipality. It is served by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, British Columbia Ambulance Service, and the District of North Vancouver Fire Department.
Tahsis is a village municipality on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, about 300 km (186 mi) northwest of the provincial capital Victoria at 49°55′33″N126°37′16″W. As of 2011, the Canadian census listed 316 residents, a decline from the 2006 Census count of 366 residents. The Village of Tahsis economy used to be dependent on forestry, but after the closure of the local sawmill in 2001, the economy became heavily dependent on sport fishing for salmon and halibut, outdoor recreation and tourism.
Sechelt is a district municipality located on the lower Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Approximately 50 km northwest of Vancouver, it is accessible from mainland British Columbia by a 40-minute ferry trip between Horseshoe Bay and Langdale, and a 25-minute drive from Langdale along Highway 101, also known as the Sunshine Coast Highway. The name Sechelt is derived from the she shashishalhem word shíshálh, the name of the First Nations people who first settled the area thousands of years ago.
Uplands, Victoria is a 188.17-hectare (465.0-acre) neighbourhood located in the north east part of the District of Oak Bay, a suburb adjacent to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and situated between the neighbourhoods of Cadboro Bay and North Oak Bay. Uplands is a prominent example of a garden suburb designed in the early part of the 20th century.
Departure Bay is a bay in central Nanaimo, British Columbia, on the east coast of Vancouver Island. The surrounding neighbourhood is also referred to as "Departure Bay" —once a settlement of its own, it was amalgamated into the City of Nanaimo in the 1970s.
Denman Arena was an indoor arena located in the West End neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. The arena was located at 1805 West Georgia Street at the northwest corner with Denman Street. It opened in December 1911 and was destroyed by fire in 1936. Its primary use was for ice sports such as ice hockey. It was the home ice rink of the Vancouver Millionaires professional ice hockey team, and was the location of 1915 Stanley Cup championships. The arena was also used for other sports, musical performances and public assemblies. It was an assembly point for Canadian servicemen during World War I. The 10,500-seat arena was the largest in Canada at the time, and introduced mechanically frozen or "artificial" ice to Canada.
The history of Vancouver, British Columbia, is one that extends back thousands of years, with its first inhabitants arriving in the area following the Last Glacial Period. With its location on the western coast of Canada near the mouth of the Fraser River and on the waterways of the Strait of Georgia, Howe Sound, Burrard Inlet, and their tributaries, Vancouver has – for thousands of years – been a place of meeting, trade, and settlement.
West Point Grey is a neighbourhood in the northwest of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is on Point Grey and bordered by 16th Avenue to the south, Alma Street to the east, English Bay to the north, and Blanca Street to the west. Notable beaches within West Point Grey include Spanish Banks, Locarno and Jericho. Immediately to the south is Pacific Spirit Regional Park and to the east is Kitsilano.
Edgemont Village is a neighbourhood within the District of North Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada. It is situated between several converging suburbs, centering on the intersection of Edgemont Boulevard and Highland Boulevard, where it is a minor residential and commercial center for local communities. According to the District of North Vancouver's Official Community Plan, Edgemont Village encompasses the shops and tenements along and immediately surrounding Edgemont Boulevard between West Queens Road and Ridgewood Drive. However, it is broadly recognized as taking up much of the hillside plateau between the Mackay and Mosquito creeks, bordering Ridgewood Drive to the north and the Upper Levels Highway to the south.
Shaughnessy is an almost-entirely residential neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, spanning about 447 hectares in a relatively central locale. It is bordered by 16th Avenue to the north, 41st Avenue to the south, Oak Street to the east, and East Boulevard to the west. The older section of the neighbourhood, called "First Shaughnessy," is considered more prestigious and is bordered by 16th Avenue to the north, King Edward Avenue to the south, Oak Street to the east, and East Boulevard to the west. In 2016, the population was approximately 8,810. It was named after Thomas Shaughnessy, 1st Baron Shaughnessy, former president of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Cadboro Bay is a bay near the southern tip of Vancouver Island and its adjacent neighbourhood in the municipalities of Saanich and Oak Bay in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
X̱wemelch'stn, usually anglicized as Homulchesan, is a large community within the Squamish Nation of the Squamish people, who are a part of the Coast Salish ethnic and linguistic group. The name X̱wemelch'stn, translates to "Fast Moving Water of Fish", relating to the Capilano River. The village is one of the oldest and major villages of the Squamish and continues to be so, being the Squamish Nation's most populated reserve. The community is also known as the Capilano Indian Reserve, formally Capilano Indian Reserve No. 5, and is named like the adjacent Capilano River after the Capilano chieftaincy, the best-known Joe Capilano. The name Kiapila'noq means "people of Kiap", and was the title of the supreme chief of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh in the area of English Bay. Chief George Capilano was the chief who met Captain Vancouver at X̱wemelch'stn in 1792, and had met Captain Cook in 1782.
Vanier Park is a municipal park located in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, created in 1967. It is home to the Museum of Vancouver, the Vancouver Maritime Museum, the City of Vancouver Archives, and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. It is also the site of the ancestral Squamish settlement of Sen̓áḵw
Altamont is a neighbourhood of the District of West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The University Endowment Lands (UEL) is an unincorporated area that lies to the west of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and adjacent to the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the lands associated with that campus. Pacific Spirit Regional Park lies within the UEL. The UEL is part of Metro Vancouver. Mail sent to the UEL is addressed to "Vancouver" rather than the UEL.
The Metro Vancouver watersheds, also known as the Greater Vancouver watersheds, supply potable water to approximately 2.7 million residents in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. They provide tap water to a land area covering more than 2,600 square kilometres (1,000 sq mi), serving a total of 21 member municipalities, one electoral district, and one treaty First Nation. From west to east, the watersheds are the Capilano, the Seymour, and the Coquitlam. They are located in the North Shore Mountains and Coquitlam Mountain, respectively. Each watershed possesses a reservoir for water storage purposes, under the control of Metro Vancouver. The reservoirs are supplied by about 3.5 metres (11 ft) of rain and 4.5 metres (15 ft) of snowpack annually. Two additional off-catchment areas under control of Metro Vancouver contribute to the water supply. The watersheds have a long history of controversies surrounding logging, highway development, and salmon run conservation.
Capilano is a neighbourhood in the District of North Vancouver, Canada. It is primarily composed of low density single family residential (RS), but contains a small amount of low density multi-family residential (RM) along arterial roads.