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657 Union Strathcona	W.C. Ditmar's House 3637 Pine Crescent Shaugnessy	630 Princess Strathcona
This house was built in 1892 for 56 year-old Scottish-born Alexander McKelvie and his wife Agnes. McKelvie was president of McKelivie and Co., whose foundary and machine shops were located just a few blocks west at the corner of Westminster Avenue (Main) and Barnard (Union) Street. This study of 657 Union also includes detailed information on the history of five houses close by 657: 650, 653, 661, 658 and 662 Union. The original residents of this neighbourhood were a mix of middle and working-class people of British, mostly Scottish, origin. By the 1900s this changed to a mostly working class mix, ranging from sawmill and sugar refinery workers to shopkeepers, carpenters, and tinsmiths.   From 1900 to 1911 658 Barnard was home to Luxembourg-born Augustus William Schwan, famous as the owner of Vancouver’s “largest beer emporium,” the Atlantic Bar on the corner of Cordova and Carrall before becoming a sheet metal worker in later life.  “He was an institution in the pioneer days of the city.” By the eve of World War I Jewish and Italian families were moving into the neighbourhood.   From 1931 to 1950 laborer Giulio Stefani and his wife Angelina lived at 657 Union.	This red brick “Georgian Revival” house was built circa 1913 for William Carey Ditmars of Armstrong Morrison & Co., the company that built most of Vancouver’s early bridges including the Granville Street and the original Cambie Street and Westminster Avenue (Main St.) bridges and the now gone Fraser Street Bridge.  Ditmars brought the first horseless carriage to Vancouver. He was also a very well respected businessman. In 1928 the Native Sons of British Columbia awarded him their “Best Citizen” award.   Ditmars lived surrounded by the rich and powerful, the movers and shakers of Vancouver Society. The respect these people commanded and the influence they wielded in their time is reflected by the legacy of city streets, schools, even hydro dams that bear their names.   These people led rather public existences. Their lives and their achievements, even their scandals, are well documented in the newspapers of their day.   The booklet I made for 3637 Pine Crescent includes several pages of newspaper clippings, articles, letters to the editor, obituaries and even a fascinating court case.	With its bay windows and gables, this is a beautiful example of Victorian carpenter’s craftsmanship — and so it should be. This house was built in 1900 for the “Shingle King” of North America, James McNair, president of Hastings Shingle Manufacturing. McNair’s north shore mill was known as the largest shingle mill in the world.    James and his wife Minnie moved out of their home at 630 Carl (Princess) in 1905 and moved to the north shore so he could be closer to his mill to oversee the daily workings of his company.  There in 1907 McNair had a stately house built at the cost of $15,000.00. This second McNair House still exists today. Located at 256 East 6th Street in North Vancouver, it is now a municipally designated Heritage Site. Master Mariner, Captain Robert Percy and his wife Mary lived in the house from 1905 to 1934. The house is still known more for having been the “Captains House” than for having been home to the more famous McNair. Logger Mike Kliparchuk and his wife Stella owned the house from 1937 to 1967. Mill worker Chuk-Suen Kong, his wife Sau-Fong and their family owned and lived in the house from 1976 until very recently.
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