Vagatelle

At last count, the Vancouver Art Gallery has used the word "prescient" 87 times to describe the work of some of the artists included in its first triennial -- Vancouver Special: Ambivalent Pleasures.

In a complementary turn, Lee Valley has provided a prescient example of the VAG's new built-to-budget, gallery-on-a-stick design for the front cover of its Summer 2018 catalogue.

Here is the VAG's old new design:

Kingsway

I don't know who designed the Vancouver Veterinary Hospital building at 1541 Kingsway. Judging from its profile and Roman brick exterior, I would guess it was built in the 1950s.

Semmens & Simpson's Collingwood Branch of the Vancouver Public Library (2985 Kingsway) has a similar presence and opened in 1951. The Collingwood VPL was originally painted to match the colour of the earth. In the 1980s it was repainted to mismatch the colour of the sky.

The Vancouver Veterinary Hospital has undergone its share of alterations over the years. Besides its awning (signage?), the one that got my attention occurs at the southeast corner -- what might have been an entrance/exit in the original design, before its steps were turned into a planter and its door a window. And now its most recent "go away" incarnation:

Camera Munda #2

Taken while driving slowly through the town of Lillooet last summer.

Some Powell River Garages

Above are six houses, each with a garage (or provision for one, in the case of the last house). All six are located a block north of the houses in yesterday's post; all except the fifth and sixth run north to south.

The first two garages were at some point turned into discrete domiciles; the second two, like the first two, were painted to match the houses above them (whether the fourth one is a domicile, I am not sure); the fifth garage is at least a patio; the sixth garage is a ruin.

My interest is in the first two garages. Were they modified to house the children of those who purchased the houses above them, adult children who did not leave Powell River but could not afford lodgings of their own? And after those who owned these houses passed away, were these modified garages rented to non-family members, a supplemental income for those laid off at the mill?

Something I noticed during my trip to Powell River was a lack of rental apartments. Where did the first generation of single millworkers live, those too young to afford a house? Did the mill supply worker housing? What kind of town was this?

Powell River Modern

Powell River has some very attractive houses. Most are of the Arts & Crafts variety, and were likely built in the first half of the 20th century.

The house above sits to the right of Marine Avenue as you approach the town centre. As far as I could tell, it was built using standardized wood formats, but it is the scale and siting of these materials that make it an instance of local modern architecture.