A Vancouver time travelogue brought to you by Past Tense.
As City Hall scrambles to address its realization that million dollar abodes aren't for most of us, I thought it a good time to remember some of the affordable housing options that our resourceful predecessors came up with, including houseboats in Burrard Inlet and False Creek, squatter shacks in Stanley Park and on Deadman's Island, and of course tree houses.
This Mount Pleasant tree stump contained a three-room home. A note on the photo from city archivist Major Matthews provides the particulars:
Mount Pleasant pioneer's shack in stump, photo taken before 1910. It was built by a Mr Berkman and was on the east side of Seacombe Road, now Prince Edward Street, between 26th & 27th Avenues. The location is now 4230 Prince Edward St. It was reached by a short forest trail from Horne Road, now 28th Ave. The lower stump on right was the kitchen, the lower part of the higher stump on left was the living room. The bedroom, doorless, was reached by a ladder removed in daytime to the kitchen. This photo & particulars was given me by W. J. Moore, photographer, 420 West Hastings St, whose home was nearby. It appeared as an illustration in "Province," magazine section, 29 May 1943.
