1116 Bute St, Vancouver. In 1990, when I painted this piece, I changed the address number on the house in this painting to anonymize it’s location out of respect for it’s owners, but it turns out I didn’t have to. It’s now a very well known Vancouver heritage site. According to Vancouver Heritage Foundation, as sourced from the Mole Hill Community Housing Society’s documentation and publications, this house was built in 1908 and is an excellent example of Edwardian architecture. Percy Neville Smith was the first builder/owner.
My title is, technically, a misnomer. I didn’t know what style of house this was back in 1990, but being long and so close-set to its similar neighbours, it somehow, reminded me of the much less attractive Vancouver Special style houses that popped up everywhere from the 60’s to the 90’s. I still like the title for this scene. Suffice to say, it’s in Vancouver and I found it to be Special.
https://www.heritagesitefinder.ca/location/1116-bute-st-vancouver-bc