1105 Park Dr

Hidden by trees, 1105 Park Drive is partially visible from the front path or from the side entrance on Osler Street. The house is an example of the Early Cottage style with its porch, clapboard siding, columns, and dormer. It is one of the only houses to appear on the historical maps from 1912 in the immediate area.

In June 1910, the Province newspaper launched a sensational subscription drive competition. Whoever could sign up the most new and renewing subscribers to the paper in two and a half months would win a magnificent grand prize and there was a host of lavish runner-up prizes too. It was the recently widowed mother of six, Jane G. Rose, who came out the winner. She had won “The Province Model Bungalow” at the north-west corner of what is today Park Drive and Osler Street in Marpole then called “Granville Park”, with sweeping views south over Lulu Island and the Gulf of Georgia beyond.

This Early Cottage house was designed by the architect and builder Edmund Yule Grasett, known for his Kitsilano developments. It included interior wood panelling, fixtures, fittings and fireplace; furniture in every room, drapery and painted and decorated top-to-bottom to Mrs. Rose’s tastes and specifications. The wood for the construction came specially selected from the BC Lumber Company’s mill by Stanley Park. The latest electrical fittings were wired in by Cope & Son. Barr & Anderson plumbed in the most up to date fixtures. The state-of-the-art hot air heating plant was installed by N.N.Hinsdale. Painting and paperhanging was by McDonell & Cudlipp.

The Province Model Bungalow took over a year to build and Mrs. Rose moved into her new home in February 1912. The street was renamed Park Drive in 1914. Previously called Buckberry Drive after Ed Buckberry. Mrs. Rose lived there for fourteen years until 1926. She was a charter member of the Vancouver branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses, and President of that Order from 1919 to 1924, having a special interest in mothers and infants. She was a renowned organizer and tireless fundraiser for war widows, for POW’s, and for the poor and needy of the city. During WW1, two of her sons joined the Canadian Field Artillery and one the Seaforths and all three served overseas in France. Her three daughters were all nurses and one of them went to France too - one of the famous “Bluebirds”.

She started the Province newspaper’s popular Christmastime Santa Claus Fund, which she ran for 20 years. For her humanitarian and welfare work she was honoured by the City of Vancouver becoming the second ever recipient of the “Good Citizen of Vancouver Medal” in 1923. She was awarded the King’s Jubilee Medal in 1935 and an M.B.E. later the same year in recognition of her lifetime of devotion to public service. She died in Vancouver in 1944 aged 85.

In 1927, the house changed hands to William F. Fraser, a clerk with the Canadian Pacific Railway. William W. Fraser, an apprentice for Bowman and Cullerne, was also listed as a resident. Bowman and Cullerne was an architectural partnership between Joseph Henry Bowman and Harold Cullerne. By 1955, the house had changed hands again to Robert and Isabelle McKean.

As of 2020, the house is painted blue, red, and white –  standing out from the trees around it.

Special thanks to Angus Mackay for his in depth research on the Province Newspaper competition and winner Jane G. Rose.

Source

Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950, British Columbia City Directories 1860-1955, Elizabeth Walker: Street Names of Vancouver, Heritage Vancouver Building Permits Database, The Vancouver Daily Province Newspaper 1910-1912, VanMap, VHF’s House Style Webtool, Vancouver Archives

More information

https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/february-17-1912-page-9-50/docview/2368229548/se-2?accountid=5705