1280-1282 E 12th Ave

The present two-storey apartment building has occupied this lot since 1925, one of a series of buildings owned by William T. Wenborn and built by Pike and Mason in the same year across the 1270-1290 lots of East 12^th Avenue. For a number of years, Wenborn himself both lived in and ran the Central Meat Market out of the former building next door at 1278 E 12^th Ave. The building that sat between this building and the one at 1260 E 12^th Ave., appears to be fire-damaged in a 1985 archival photo and no longer exists today. Early long-term occupants of the apartments at 1280 E 12^th Ave. include the widow Helen Lawson (1929-1935) and Isaac and Edith Heyes (1936-1950). Isaac worked for the BC Telephone Company, which was for many decades the main provider of telephone services in the province. William T. and Ellen Wenborn also spent their retirement years in an apartment in this building, during the 1940s and 1950s.

According to archival photographs, the exterior of both this building and the one next door at 1284-1290 E 12^th Ave. were altered sometime after 1985 by the application of stucco that either covered or replaced the wooden clapboard siding. The building’s arched entranceway, decorative wooden window frames and cornice were removed as well. Similar features to those that once existed on this building can still be seen on the neighbouring building at 1260 12^th Ave.

Source

British Columbia City Directories 1860-1955, Heritage Vancouver Building Permits Database, City of Vancouver Archives