Credit: When They Find Us
2786 W 29th Ave., Vancouver
Asking Price: $5,250,000
Taxes: $24,715.60 (2024)
Lot Size: 6,514 square feet
Agents: Jason Choi and Trent Rodney, Royal LePage Sussex
The backstory
Philip and Diana Loh were immigrants from Southeast Asia who moved to Vancouver in the 1970s and settled on the city’s west side.
Mr. Loh, a history professor, and Ms. Loh, a child psychiatrist, raised their three daughters in a typical Vancouver bungalow near Arbutus Street.
The couple often strolled the area’s sloping streets and admired the homes built on the ridge above.
“My parents used to like walking up the hills,” recalls their daughter, Bernadette Mah.
Neighbourhoods such as Arbutus Ridge and MacKenzie Heights were the setting for some notable works of architecture.
The Lohs always aspired to own a home on higher ground so they could enjoy views of the city, Ms. Mah adds.
In the 1980s, when Ms. Mah and her sisters were nearing the end of their schooling, the Lohs began looking at properties on the ridge.
Ms. Mah isn’t sure how her parents learned that the owners of a contemporary house on West 29th Street in MacKenzie Heights were contemplating selling.
The owners were Nicholas and Pam Metal, who commissioned the firm of vaunted architects Arthur Erickson and Geoffrey Massey to design a house on a steep site with views of the mountains and ocean.
Mr. Metal, an audiophile, was seeking a home with exceptionally good acoustical qualities that would enhance the experience of listening to music.
Home of the Week, 2786 W 29th Ave, Vancouver.When They Find Us
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The house of wood, glass and concrete was completed in 1965.
In the mid-1960s, Mr. Erickson and Mr. Massey had won the commission to design the campus for Simon Fraser University, and Vancouver’s landmark MacMillan Bloedel Building would soon follow.
Ms. Mah remembers a trans-Atlantic phone call between her parents and her sister, who was studying architecture in London at the time. The Lohs were wavering on whether they should buy the property.
“My sister really convinced them this was a really special house,” says Ms. Mah.
The house today
In 1985, the Lohs became the second family to own the house on West 29th.
Archival material shows the original blueprints with the stamp of Erickson + Massey, Architects & Planners, along with a contact sheet of photographs by the architectural photographer Selwyn Pullan.
It appears the completed project was never published in the design magazines of the day or tomes by or about Mr. Erickson.
Photos show the entry to the newly completed house on the lower level, with two steps down to a double-height living room. Stairs lead to the dining room, which overlooks the living room from above.
That level, which included a galley kitchen, a primary bedroom and two small bedrooms for the Metal children, was formed around a courtyard with views of a statuesque Cedar and the greenery outside.
When the Lohs decided to add to the footprint, they turned to architect Nick Milkovich of Arthur Erickson Architects, as the firm was known in the 1980s.
The renovation removed a bathroom next to the kitchen and expanded that room to create more space for cooking and an eat-in area, Ms. Mah says.
The addition added a bedroom on the main level at the rear of the house with stairs leading to a new primary suite on a third level.
“The extension is very much in keeping with the original design,” says Ms. Mah.
Today the house has five bedrooms and three bathrooms over 2,775 square feet of interior space.
Much of the interior is finished with rough concrete, including the living room walls, stairs and fireplace.
The home’s blinds were sewn by Ms. Loh on her Singer sewing machine with the fabric from bed linens. She found the dowels and pulleys in a craft shop.
Her intention was to respect the minimalist aesthetic of the house, says her daughter.
“It does remind you of a Japanese house or temple,” she says. “It’s quite inspiring.”
For a time, Ms. Mah and her husband returned with their young son to live with the Lohs, who have both passed away in recent years.
“We lived all together in that house. It’s a lovely house for a family,” she says.
Ms. Mah says the house is in a sheltered setting, hidden from the street by the landscape.
The windows face into the verdant courtyard or provide vistas of the city and mountains.
“There’s a view from every room in the house,” she says.
The best feature
The home’s key selling point for her mother was the living room, says Ms. Mah.
Ms. Loh was a pianist who spent many evenings playing Chopin, Schumann and Mozart, says her daughter, who went on to play her own violin in the home.
“The living room was so suited to having a baby grand piano,” says Ms. Mah. “That’s where the piano has been for 40 years.”
Her parents also loved having parties, she adds.
“We’ve had lots of parties in the house with our musician friends,” she says. “It’s just a beautiful place to play music or listen to music.”