If you saw a house being transported by barge in West Vancouver waters over the weekend, it wasn’t a dream.
Crowds flocked to see a 113-year-old Vancouver heritage house shipped to its new home at 4777 Pilot House Road in West Van’s Caulfeild Cove neighbourhood Sunday afternoon (Oct. 19).
“People seemed pretty pleased. Who wouldn’t want to see a lot of heavy machinery bring an old house up a hill? It was just an enormous barge, it practically filled the whole cove,” Susan Walker, owner of the heritage home, told the North Shore News the day after the move.
Workers from Nickel Bros, a company that specializes in residential house moves, loaded up the house on the special barge, tugging it down the Fraser River across Burrard Inlet to make it to the final destination.
Dozens of people gathered to watch the move, standing near the coastline to see workers unload the home off the barge onto land using chains and a crane. The home was moved in parts, as it had been cut in half 11 years ago for easier transport.
Originally located in Kerrisdale, the heritage house was designed and built in 1912 by Canadian architect William A. Doctor and his Scottish business partner William Fraser Tytler Stewart.
Movers worked hard to get the hefty task done, finishing around 10 p.m. Sunday, Walker said.
Now, Walker will be waiting on the final touches to get the house to living condition, including a new foundation and plumbing installation. On her end, she will be working on growing plants such as wisteria and roses that once hugged the house at its former location.
You can read the full story about the heritage house and why it moved to West Vancouver here.
