Homeless in Vancouver: A distressed property on West 18th Avenue

It pained me on Tuesday (September 26) morning to see the old house at 482 West 18th Avenue, stripped as it was of its occupants, its interior walls, its glass and, frankly, its dignity.

It looked so sad.

Actually, with its wide open, empty windows and gaping maw on the first floor, I thought that the house looked terrified.

It even looked like it barfed a load of bricks in its distress!

Hoping for a happy ending

According to the City of Vancouver’s Vanmap, the house at 482 West 18th Avenue was built in 1926 and enjoyed its biggest improvement to date 57 years ago in 1960.

The entire property is fenced off now and the house itself has been virtually turned inside out, with fiberglass and what not piled high in the yard. But there is no redevelopment sign to be seen. Hopefully what we’re seeing—painful as it looks—is part of a big new improvement, rather than yet another demolition.