Wordless Wednesday Wanderings

Word-less Wednesday, and I’m throwing a few things in a bag for a quick overnight trip to the island for some toddler snuggles; dinner with my son, daughter-in-law and said toddler; a visit to my hair stylist for a cut and highlights; and a catch-up lunch with a good friend.

When I get home Thursday evening, I’ll have a couple of days to do some more packing and organising before I’m off for a much longer jaunt. You’ll have to pop in again to find out where I’ll land, but I can tell you it’s somewhere that encourages wandering and admiring the architecture…

To get my eye ready, but also simply to enjoy my new neighbourhood in the splendid late-afternoon light of a sunny September day, I went for a long stroll yesterday.

Sadly, I suspect this old beauty may not be with us long. Zoning has not been her friend (she will have watched the area become light industrial, and while there’s pressure now to introduce more high-density residential here, the market will not work in favour of preservation), but she was doing her faded-denim best to shine in yesterday’s sun.

My stroll was actually through an adjoining neighbourhood, but I was back within four or five blocks of home when I discovered a wonderful old brick apartment building. I’m going to have to research a bit to see what I can find of its history. For now, just a few photos of architectural details

Edited to Add: It took my scarcely any time at all to discover this website offering a quick summary of the Quebec Manor’s 104-year history. Those bare-breasted nymphs apparently caused some shock and consternation to barely-post-Victorian Vancouverites! I was delighted to find that the building has been a non-profit housing co-op since its tenants banded together to buy it over thirty years ago, incensed by exorbitantly rising rents. 

That’s all I have time for this morning. Off to sail some local seas in search of a toddler’s giggle….could there be a better quest?

12 Comments

  1. Eleonore
    21 September 2016 / 2:45 pm

    Urban architecture is so fascinating, isn't it? It's art, social history and politics all rolled into one.

    • materfamilias
      23 September 2016 / 3:07 pm

      Exactly, Eleonore — I love its vitality and variety.

  2. Georgia
    21 September 2016 / 4:50 pm

    Remember the children's book 'The Little House'? How my children (and I, secretly) cried over that. Of course we read it again and again.

    You asked me yesterday about the light here in September and how it is different. The sun is very high in the sky in the summer and it seems to bleach things out a bit. In the early fall, it sits a bit lower (of course it passes through this angle in summer as well, but briefly on its way up and down) and the colours are so much more vivid…the sky is BLUE and the grass is GREEN.

    Your trip! Will a jaunt to Napoli be on the agenda…for the sake of research? 🙂

    • materfamilias
      23 September 2016 / 3:13 pm

      I didn't remember that book until you mentioned it — That Virginia Lee Burton! She could really put words and pictures together!

      Yes, that September light — I'm supposing that it will interact with the materials of one city's architecture differently than those of another, and ditto for the surrounding environment. Here, what I always notice is how difficult the driving can be at certain times of the day when that low angle makes the most dangerous glare on a car's windshield…
      I'd love to include Napoli on my intinerary, but I think it unlikely this time round. Still, there's room for serendipity and surprise…

  3. Madame LĂ -bas
    21 September 2016 / 8:15 pm

    Quebec Manor has always intrigued me. I worked at Heritage Hall at Main and 16th
    very long ago and I frequented the Mount Pleasant
    area as I enjoyed long walks. We just got back from the Apollo Theatre after seeing The Go-Between. Do you remember the Alan Bates-Julie Christie movie? When do you leave for wherever? The light in London today is warm and the air is soft.

    • materfamilias
      23 September 2016 / 3:15 pm

      You are so very familiar with this city! I remembered you saying that about having worked at Heritage Hall and thought of you when I stopped to admire its ornate facade the other day.
      I don't remember that movie, but I'm happy your trip to London is including at least one night at the theatre — always a highlight of our visits there.
      Leaving tomorrow . . . will our planes cross each other?

  4. Patricia
    21 September 2016 / 9:03 pm

    My guess: back to Rome? Enjoy your return to the island, however short-lived – so you decided to keep your hairdresser there and not go through the pain of finding a new one in the city? Sounds like a good plan!

    • materfamilias
      23 September 2016 / 3:18 pm

      I'm going to stay coy for now, just for the element of surprise, but that's a very reasonable guess indeed.
      And yes, I realised that booking my next two or three haircuts on the island lets me finish out this transition to grey-with-highlights with a stylist I love and trust and gives me a chance to visit friends regularly. Win-win! That said, I have some good referrals now for when I'm ready to switch to someone closer to home.

  5. LPC
    22 September 2016 / 2:32 am

    I am wholly enjoying your architecture jaunts. And think I see many similarities between SF and Vancouver – is that right?

    • materfamilias
      23 September 2016 / 3:25 pm

      In fact, Lisa, the architects of this building were Townsend and Townsend who moved to Vancouver from San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. Well spotted!

  6. Anonymous
    22 September 2016 / 6:21 am

    Beautiful architecture! I'm so sad that some really beautiful houses have to go…..And than,here are some ugly ruins under protection,for some hidden reasons…
    Enjoy your island visit!
    Napoli and Pompei are very close,Georgia is right 🙂 (if we are talking about beautiful light and research)
    Dottoressa

    • materfamilias
      23 September 2016 / 3:27 pm

      It's very true, isn't it? And of course what's beautiful and what deserves protection is very subjective and there's what too many call "progress" to contend with. . .
      I would love to get to Napoli, Pompeii as well, someday. So many spots on the map that call out, aren't there?

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