A Lovely Day = an Incentive to Walk AND a Special Vancouver Neighbourhood

Hello DesignTies readers… it’s Rewind Wednesday!!

Victoria here. This Wednesday – today - it’s my turn to re-wind and re-publish one of our favourite DesignTies posts. Because I’m crazy about houses I thought I’d re-share a post originally published on March 14th.

I hope you love my walk to the skytrain as much as I do… well, WHEN I make that walk!! Usually, after a long day at work, I’m anxious to get home so I take the bus instead. But as you’ll see & read in the article below, when I DO make the walk, I enjoy myself very, very much!!

I hope you’ll join us as we Rewind this Wednesday… read how, and find Mr. Linky, at the bottom of this re-post.

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There’s nothing like a sunny day in the beautiful city of Vancouver!

Believe it or not, this is the view from my office – and rain, fog, snow or sunshine it’s always special! True to form, Thursday (the day I took the photos above) was no exception to the rule. I knew it was cold outside, but I also knew that this was a perfect afternoon for an end-of-my-workday walk to the Skytrain. Fresh air, sunshine and and an hour-long walk through some great Vancouver neighbourhoods… sounds like a great way to unwind, hey?!

Vancouver has some fantastic neighbourhoods and one of my favourites is Mount Pleasant; the neighbourhood of my childhood. And my walking-route to the Skytrain takes me straight through Mount Pleasant’s Most Beautiful Block. Such an appropriate name for this lovely tree-lined, heritage home filled street!

If you’ve been a reader of our blog from the publication of our first post – well ;-) from our second post – you’ll know that I LOVE houses! The houses along 100 block West 10th Avenue have always filled me with happiness!! 

There are two different architectural styles that dominate the street – Queen Anne Style cottages and large Edwardian style houses. The Queen Anne cottages came first to the neighbourhood and are dated to the early 1890s. These houses have elaborate wooden decorations including delicate brackets, shingles and turned porch columns. Beautiful!

And my favourite of the Queen Anne cottages…

While I’m crazy about the colourful and romantic Queen Annes, I’m TOTALLY NUTS over the Edwardians! These lovely houses – built in the early 1900s – are simple wood frame buildings with full front porches and heavy porch columns, horizontal wood cladding, dentil mouldings, brackets under the gables… just lots of beautiful but more simplified details (when compared with the Queen Anne style cottages). I’m particularly taken with the houses that have an upper storey balcony with an arched opening and balustrade. So attractive! I can totally imagine the room behind that window as my room!

And on the Most Beautiful Block, all the houses – Queen Annes and Edwardians alike – are very colourful!

Take a look at this special house – the garages in the back have been decorated with fun neon signs. I believe that most of the large Edwardians on this block are multi-residential condos.

The house below is my absolute favourite on the block! Such a perfect example of Edwardian style!!

Thanks for touring 100 block West 10th Avenue, the Most Beautiful Block in Vancouver. But you know what? Vancouver – and it’s surrounding cities – have so many beautiful neighbourhoods! Don’t for a moment think that this is all that we have to offer! :-)

So… over this spring and summer I’ll be taking you on house and neighbourhood tours that will leave you wishing you lived here in Beautiful British Columbia (yep – that’s what we call ourselves – Google it!). Of course if you already live here in the Lower Mainland, your love of the city will be reaffirmed ;-)

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Because the above photos were taken in the late winter/early spring and the trees were bare, I had hoped to get over to 10th Avenue this last weekend so that I could snap some photos. You would have loved seeing the streetscape: large, mature, moss-covered Ash trees lining the street, bridging over top to make a canopy of leaves and branches that filter the sunlight, and postage-stamp sized lawns that are sumptuously green with colourful and decadent gardens!

Unfortunately I never made it into the city! Darn!!

If I promise to walk over there during my lunch hour tomorrow to take a few photos, will you promise to come back and see what I post? I hope so!! :-)  Watch for pics just below THIS paragraph!

 In the mean time…

Rewind Wednesday!

Be summer-time lazy like us!! HaHaHa!! ;-)

Instead of writing a blog-post today, pull forward and re-publish (to the top of your blog) something from your archives!! Then…

Copy and paste the Rewind Wednesday button to your post. That way your visitors will know that you’re participating in DesignTies’ Rewind Wednesday blog party!

Please link back to the host blog, DesignTies, and encourage your readers to come visit us for a list of other Rewind Wednesday blog party participants.

If you’re participating in Rewind Wednesday please be sure to add your permalink (NOT your general blog address) in Mister Linky below. The permalink is the URL of your post. Simply copy and paste.

Go visit the other bloggers participating in Rewind Wednesday!!

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