Aesthetic interventions as investigations into land theft, ecosystem erasure, real estate speculation, hazards, and resurgence for the Skwácháy̓s neighbourhood of central Vancouver
The last beach house on the south-eastern shore of Skwácháy̓s
2021 June 18 reimagining the original beach house west of the mouth of China Creek now at 1016 East Seventh Avenue * 1P3A0172
The beach house 1016 East 7th Avenue is one of the last architectural remnants, this far east and south in central Vancouver, of a young city and the sea. East Seventh at this point merged with the beach and the tidal flat. The current architecture reflects the shift in function from shack to fortress. For example, there were no sky-lights originally, nor a gate to the verandah, and no Gingko trees [a post-Holocene flourish] or much landscape at all. On of the few remnants of the local landscape is sword fern, Polystichum munitum.
Now for sale with a price that precludes all but the affluent, the building was a simple second home, at best a tasteful shack with a verandah for reviewing the sea, that drifted into abjection as Skwácháy̓s was filled with garbage. To reimagine this building’s original life is to recall the city’s lost options and ongoing follies.
2021 June 17 South-eastern Skwácháy̓s looking east from Means of Production Garden * 1P3A0128 For this far east in central Vancouver, China Creek Park (below) remains at or below sea level. The beach house at 1016 East 7th Avenue would have looked out on to this site as sea and tidal flat.2021 June 17 South-eastern Skwácháy̓s looking east from Means of Production Garden * 1P3A0128 For this far east in central Vancouver, China Creek Park (below) remains at or below sea level. The beach house at 1016 East 7th Avenue would have looked out on to this site as sea and tidal flat.Recently landscaped, this part of China Creek Park is just above the shore of south-eastern Skwácháy̓s with the high tide line below these asphalt walkways and poppies. * 2021 June 18 * 1P3A0167 2021 June 18 * The Beach House at 1016 East Seventh Avenue at Windsor is one of the last of the beach houses, still standing, that were built for people to enjoy the waters of Skwácháy̓s. This simple shack architecture, embellished with a shallow verandah, is now being used to market expensive strata homes. * 1P3A0169The Beach House at 1016 East Seventh Avenue at Windsor is one of the last of the beach houses, still standing, that were built for people to enjoy the waters of Skwácháy̓s. This simple shack architecture, embellished with a shallow verandah, is now being used to market unaffordable housing on the edge of unstable strata. * 2021 June 18 * 1P3A0174The Beach House at 1016 East Seventh Avenue at Windsor is one of the last of the beach houses, still standing, that were built for people to enjoy the waters of Skwácháy̓s. This simple shack architecture, embellished with a shallow verandah, is now being used to market unaffordable housing on the edge of unconsolidated landforms. * 2021 June 18 * 1P3A0171
