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| 5630 Dunbar St. at 41st Ave. 604-684-4613 |
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Things to do in the Neighbourhood: Arthur Erickson House and Garden |
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Arthur Erickson was born in 1924 in Vancouver where he grew up and developed an interest and talent for painting. He attended the University of British Columbia, intending a career in the diplomatic service. During World War II, he was assigned to the intelligence-gathering unit of the Canadian Army where he learned Japanese and served in India, Ceylon and Malaysia. It was here that he became interested in Oriental art and philosophy. A chance encounter with an article on Frank Lloyd Wright and his studio at Taliesin West deeply impressed him and induced him to study architecture. After graduating from the School of Architecture at McGill University in 1950, he travelled extensively in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Japan before turning to teaching architecture, first at the University of Oregon and then at the University of British Columbia. |
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It was while teaching at UBC that Arthur Erickson purchased the property that became his home and garden in 1957. It consisted of a small cottage and a garage/storage shed built on two 33' x 120' lots. The cottage, built in 1924, was tight to the lane at the back of the property, a common and allowable practice at that time so that the owners would have somewhere to live while a proper house was built in the centre of the lot. The main house was never built and it left what had become a unique property and one with a potential which Erickson was quick to appreciate. The herbaceous border garden which had been there when the cottage was purchased soon became overgrown and, in 1959, he decided to bulldoze the garden, forming a pond in front of the cottage and piling the excavated dirt up to form a berm which provided a backdrop to the pond and a privacy barrier to the street. A high fence completed the process of isolating the garden from the outside world and created a private and quite magical oasis in the midst of a suburban neighbourhood. |
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| Some of the garden was paved with brick to create outdoor sitting areas. Planting included keeping rhododendrons, azalea, mountain laurel and firs, while adding ferns, reeds, wild grasses, bamboo, and summer flowers in pots. A final touch was the creation of a stone moon-watching platform at the edge of the pond. The platform forms an aesthetic and spiritual centre for the naturalistic composition of the garden.
Planar surfaces and water features can be found in most of Arthur's projects and can be seen here in the top of the box hedge on the right, the bricks on the left and the white moon-watching platform in the centre. |
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| Three standing stones with a fourth, moss-covered quatrithon celebrate the beginning of architecture from pre-historic times. | ||||||
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| A persimmon tree helps to shade the smaller fish pond. It blooms and produces fruit, but our climate is too cool for the fruit to ripen. | ||||||
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| The city of Vancouver limits the height of fences to six feet, but it also allows the building of up to 90% of the width of the lot inside the property. So, Arthur built a 6" fence on the property line, but 3'3" inside it, he built an eight foot tall "floating" fence, set 3' up from the ground. Originally, bamboo was planted in the space between the two walls, but bamboo fowers once it its life, then dies and that recently happened. They have been replanted. | ||||||
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| In 1960, the cottage and the garage were joined with a link which serves as a kitchen/dining room. The garage, which had become a guest house, was enlarged with the addition of a small greenhouse section (on the right) and became a sleeping loft and a studio where Arthur Erickson has been able to work in serenity and solitude on his singular, creative designs, looking out on the tranquil garden he created. | ||||||
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| The interior of the cottage incorporates many gestures in form and materials that have been aesthetic choices that have become signatures of Arthur Erickson's architecture. | ||||||
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| The berm, made from the earth scraped up from the pond, was also covered with bamboo which also died. It looks good covered in moss, though the bamboo as been replanted. | ||||||
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| Every spring for years, a pair of mallard ducks comes to the garden, their own private spa. Soon after arrival, the female disappears to nest and incubate her eggs and the male comes here to feed. | ||||||
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| Bamboo still extends across the south fence. When the berm was covered with bamboo, it was like walking down a tunnel. | ||||||
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| The path continues through a grove of rhododendrons back to the cottage, so the west fence is mostly hiddden. Viewing the garden from the house, both ends of the pond are hidden from view by foliage, giving the feeling that the pond, and therefore the garden, is bigger than it is. | ||||||
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| In December 2008, there was a heavy snowfall which came straight down on a calm night and piled up about 20 cm of wet heavy snow on trees and bushes. The cut stub in the background is all that remains of a tree which broke and fell under the weight, smashing off the corner of the moon-viewing platform in the foreground.
Sadly on Wednesday, May 20, the day before these pictures were taken, Arthur Erickson passed away at the age of 84. Our tour was led by Simon Scott, President of the Arthur Erickson House and Garden Foundation, and he remarked at the beginning that it would now be very strange to realize that Arthur would never again be in his garden. The Arthur Erickson House and Garden Foundation now owns and runs the property. In 1992, responding to a crisis, a group of supporters came together to spearhead an effort to rescue the house and garden. Arthur Erickson had been forced to declare personal bankruptcy and the property was under foreclosure by the holder of a sizable mortgage, with a probable sale and demolition impending. The 'Friends', as they were first called, were led by founder Elizabeth Watts, a landscape architect, who was joined by Hugo Eppich, Kari Huhtala, and Michael Jeffery. Phyllis Lambert, Director and Founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, offered her support. Over 100 letters of support from all walks of life were written to the City of Vancouver. In recognition of Arthur Erickson's outstanding artistic contribution to our nation and the world, it is the goal of the Foundation to preserve the house and garden of Arthur Erickson as a permanent Canadian heritage site open to the public for education and inspiration. |
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| Recognized for his early, award winning domestic architecture, he achieved national prominence with the competition winning design for Simon Fraser University completed with his partner Geoffrey Massey in 1963. Many notable commissions followed, including the second Gordon Smith House, the Macmillan-Bloedel office building, the Canadian Pavilion at Osaka World's Fair, the Sikh Temple in Vancouver, the B.C. Provincial Law Courts and Government Offices in downtown Vancouver, Roy Thomson Concert Hall in Toronto, the Museum of Anthropology at U.B.C., the Canadian Chancery in Washington D.C., and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma among many others around the world.
At 1049 Chilco St. the differences are subtle, but this was the first building in the 50's with floor to ceiling windows and one thing that drives visitors crazy is the location of the light switches. Arthur couldn't figure out why adults had to raise their arms to flick a switch, so he placed them at waist level, then children could access them too. |
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| The Vancouver Law Courts, often referred to as a building lying on its side. The 3 block long complex contains the Supreme Court in this building, the Provincial Court connected to it by an overpass with a pond on the roof and three waterfalls emptying into Robson Square. | ||||||
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| The UBC Museum of Anthropology. For more information, read our newsletters.
Newsletter #151: MOA Grounds |
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| The Evergreen Building on Pender Street in the Coal Harbour part of downtown. Designed in 1978, the building was recently restored and the evergreen shrubs that usually cascade down from each level, will have to regrow. | ||||||
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| The Portland Hotel on the left was a pro bono project as it was designed to be housing for homeless, drug addicted, mentally challenged residents of the Downtown Eastside, the poorest neighbourhood in Canada.
The Scotiabank Dance Centre on the right is a new building incorporating the facade of an old Bank of Nova Scotia. It opened in September 2001 in downtown Vancouver, on a site donated by its title sponsor. The building has become a hub for dance activity, housing The Dance Centre's programs, as well as rehearsals, classes, workshops, performances and events by dance artists and companies from Vancouver and beyond. Scotiabank Dance Centre generates an estimated 60,000 visits annually. |
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| The Erickson, under construction in Yaletown on False Creek. | ||||||
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| And finally, to maintain the context of this site, the Bank of Canada headquarters in Ottawa. Construction began in 1972 and continued throughout the decade. The building was completed in 1979, and staff were fully installed by 1980. One of its outstanding features was the enclosed courtyard's large tropical garden, bordering a shallow pool. The garden is open to the public and is a popular setting for wedding photographs, especially during Ottawa's long, cold winters. It also serves as the forecourt of the Bank's Currency Museum, which houses artefacts from the 100,000-item National Currency Collection.
A quarter-century later, the Bank of Canada headquarters remains one of Ottawa's most distinctive and architecturally noteworthy buildings. It has undergone only minor upgrades and renovations in that time, and will continue to meet the Bank's needs for many years. |
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| Arthur Erickson's projects display a particular sensitivity to site, careful handling of light, and incorporation of landscape elements, often including water. All of these are demonstrated in the unique design of his own house and garden.
Acknowledgement of the value of his work has included six Massey medals, three Governor General's Awards, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal, the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal, the French Academy of Architecture Gold Medal, and the Order of Canada. The garden and the house in which he has lived and kept his studio for over 45 years have been at the centre of his enormously creative and productive life which has established him as Canada's pre-eminent architect. As such, it has become a significant cultural property in the history of Canadian and world architecture and its preservation is essential. Tours of the Arthur Erickson House and Garden are given on Thursdays at 5:00 from the end of April to the end of October. Larger groups can arrange appointments at other times. To make a reservation, call the Foundation at 604-738-4195 or send an email to aegarden@telus.net. Visit the Arthur Erickson House and Garden Foundation web site. Visit the Arthur Erickson web site. Requiescat in pace Arturus. Other Newsletters about Things to do in the Neighbourhood: |
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Newsletter #147 Newsletter #148 Newsletter #149 Newsletter #150 Newsletter #151 Newsletter #152 Newsletter #153 Newsletter #166 Newsletter #169 Newsletter #173 Newsletter #174 Newsletter # 180 Newsletter #182 Newsletter #196 |
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5630 Dunbar St. at 41st Ave. Phone: 604-684-4613 Fax: 604-266-4515 e-mail: collect@direct.ca |
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