Description of Historic Place

268 West 6th Street is a two-storey house with rough-cast stucco cladding, high and narrow in form with wide overhanging eaves. It forms part of the group of mixed architectural style, single-family heritage homes in a historic, planned garden subdivision that borders a wide boulevard in the 200 block of West 6th Street between Mahon and Chesterfield Avenues facing Ottawa Gardens. Because the property of the house originally included the corner lot, a narrow façade now faces West 6th Street with its wide elevation and original front entry facing towards Mahon Avenue.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of 268 West 6th Street lies in its role as a show home for the Ottawa Gardens development. Built in 1908 by the North Vancouver Land and Improvement Company, this residence is valued as an unusual example of Edwardian-era architecture, with asymmetrical cubic massing, wide overhanging eaves and Chicago windows. The North Vancouver Land and Development Company were important local developers who helped to shape the residential character of North Vancouver with the Ottawa Gardens and Grand Boulevard garden suburb developments.

The heritage value of 268 West 6th Street is associated with the early residential development of North Vancouver as one of a group of heritage homes that face Ottawa Gardens as part of the first phase of development in the area prior to the First World War. Designed to attract affluent families to the North Shore of Burrard Inlet, the planning and development of this area was initiated by the North Vancouver Land and Improvement Company at the beginning of the twentieth century and the area reflects a number of architectural styles related to its different stages of development.

Source: Heritage Planning Files, City of North Vancouver

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of 268 West 6th Street include its:
- location on the Ottawa Gardens Boulevard
- compatible residential setback, part of Ottawa Gardens cluster
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its two-storey plus full basement height and irregular, rectangular plan
- low-pitched hipped roof with overhanging, closed eaves
- concrete foundation and wood-frame construction with rough-cast stucco cladding
- exterior elements such as its inset entry; open front porch with square columns and balustrades on the porch and balcony; internal red brick chimney; and original front door with multi-paned glazing
- regular fenestration, including: Chicago-style windows, featuring double-hung windows flanking a fixed sash, located flush to the eaves in the upper storey; double-hung 1-over-1 wooden-sash windows; and triple-assembly window with entablature and cornice on the front of the ground level