In West Vancouver, Architect Barry Downs’s Cliffside Home Seeks $4.6M
Location: 6664 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, British Columbia
Price: $4,598,000
Architect: Barry Downs
Year Built: 1979
Footprint: 1,464 square feet (two bedrooms, two baths)
Lot Size: 0.54 acres
From the Agent: "Presenting Downs House II, an essential work by Barry Downs, Order of Canada laureate and visionary behind Vancouver’s civic architecture. His personal West Vancouver residence, recently documented in monograph form, represents a high point of West Coast modernism where architecture and nature converge. Cedar and glass volumes gracefully trace the site’s topography, cascading elegantly across forest canopy and rocky bluff. Skillfully placed openings weave the home’s interior with the exterior, imbuing its spaces with the luminosity of the surrounding landscape. The journey culminates in a living room that quietly frames majestic views of Georgia Strait, unveiling the vastness of sea and sky. A rare chance to steward a piece of west coast heritage, Downs House II awaits its next custodian."
The home was designed by influential Vancouver architect Barry Downs. It’s located at the end of a private drive on a wooded hillside.
The residence sits on a half acre of unprotected waterfront in West Vancouver. The listing agency notes that the area is a prime target for redevelopment, so they’re seeking a buyer who will preserve the home’s architectural heritage.
"The survival rate of homes like this one is very bleak," says Trent Rodney, Cofounder of West Coast Modern. "Unless we are able to find a buyer who appreciates the architectural significance of this home more than the redevelopment value of the land, it is doomed to join the long list of west coast modern homes that have been lost to history."
As the name implies, this is the second home that Downs designed for himself and his family. The first was Downs House I, built in 1959 in the Dunbar neighborhood of Vancouver.
"This is Vancouver’s time to reverse the trend that sees iconic waterfront homes demolished—like Arthur Erickson’s Graham House and Arthur Mudry’s Beaton House—and continue Downs’s vision for Vancouver to join other global cities in saving and celebrating their architectural landmarks," adds Rodney.
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