What's so special about Vancouver?

I live in Vancouver, actually the boundaries of Vancouver end about four blocks away from where I live but whatever. I’d say about 50% of the houses in my neighbourhood are the eyesore we call Vancouver Specials. A Vancouver Specials usually have brick on the ground floor façade, stucco on the upper floor facades and a balconies that stretch across the front of the house.

 

 

I never knew that these types of houses were unique to Vancouver until I started watching House Hunters on HGTV. Imagine my surprise when I failed to see a single Vancouver Special on the show which typically had couples looking for houses in the United States. This realization made me want to learn more about this unique aspect of Vancouver architecture.

 

This one is currently for sale for 929 K, gotta love Vancouver real estate.

 

I’ve been inside several Vancouver Specials and can basically tell you that they all pretty much have the same floor plan. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering that when I enter one I never have to ask where the bathroom is.



The kitchen in the Vancouver Special above is basically a carbon copy of the one I have at home. Trust me this isn't by choice.



 

Thanks to the fact that I'm been HGTV like eight hours a day, I've been fantasizing about how I would give go about renovating one of these Vancouver Specials. Luckily I'm not the first and there are actually quite a few examples available online. Most of these look like the one below and take on a sort of West Coast Contemporary design (although this one has shades of mid-century). It's not really my style but I'm sure the house looks a million times better than before.

But this one, this one is my favorite.