The Heritage House Tour offers a chance to explore a selection of Vancouver’s heritage homes, each with its own story, past and present, from early architects, builders and residents to more recent restorations and adaptations. Running since 2003, it is a wonderful way to explore Vancouver’s diverse neighbourhoods as well as architectural styles, design ideas, and garden landscapes.
Thank you to everyone who took part in our sold-out 2023 tour on Sunday, June 4th. We are excited to announce that our re-imagined Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour in 2024 will return on Saturday, June 1st! Take a peek inside a selection of heritage properties to learn about their diverse history, architecture, and design, as well as connect with local businesses and community organizations and explore the neighbourhoods of Arbutus Ridge, Kerrisdale and Marpole.
Saturday, June 1st, 10am - 5pm
Kerrisdale, Marpole and Arbutus Ridge
$50/40+tax
From a 1913 Arts and Crafts church in Arbutus Ridge and a Dutch Colonial Revival home in Marpole to a stunning Mid-Century modern home and 1925 Tudor Revival Style house in Kerrisdale, take a peek inside a selection of eight unique heritage properties and learn about their history, architecture, and design.
Participants will also have the opportunity to explore other lesser-known places and spaces that have shaped each neighbourhood, as well as connect with local businesses and community organizations.
The tour is self-guided and ticket holders can choose which stops to visit and in which order. Volunteers and your guidebook will offer historical information about each site as well as additional neighbourhood insights. The tour will be well enjoyed on foot, by bike or by transit, although parking information will also be provided. Please be aware that ticket holders are responsible for finding and covering costs associated with vehicle parking. We will also provide information on local transit routes with your ticket.
Please note that the ticket is a detailed guidebook, therefore they cannot be sent via email. You will need your ticket to access the tour stops. All attendees require a ticket. No children under 6 are permitted (infants in front carriers are allowed).
There are a limited number of tickets available for this year’s tour! Tickets will not be available for purchase on the day of the event. If you are waitlisted, you will be contacted by May 30th and notified if there are any tickets available for purchase.
Tickets can be mailed (if purchased before Thursday, May 23), picked up at VHF’s Main St office on the dates listed below or picked up between 9:30 am and 2:30 pm on the tour day at the Info Booth in Kerrisdale (address will be provided to ticketholders 2 weeks prior to the event). All guidebooks will be printed in early May and ticketholders will be notified when the guidebooks have been mailed.
Dates/Times Available for Ticket Pick-Up at VHF Office (3102 Main St)*
- Tuesday, May 14, 9:30am – 4:30pm
- Wednesday, May 15, 9:30am – 4:30pm
- Thursday, May 16, 9:30am – 4:30pm
- Tuesday, May 21, 9:30am – 4:30pm
- Wednesday, May 22, 9:30am – 4:30pm
- Thursday, May 23, 9:30am – 4:30pm
- Tuesday, May 28, 9:30am – 4:30pm
- Wednesday, May 29, 9:30am – 4:30pm
- Thursday, May 30, 9:30am – 4:30pm
*Additional dates and times may be added as necessary. As all VHF staff work remotely, please do not come to the office to pick up your ticket outside of these times without confirmation. Please contact mail@vancouverheritagefoundation.org with any questions regarding ticket pick-up.
Please consider sponsoring a student to attend the Heritage House Tour this year. There are two sponsorship options: 100% or 50%. To learn more about the Student Access Program and how your donation will be used, please visit our website. Please note this is not the same as purchasing a student priced ticket.
Heritage Discovery Day & House Tour 2023
On Sunday, June 4th, we welcomed over 500 visitors to one of Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhoods, Strathcona in a re-imagined version of the Heritage House Tour.
Eight properties were featured during the Heritage Discovery Day & House Tour, representing a wide range of housing styles – from an institutional Arts & Craft chapel turned artist studio and residence to a Victorian-era cottage and a garlic factory that was converted into loft-style condos. A number of additional sites of interest in the neighbourhood were featured through 3 self-guided discovery routes.
Over 120 dedicated volunteers were on hand to guide visitors through each home and showcase the unique features, answer questions, take photos and help visitors navigate the neighbourhood of Strathcona.
In addition to our presenting sponsor, Equitable Real Estate Investment Corp Ltd., we would also like to thank our house sponsors – Buntain Insurance, Disher Construction Ltd., and Solus Trust Company Ltd. – as well as our friend sponsors – Penfolds Roofing & Solar, Quinton Construction, and Stonehouse Team.
I just wanted to say how much my daughter and I enjoyed the tour this year – we love wandering the streets of Strathcona – and loved touring just one area of the city rather than driving from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.
We took transit to Science World and walked to the start of the tour, so better from an environmental perspective too.
I hope you will be able to do something similar next year!
Visitors lining up to enter Fountain Chapel during the Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Kamran Safari
Volunteer at Fountain Chapel during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors at the Places that Matter Info Table during Heritage Discovery Day in 2023. Credit: Kamran Safari
Visitors walking to Fountain Chapel in Strathcona during Heritage Discovery Day & House Tour in 2023. Credit: Kamran Safari
Volunteer Team at Lovegrove House during the Heritage Discovery Day & House Tour in 2023. Credit Kamran Safari
Visitors at the Lovegrove House during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Lineup at Koo's Corner during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors inside Koo's Corner during the Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors inside the MacPherson House during the Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors waiting in line to visit the Baldasso House at the Heritage House Tour in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Kamran Safari
Third floor loft at the Baldasso House during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Volunteer with her sketch of the Baldasso House during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Volunteers at Montreal Bakery during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors at the Lovegrove House during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors reading Walter & Mary Chan House Plaque during the Heritage Discovery Day & House Tour in 2023. Credit Kamran Safari
Volunteer at The Factory during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitor taking photo of house exterior during the Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Kamran Safari
Close-up of the Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour Guidebook from 2023, featuring the neighbourhood of Strathcona. Credit: Kamran Safari
Visitors lining up to enter Fountain Chapel during the Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Kamran Safari
Volunteer at Fountain Chapel during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors at the Places that Matter Info Table during Heritage Discovery Day in 2023. Credit: Kamran Safari
Visitors walking to Fountain Chapel in Strathcona during Heritage Discovery Day & House Tour in 2023. Credit: Kamran Safari
Volunteer Team at Lovegrove House during the Heritage Discovery Day & House Tour in 2023. Credit Kamran Safari
Visitors at the Lovegrove House during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Lineup at Koo's Corner during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors inside Koo's Corner during the Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors inside the MacPherson House during the Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors waiting in line to visit the Baldasso House at the Heritage House Tour in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Kamran Safari
Third floor loft at the Baldasso House during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Volunteer with her sketch of the Baldasso House during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Volunteers at Montreal Bakery during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors at the Lovegrove House during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitors reading Walter & Mary Chan House Plaque during the Heritage Discovery Day & House Tour in 2023. Credit Kamran Safari
Volunteer at The Factory during the Heritage House Tour and Discovery Day in 2023. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
Visitor taking photo of house exterior during the Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour in Strathcona in 2023. Credit: Kamran Safari
Close-up of the Heritage Discovery Day and House Tour Guidebook from 2023, featuring the neighbourhood of Strathcona. Credit: Kamran Safari
Know a house in Vancouver that would be a great fit for an upcoming tour?
Shannon Estates during the 2017 Heritage House Tour. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
2017 Heritage House Tour at Shannon Estates. Credit Martin Knowles Photo/Media
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "This Edwardian-style house was built in 1911 by John Bell along with its two neighbours facing Willow Street. "
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "This large Edwardian home was built by John and Edith Beaton."
The Downs Residence was designed by renowned architect Barry Downs for his own family and is an especially fine example of a West Coast Modern home.
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "A Swiss chalet style Craftsman bungalow of 1910 designed by Gamble and Knapp, features river stone in the garden, leaded-glass windows, half-timbered gables, big brackets and eaves. "
This large half-timbered home, sheltered within its lush street-side garden, started out as a revenue property for a well-known local boat builder. It was built as three units in the former garden of the 1912 house next door, which was later demolished for an apartment building.
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "This large Victorian home was built by George Weeks for his family when the West End was the young city’s fashionable residential neighbourhood. It is now the Diamond Centre for Living and part of Barclay Heritage Square. "
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "This house, built in 1929 by self-employed contractor William Earland, reflects more prosperous times and the taste beginning to form in the late 1920s for Storybookstyle architecture, supplanting the popular Craftsman Style and earlier boxy house forms."
One of the more remote early estates in Vancouver is now Crofton House School in the southwestern corner of the city.
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "As the Dunbar neighbourhood developed in the 1930s with a distinctly modest flavour compared with adjoining Kerrisdale, building contractor Mikkel Nielsen built a one-storey bungalow using the typical five-room floor plan of living room, dining room and kitchen across from two bedrooms and a bathroom."
Shannon Estates during the 2017 Heritage House Tour. Credit: Martin Knowles Photo/Media
2017 Heritage House Tour at Shannon Estates. Credit Martin Knowles Photo/Media
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "This Edwardian-style house was built in 1911 by John Bell along with its two neighbours facing Willow Street. "
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "This large Edwardian home was built by John and Edith Beaton."
The Downs Residence was designed by renowned architect Barry Downs for his own family and is an especially fine example of a West Coast Modern home.
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "A Swiss chalet style Craftsman bungalow of 1910 designed by Gamble and Knapp, features river stone in the garden, leaded-glass windows, half-timbered gables, big brackets and eaves. "
This large half-timbered home, sheltered within its lush street-side garden, started out as a revenue property for a well-known local boat builder. It was built as three units in the former garden of the 1912 house next door, which was later demolished for an apartment building.
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "This large Victorian home was built by George Weeks for his family when the West End was the young city’s fashionable residential neighbourhood. It is now the Diamond Centre for Living and part of Barclay Heritage Square. "
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "This house, built in 1929 by self-employed contractor William Earland, reflects more prosperous times and the taste beginning to form in the late 1920s for Storybookstyle architecture, supplanting the popular Craftsman Style and earlier boxy house forms."
One of the more remote early estates in Vancouver is now Crofton House School in the southwestern corner of the city.
From Heritage House Tour 2019: "As the Dunbar neighbourhood developed in the 1930s with a distinctly modest flavour compared with adjoining Kerrisdale, building contractor Mikkel Nielsen built a one-storey bungalow using the typical five-room floor plan of living room, dining room and kitchen across from two bedrooms and a bathroom."
Past Heritage House Tours
The Heritage House Tour has taken place on the first Sunday in June since 2003. Enjoy highlights of some of the great spaces we’ve featured in recent years and what makes the tour special with our ‘Celebrating the Heritage House Tour’ video below.
Do you or someone you know live in a house that may be a good fit for a future tour? We are always searching for great examples of heritage or character homes to open on our tours. If you’d like to know more, or have your home considered for inclusion on a future tour, contact us 604 264 9642 or by email.
VHF’s popular Heritage House Tour returned in virtual format again in 2022! Through a series of curated video tours, two live events (May 31 and June 2) and our exclusive Heritage House Tour web portal, we explored the stories of six unique properties around the city. We visited a Mission Revival building in Hastings-Sunrise that has been converted to residential townhouses, a 1928 award-winning Tudor-Revival style cottage, a grand Edwardian commercial building, a 1912 Craftsman home in Kitsilano lovingly restored by its current owner, an early passive solar home in Dunbar Southlands, and a Dutch Colonial Revival home in Marpole that has been transformed into a community museum. We will enjoy original interior features, craftsmanship, and unique designs. We explored the history and heritage significance of each building and learned about how they have been restored and adapted for modern living.
In 2021, the Heritage House Tour was offered virtually for the first time. Through a series of curated video tours, an exclusive web portal, and two live events, we explored six properties spread across Vancouver. The 2021 tour featured a 1958 award-winning Mid-Century Modern home in Southlands, an 1890s Strathcona home, a grand Shaughnessy estate home, and a 1928 apartment. Participants were able to experience the compelling stories, past and present, of early architects, builders and residents as well as recent restorations and how these distinct spaces have been adapted for modern living.
In 2019, we explored the evolution of Vancouver’s heritage and character homes. The traditional self-guided tour offered a look inside homes across Vancouver, varying in age and style, each with a unique story to tell. The houses dated back to 1895 including the A-listed 1910 Arts & Crafts beauty Hirschfeld House and the 1895 home built for George Weeks that is now a calming wellness centre in a historic square. The homes spanned six decades of architectural design including handsome Victorian detailing, sturdy Craftsman construction and even influential Mid-Century Modern design. The tour also featured the Downs Residence, a 1959 masterpiece designed by Downs for his own family, is a strong example of West Coast Modernism and has been featured in many design and architecture publications as well as exhibitions.
The future of a site is often found in adaptive reuse, which is a key concept in heritage conservation and the retention of historic buildings. Finding compatible new uses for early structures preserves historic materials and maintains a sense of community. It is also a consistent theme throughout Vancouver’s housing history. Through the decades and adaptations, the history of each home connects to the people who built them, designed them, and lived in them, and helps illuminate the development of the city, its industries, neighbourhoods and communities over the decades.
