Another Boyd Residence open house

Next public Open House is slated for July 22 (Sunday) 2 to 4. If you missed the last one, here is another chance!

Ron Thom's Boyd House

Another lovely Ron Thom House is on the market in search of one lucky owner. I got a chance to visit and it turned out to be one of my Thom favourites - definitely high up on that list. It is no wonder that it is the Boyd/McPhedron House that inspired young Paul Merrick to become an architect.

The house is modest but very well appointed - and much improved by the efforts of its current owner. The skylights she has had installed in many rooms of the house flood it with light, opening up dark and sheltered spaces fairly typical of Ron Thom's designs. The skylights combined with concrete block, clear hemlock siding, and a precast ornamental frieze in the manner of Frank Lloyd Wright make this house quite singular to me. 

The house is now listed and there will be an open house this Sunday July 15th from 2pm to 5 pm.

Until then, here is a mother lode of my photos (if you wish to see these bigger click on any one photo to view them bigger and as a slideshow):

Click here to see more of my images below the break....

Coast Modern's Vancity Schedule

Baldwin House - Image Mega Post

Recently I had a chance to visit Baldwin House on Deer Lake in Burnaby, designed by Arthur Erickson and finished in 1965. Currently the house is owned and managed by The Land Conservancy of British Columbia and is available for short term rentals. 

The house description:

    A cohesive expression of simple orthogonal lines and ultimate transparency, this structure reduces the idea of post and beam west coast modernism to its most refined elements. A fine example of the evolving talent of Erickson’s earlier work, this house is a landmark modern house in Burnaby and is unique in terms of sitting context.
     Only a single storey of this two storey house is visible from the road, as it is built into the hillside in response to its steep site and proximity to Deer Lake.  Like many other Erickson designs, this structure was conceived as a pavilion.  Constructed of glass and wood, its transparency facilitates visual access to the lake’s edge, acting as an invitation, rather than a barrier, to the landscape.  The house blends into the natural surroundings and the site includes other man-made landscape features such as a reflecting pool.
    The refined and purposeful design, transparency, openness of plan and adjacency to the lake combine to give the house a floating appearance at the water’s edge.

(TLC website) 

Below are more of my images - you can enlarge them by clicking on individual images. Works nicely for the panoramas: 

 Here is a lovely article on Baldwin House in BC Mag.
 An article with quite a few images on Designkultur.