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Ever Evolving Edgemont

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It was a housing crisis that led to the development of Edgemont Village. This probably sounds familiar; a housing crisis due to a lack of affordable homes for families! But this crisis occurred just after the Second World War!

Unlike today’s scarcity of land for new-builds, during the post-war era, there was lots of land that turned into lots for sale at less than $1000 each! On the North Shore, undeveloped land in the 1940s covered mile upon mile of dense rain forest of first and second growth fir, hemlock and cedar. Some trees had stood their ground for centuries until felled for timber and land clearance. Dendrochron, the eye-catching art installation at the corner of Ridgewood and Edgemont Blvd, depicts the girth, bark and rings of an ancient forest giant. The sculpture is described by the District of North Vancouver as referencing pre-colonial forests, the local history of industrial logging, and the West Coast Modern culture of Edgemont Village.

Dendrochron sculpture  at Ridgewood and Edgemont. Photo, courtesy of Colin Lawrence.

Short steps away from the sculpture is where, in the late 1940s, Service Realty set up shop in a log cabin field office at Ridgewood and Edgemont Blvd.  Pamphlets from the time advertised the area as “A Garden of Dreams” selling dream homes for families. It was a man named John Eric Allan, an R.C.A.F, WWII veteran, who became a realtor and developer and opened up Capilano Highlands.

Service Realty's second field office at Edgemont Blvd. and Ridgewood Dr. for Capilano Highlands development. Date: [ca. 1947]. Inventory No 13080.  Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives. 

The company started as Ridgewood Estates in 1938, the same year the Lions Gate Bridge opened, creating a direct road link to and from Vancouver which spurred North Shore development. But 1939 brought war, and development was put on hold.

In the late 1940s, Allan sought a partnership with renowned architect Fred Thornton Hollingsworth to develop affordable, modern West Coast Homes, such as the Neoteric and the Flying Arrow, for middle-class families.

The street layout for the homes moved away from the grid system of Vancouver, and other areas, in favour of a street pattern that followed the natural contours of the sloping topography, with no pedestrian sidewalks, no corner stores and, at that time, no buses. A car became a necessity. A convenient drive-to shopping area emerged with essential shops and gas stations. The area became known as Edgemont Village. 

Unlike the thought and design put into the rapidly growing sub-divisions surrounding the village, there was no cohesive plan and for decades, the area developed organically in an uncoordinated and architecturally disconnected way. So uncoordinated that businesses had been established before sewer and road infrastructure was constructed in 1956. The 2014 DNV Edgemont Village Plan says “there is no one single dominant architectural character. Rather the Village reflects an eclectic range of architectural eras and styles. Varying building heights, rooflines and materials are typical, and contribute to the Village’s unique character.”

1956, sewer work and road construction in Edgemont Village. Inventory No F106-S24-3  Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.

Edgemont Village has been described as “one of North Vancouver's most precious jewels.”  Since its beginning, the village has seen buildings and businesses come and go, including at least three service stations. Many original buildings remain today. They are single-level, basic wood frame structures that today exist among newer concrete buildings of varying design and heights. These original structures are the perfect size for small, locally-owned, independent businesses that have contributed to the village's attraction and success for decades and where today, 80% of the small businesses are owned by women.

It has been a butcher, baker, candlestick maker model that is now endangered by increased costs that include rents and taxes. The District of North Vancouver’s website says a goal of the district’s Edgemont Village plan is “to maintain and enhance the unique street pattern and streetscapes, the low-rise scale and eclectic diversity of buildings and small-scale stores, the sense of neighbourliness and community, and the village's walkability and pedestrian-friendly character.”

The one remaining service station, a Chevron, will close soon. It sits in the village centre and the site has a development application before the DNV for a substantial low-rise, four-storey mixed-use structure with underground parking. Most of the neighboring structures are 1 to 2 storey commercial buildings, many of them originals. Behind the Chevron station on Woodbine, there is a three-storey mixed use residential-commercial building. If the project at the Chevron site were to proceed, it would require an OCP amendment and a rezoning.  

1965, Structures that remain in use today, Highlands Optical, 3104 Edgemont Blvd and the Chevron Station at 3150. Inventory No F106-S24-12, Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.

Past and Present

In the 1940s, the first village pharmacy, Casper’s, was located at 3139 Edgemont Boulevard, directly across the street from the Chevron Station. In the early 1960s, competition arrived with Isaac’s Rexall Pharmacy in a new 1960s building where Kidsbooks is today. In the same building, north from independent Kidsbooks, a post office and stationery store served the village in recent years until Canada Post’s cost cutting cut out a village post office and the stationery store closed at the end of January 2026.

Isaacs Rexall Pharmacy, 1960s, Inventory No F106-S24-15, Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.

To the south, sits an original one-storey, two business structure that in 1949 was Dr. Reid Townsley's Office at 3028, and at 3026 the Edgemont Beauty Salon. Today, 3026 is a Subway and 3028 a hair salon.

1949 photo of 3026 & 3028. Inventory No 533, Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.

Also in the 1940s, the Queen's Market operated in a single-level structure at the corner of West Queens and the Boulevard. A market remained at that corner, but became a two-level structure, until this past December, when Peter Young, the local owner of The Columbus Market, closed the doors after 30 years due to rising rents and other costs. Next door, at Woodbine and Queens, there is an unused parking lot that used to be a Petro Canada Station.   

Queen's Market at corner of Edgemont Blvd. and Queens Rd. 9 January 1949 Inventory No 535, Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.

Queen's Market, 3012 Edgemont Boulevard, March 1990 Inventory No F34-SF2-S10-SS1-f3-4, Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.

Edgemont Commons is a three-level commercial building, constructed in 2014, located across the street from the original one-level structure that was Dr. Townsley’s office years ago.

Next to the Commons, a three-level mixed-use residential and retail building opened in 1997 at Highland and the Boulevard. It was designed with covered outdoor street level areas that give shelter in wet weather, a feature that works well for Robin Delany’s locally owned coffee shop. The mansard-influenced roof line reduces the visual impact of its three levels.

Prior to the establishment of these two buildings, a Texaco Gas Station sat at the corner of Highland and the Boulevard. South of that, where the Commons stands, were several street level businesses set back in a strip mall design with off-street parking. 

Texaco Gas Station at Highland and Edgemont Blvd. Inventory No F106-S24-14, Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.

From Delany’s, it is steps to the Capilano Branch of the DNV Library, which opened in 1964 with additions in 1969 and 1985. It was probably the first building in the village with an elevator.

At the corner of Highland and Woodbine, a franchised coffee shop and a pizza restaurant occupy a building that was once home to Hollyburn Lumber and then to Gardenworks. 

Across the street from Delany’s, on the same side, is an original single-level building that received an updated façade some years ago. There you will find a baker, barber and butcher in a row. The baker, Cobs Bread, is part of an Australian-based franchise which opened its first Canadian location in Edgemont Village in North Vancouver in 2003. For several decades prior, it was the Danish Pastry Shop, a mom & pop business with pop as the baker and mom in the front shop. It first opened in 1957 with a baker, Fred Petersen, and then changed hands three times, always run by a husband-and-wife team. In the nineties, a specialty was Village People cookies, small human-shaped treats. The barber shop is a family-owned-and-operated barber shop in the village since 1960, the oldest barber shop business in North Vancouver. Next door Edgemont Gourmet meats is also a family-owned business of many years; owner Konrad recently took over from Rocky with whom he worked for several years. Further along the block past Starbucks, at 3139, Russ Jensen ran Garnier Hardware for several years before it closed. 

Russ Jensen at Garnier Hardware in 1984 at 3139 Edgemont Blvd. Village Grand Opening after moving from 3151. Inventory No 11348, Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.

Directly across the street is a row of original structures. One building has a second-floor walk-up apartment. The store on the corner was for 33 years the much-loved Edgemont Village Jewellery Shop run by Mike and Jean Violette for 25 years and then by their daughter Sherry until 2018. Next door is Highland Optical, a longtime village fixture since 1964, owned by local resident Sharyn Webber, who has always been an active member of the Edgemont Village business community.

1994 Highland Optical and the Jewellery Store, Inventory No F34-SF2-S19-f3-15, Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives. Note that a centre landscaped median and trees have appeared and the 3-storey structure behind the Chevron Station can be see. It is now grey in colour.

This block is the same block as the Chevron Station that could be replaced by the 4-storey mixed residential-retail building with underground parking. Up a block and across the street is a row of original single-level buildings. For many years, the corner store was home to longtime local resident Marlene Tate’s business Trims, which is now on Woodbine. It has been replaced by a Yogurteria owned by a local couple who also took over the former Peter Rabbit convenience store next door, making it a daycare facility. Further down the block is 32 Books owned, for over 20 years, by longtime local resident Deb McVitie, who bought the business from another woman, Mary Trentadue. Trentadue is the Italian word for 32. 

3100 Block Edgemont Blvd. [ca. 1955] Inventory No 11344. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.

Longtime North Vancouver residents will remember the SuperValu located steps from 32 Books on Connaught Crescent. It started life on Edgemont Boulevard and was a family-owned independent business that ran under the SuperValu banner and closed in 2013. This area changed dramatically with the development of the Grosvenor Building that opened in 2019 with mixed residential and retail including condominiums, townhouses, restaurants and shops that include Shoppers Drug Mart and Thrifty Foods. Like Edgemont Commons, at the other end of the village, its location presents an entry to the village. The Grosvenor and Dendrochron sculpture overlook the site of realtor and developer Allan’s 1940s modest office at Ridgewood and Edgemont.

SuperValu on Connaught Crescent. Inventory No F34-SF2-S19-f3-14, Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.

Much of the village maintains a low-rise built form character and scale, with buildings ranging from one to three storeys with, as identified in this article, many original structures and a significant number of locally-owned independent businesses that have significantly contributed to the unique charm and ambience.

The DNV’s O.C.P.  2024 white paper report says that: “independent businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to survive (and) that the vibrancy of the District’s neighbourhoods depends on independent businesses”. The village area is undergoing ongoing and rapid development of condos, townhouses and retail outlets in the immediate peripheral area. Highland Optical owner, Sharyn Webber, wrote in a 2016 letter to the North Shore News that “conducting business here has become challenging for all of us, since the aptly described “tsunami of development” struck our community”.  Dealing with ongoing construction has been stressful for the village. Increased property values, taxes and costs are contributing to the difficulties some independents are experiencing and, in some cases, those businesses have closed up shop.

Edgemont has been, and is, an ever-evolving village that started life as a small, rough diamond to become a North Shore jewel with a distinctive community character. Its attraction lies in what it is and in what it is not. It’s not a shopping mall comprised of standardized chain stores. It is a community where, for years, local independent business owners have been able to mind their own business. But, can it remain so?

How would you like to see the Village evolve? Scroll down to the Comments and let us know!

 

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