In the early 20th century, the area east of the Seymour River was heavily forested with mostly dirt trails, horse drawn wagons, and very few residents, save those connected to logging activities and to the lumber and shingle mills in the area. It was to this “land of opportunity” that newlyweds, Jack and Christena Gillis, came in 1923, arriving by train from PEI. Jack got a job initially with the Burrard Dry Dock, and then at a shingle mill and finally with the DNV opening roads, including from Deep Cove Highway to the wharf at the foot of Strathcona Road. During this time, he scouted the area and decided to purchase four lots on Harris Ave from Strathcona Road towards the water. The price for each lot was $20! Over the next few years, in his spare time, he built a log house on lot #4. It was eventually completed in 1926. The log house became known as The Homestead and today, lives on as one of the few log homes in the DNV. Amazingly, this year, the Homestead turns 100! Read on to learn more about the construction and evolution of this house and the Gillis and Webb families, who are inextricably linked to this living piece of history in our midst!
The Homestead, date unknown. Photo courtesy of Deep Cove Historical Society
The Gillis Era
John Ernest (Jack) Gillis (b. 1898) and his wife, Christena (McPherson) Gillis (b. 1897) were both Prince Edward Islanders. They married in 1923 and came out to BC by train. They lived in Vancouver and Jack worked at the Burrard Dry Dock, but after 1 month, he decided he didn’t like it. They moved to North Vancouver and Jack got a new job cutting shingle bolts at a mill that was up by the golf course off what was called the Mt Seymour Highway at the time. They lived in a company cabin for 6 months and then built their own house close to the mill.
Their first daughter, Mary Margaret, was born in 1924 and soon they needed a bigger house. Jack Gillis bought four lots on Harris Ave from Strathcona Road for $20 each and Jack decided that Lot 4 was the best place to build a house as they could see the water from the lot. He built the house in his spare time, after 10-12 hour work days and on weekends.
Given that they were surrounded by forests and wood, it makes sense that the house was built primarily of wood. The basement was dug out by hand with pick, shovel and wheelbarrow. The foundation was made of very heavy posts on mud sills. The basement floor consisted of planks and the basement walls were built of cedar posts.
For the exterior walls, Jack bought cedar poles from the District on a stumpage basis. They were skidded down to the Gillis lot pulled by two horses, and peeled on the lot.
The shakes on the roof were made by Jack by hand cut from cedar “snag” trees from his lots. A Scotsman built the fireplace out of granite which came from the quarry at the far end of Panorama Drive in Deep Cove. The mantelpiece, measuring 6’ x 9” with a thickness of 5”, was carried by hand down a trail-like Strathcona Road from the Deep Cove Highway. There were no houses on Strathcona Road from Deep Cove Highway to Harris Avenue at that time.
The house was eventually completed in August 1926. There was no water or electricity initially but by 1927, the water main came through on Harris Ave.
A few years later the basement plank floor and wood walls deteriorated so Jack upgraded to cement for both surfaces. They dug drains around the house to keep the basement dry. The drains ran into the ravine which led to the sea, but there were many rats which came from the ships that used to load at Dollar Mill and they would plug up the drains so Jack built cess pools and sumps which solved the problem.
Initially heated by the fireplace, some years later, the Gillis family got a makeshift furnace in the form of an oil drum, likely using sawdust from the Dollar Saw Mill. There is still a faint, circular line in the basement’s concrete floor from the oil drum, and there are tiny pulleys that are still screwed into the joists above that carried the cord that opened the furnace flap to enable heat to be released into some form of ducting.
Jack Gillis in Workshop, 1942. Photo courtesy of Deep Cove Historical Society
Jack and Christena had a 2nd daughter, Elizabeth Sara (aka “Betty”) in 1927. Both Mary and Betty went to Roche Point School.
The Gillis family also had a cow, a horse, chickens, ducks, rabbits, cats, a goat and a vegetable garden and fruit trees. A true Homestead!
Around 1931, Christena started her career as a storekeeper in the front room of the log house. Originally Christena had agreed to let the bread man and milkman leave their products on her front verandah for the summer visitors in the area, but she decided she could make a bit of money by converting the front of the house into a store. They put a counter and some shelves into their living room. The Gillis family also got the first telephone in the area so this became another service offering for the family’s thriving business. Mary and Betty were kept busy delivering telephone messages, sometimes even rowing over to Belcarra with messages!
The Homestead with a CocaCola sign on the fence (circa 1930’s). Photo courtesy of Deep Cove Historical Society
In 1936, they decided to expand their store business, and Jack built the Strathcona store across the street on the corner. They lived upstairs and rented out the house. Christena operated the store for 30 years with a post office for the last 10 years.
Jack Gillis and daughters, clearing land for the Gillis Grocery with the Homestead in the background. Photo courtesy of Deep Cove Historical Society
The Gillis Grocery. Photo courtesy of Deep Cove Historical Society
They sold the store in 1963 and Jack died 2 years later, on December 3, 1965 at the age of 67.
The Webb Era
The next important era in the evolution of the Gillis Homestead started in 1983, when Mick and Brenda Webb fell in love with, and purchased, the log house. Their daughter Jenny was around three and a half at that time.
Jenny Webb. Photo supplied by Webb family.
The house was structurally sound, but in poor condition, as it had been a rental property for many years after the Gillis family sold it. Like the Gillis family, the Webbs did most of the work themselves. Mick and Brenda spent years restoring the Homestead, removing nicotine staining from the windows and walls, removing layers of wallpaper, repainting the interior and exterior, restoring the granite fireplace and freeing up the double hung windows.
They added crown moldings around the ceiling in the living room and dining room and wainscoting halfway up the living room walls. They also papered the ceiling in an embossed thick paper, and a woodwork teacher from Emily Carr College of Art made an American Black Walnut cap for the granite mantelpiece.
Interestingly, the Webbs discovered that beyond “chinking” between the logs on the inside surfaces with tightly rolled newspaper, there was no insulation in the walls at all, but since the house is warm, they did not make any modifications, but they did insulate the attic.
The biggest project undertaken by the Webbs was a 400 square foot addition at the back. As the original kitchen was so small and dark (basically a boxed-in veranda), the Webbs added a new larger kitchen and family room at the back of the house. They undertook this project on their own over 3 years. The oak cabinets and oak tongue-and-groove flooring were sourced from a house in the British Properties. They originally wanted the exterior to be made with logs but settled for cedar “Log Cabin” siding (that resembles logs).
It is amazing that today, one would not know that this is an addition. It just blends in so nicely with the original house and yet, made a huge difference to the livability of the house for the Webbs. In 2003, the Webbs received a District of North Vancouver Heritage Award in the “Sensitive Restoration” category.
Mick and Brenda Webb on the front porch of the Homestead, 2026, Photo courtesy of Doug Sjoquist
The landscaping contains the original boxwood hedge, a river rock wall and at the southern end of this hedge, beside the lane, is a large cedar tree that was gifted as a young seedling to the Gillis family by a Japanese gardener friend shortly before he was sent to a WWII internment camp.
Connecting the Families
The Gillis and Webb families have a lot in common, beyond their connection to the Homestead. The men share a strong work ethic and are gifted in their building and engineering skills! The women share a pioneering spirit, supporting their husband’s projects in whatever way they could. Both women lived for years in a partially completed house, raising children and cooking in less than adequate conditions. The families’ tenacity and devotion to the improvement of the Gillis Homestead resulted in a house that has stood the test of time.
The above images include Christena Gillis in thechair carved by Jack Gillis, 1966 (photo courtesy of Deep Cove Historical Society) and Brenda Webb in the very same chair, 2026 (photo courtesy of Doug Sjoquist)
What is amazing is that the two families have been lucky enough to become acquainted and have stayed connected over the years. Mrs. Christena Gillis visited the Webbs soon after they bought the house and as she looked around, she wistfully remarked “There’s a lot of my husband in this house – he was a lovely man.”
As well, one of Jack and Christena Gillis’ granddaughters gave the Webbs the original sign that Jack Gillis, her grandfather, made that hung on the front porch. It is a large slab of wood measuring 4’6’’ long x 13’’ deep x 2’’ thick, and in perfectly hand carved formal letters, it reads “The Homestead”.
And on Mother’s Day, 2022, the Gillis’ older daughter, Mary, was surprised by her daughters, Colleen and Valerie, with a visit to the Old Homestead. Ninety-eight years old at the time, imagine the memories that would have come back to Mary as she visited the house where she grew up, in a time so different from today!
Mary (Gillis) Babcock, May 8, 2022 on the front verandah of the Homestead
And now four years later, the Homestead is 100 years old and Mary is 102 years old! Two very good reasons to celebrate! And celebrate, we will! If you are interested in joining us, please send a message to North Shore Heritage and if we still have room, we’ll add you to the guest list.
Except where indicated, text and images Copyright @ North Shore Heritage and Mick Webb. All rights reserved. Republication in whole or in part is prohibited without the written consent of the copyright holder.
References and Gratitude:
The Story of the Gillis Homestead by Mick Webb (We wish to thank Mick Webb as the majority of the content of this blog came from his well-researched story)
Audio - Deep Cove Heritage Society – Deep Cove Historical Society audio recording of Christena Gillis (1987)