An example of the full history
2339 Yew Street
A wood-frame house in Kitsilano, standing by 1912. Every directory we checked finds a different household: a widow in 1925, a salesman and his wife in 1935, and in 1945 the owner of a cab company.
This is what the $29 full history holds, shown for one of three houses: every line as printed in both sections of the directory, the neighbours, the street, and the page behind every line. The free page for this address is here.
The house
- Built
- By 1912, when the fire insurance map shows a house on the lot. The City's assessment record gives 1910. The 1905 directory has no Yew Street at all.
- On the 1912 map
- A wood-frame house on the west side of Yew, one of the small lots facing Yew at the east end of block 303.
- Today
- Still standing.
Yew Street isn't in the 1905 directory. By 1912 the fire insurance map shows a wood-frame house on this lot, and in 1915 the directory lists five houses on the west side of the 2300 block, 2339 among them. The City's assessment record gives 1910 as the year built.
Of the nine houses on the block listed in 1945, four still stand: 2311, 2321, 2339 and 2343.
The people, decade by decade
Each directory listing as printed, with its page, and the person's line from the name section. *: some member of the family owns the property, to the best of our knowledge (the directory's own mark, printed from 1935).
No Yew Street in the directory.
Braham Wm J
Name section, as printed
Braham Wm J h 2339 Yew
The householder. The name section gives no work for him.
Henderson's Greater Vancouver City Directory, street section p. 173
Witcherley M A
Name section, as printed
Witcherley Jas r 2339 Yew
Witcherley Marie M wid J h 2339 Yew
Marie M Witcherley, a widow, is the householder; James Witcherley lives with her.
Wrigley-Henderson Amalgamated British Columbia Directory, street section p. 135
Scott R
Name section, as printed
Scott Robt D (Muriel) slsmn h 2339 Yew
Robert D Scott, a salesman, and his wife Muriel.
British Columbia and Yukon Directory, street section p. 161
*Manning D J
Name section, as printed
Manning Danl J (Dorothy) prop Seymour Cabs h 2339 Yew
Manning Vernon J mech F Deeley r 2339 Yew
Daniel J Manning, owner of Seymour Cabs, and his wife Dorothy. Vernon J Manning, a mechanic at F Deeley, lives here too.
British Columbia and Yukon Directory, street section p. 159
One household. Names after 1945 aren't shown.
Vancouver and New Westminster City Directory, street section p. 255
The neighbours
The 2300 block of Yew as each directory lists it, odd numbers (west side) first.
1915
| 2311 | Armitage Geo |
| 2321 | Fitzgerald Clarence |
| 2327 | Bourne Robt H |
| 2339 | Braham Wm J |
| 2343 | Deane Thos |
1925
| 2311 | Steeves G |
| 2321 | Haywood W |
| 2327 | Wright N K |
| 2339 | Witcherley M A |
| 2343 | De La Giroday M |
| 2310 | Rathburn A S |
| 2320 | Swan H L |
| 2330 | Chasteney G G |
1945
| 2305 | Grey W P |
| 2311 | Layton A J |
| 2321 | Bileski C J |
| 2327 | Harbour E C |
| 2339 | Manning D J |
| 2343 | McEwan F H |
| 2310 | Dunn Mrs H |
| 2320 | Nicolson J B |
| 2330 | Forsyth B B |
The street and the city
In 1915 only the west side of the 2300 block is built: five houses. By 1925 the directory lists three on the east side too.
Unlike Strathcona's long family runs, no surname on this block lasts from one directory to the next between 1915 and 1945.
How we know
Every year here comes from that year's printed city directory, held by the Vancouver Public Library. Canvassers compiled each one door to door, so a listing is who they recorded at the door, not a legal record of who owned or rented it. Names are copied as printed, spellings and all.
The street section lists each address in order; the name section lists each person with their work and address, which is where the jobs come from. h marks a householder, r someone living there, wid a widow. Anything we infer (a likely build date, a misprinted number, a renumbered address) is marked as inferred. Names are shown up to 1945; later years say only how the address was used.
An example, not for sale yet
Want this for your house?
- Every line exactly as printed, from both the street and the name sections
- The neighbours on the block, decade by decade
- The 1912 map plate and the street around it
- The page behind every line, so you can check it yourself
Not on sale yet.