Owner of four iconic Vancouver houses decides to sell after 52 years

Since 1973, John Davis has been working on the restoration of a collection of brightly coloured heritage houses on West 10th Avenue, in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. The eye-catching project, undertaken by his mother, father and brother in the early years, became a landmark for anyone who walked along the leafy street west of Main Street, in the block between Columbia and Manitoba streets.

They bought up eight houses in total, restoring them to their Victorian and Edwardian glory, painting them the bright jewel colours, becoming Vancouver’s version of San Francisco’s famous “painted ladies.” All the houses have heritage plaques. Inside Mr. Davis’s house is a wall of framed heritage awards. But theirs was a labour of love, a passion that took a lot of expense, without any government subsidy or tax breaks, and a ton of work. The eight houses were purchased through mortgages, divided up into suites to cover the payments, and four were sold off. Today, the Davis brothers own four houses that have 15 spacious rental suites.