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fl BUILDinG flS THE OF fl REGIOH by B. G. Holi li^TBODUGTION Today, in the 1980’s, it is increasingly hard to think of west Vancouver as a collection 01 villages but, for a tirae, Hollyburn, Ambleside, Dundarave, Caulfeild and Horseshoe Bay all enjoyed separate entities. In some at least, the identity centered around an individual on the spot - Lawson at Hollyourn, Caulfeild in his bailiwick, vVhyte at Horseshoe Bay, Gintzberger in jimbleside. But Dunaarave? Its landowner realtor lived in North Vancouver ana if there was an on-site centre, it was not an individual but a building - Conservative Hall, This is the story of a building as the heart of a region, BARLY L4ND HOLDINGS It is best, perhaps, to begin with how the land was identified. After the mainland became a British Colony in ld5d> all the land was diviaed into Listricu Lots, each numbered for easy identification, Bven before there were any residents this was essential as the first comers were entrepreneurs vho wished to log. In the Dunaarave area, George Marr had a mill near the creek that now bears his name -this at 25th Street, In the beginning, land was cheap. In i860. Governor James Douglas issued a Land Proclamation which made it possible for a would-be settler to acquire loO acres for only Rs, 2d, an acre (which works out to about one dollar an acre). In what is now West Vancouver, there was only one buyer before 1875. In 1885, with the coming of the railway, all unimproved pre-emptions were voiaed, ana no more were issued, this to prevent speculation based on the route of the new railway. Once the G.P.R, was completed to Vancouver, lane sales were re-opened ana by 1886, coastal land in West Vancouver was owned by a mere lo men. Owning is one thing; occupying is another, Thomas Grafton, on the scene as a pilot boat tender, tells us that, in 1877, only six men had houses in all of west Vancouver and of the six, only Navvy Jack Thomas was a permanent year round resiaent.