(Note: This house has since been sold for $1.73 million.)
Property: 728 West 52nd Ave.
Specs:
- Listed for: $1,900,000
- Land: 6,957 square feet
- Floor space: 3,345 square feet
- Frontage: 58 feet
- Realtor: Ken Lum, a Re/Max realtor (604-876-6099). kenlum.com
Norm Hass “vividly” recalls moving into his family’s custom-built, rancher-style home in the Oakridge neighbourhood in 1960. Hass, now 61, was seven years old.
His father, Horst, began building the home, located at 728 West 52nd Street near Tisdall Street, in 1959. The family, which included Horst’s wife Lucy and four children, moved in the following year.
“During that time when I was a kid, they had a pile of houses and stuff around, but there were still quite a few vacant lots. And down where Langara Gardens is was still comprised predominantly of just bush,” he told the Courier. “As kids, we used to go down there — the whole neighbourhood — and build forts and do whatever kids did in those days.”
Hass never asked his father why he chose to build in Oakridge, but he recalls seeing the original deed for the land.
“It was actually from Marathon real estate, which used to be CP — that was what the actual purchase was through, Marathon Realty,” he said.
After more than five decades, the property is still family-owned, but maybe not for long — it’s up for sale for $1.9 million.
“The house is all customized inside — it must be one of the only houses, even in today’s standards, to have low voltage switching throughout the whole house, so that you have control in the master bedroom, so that you can control all the lighting around the house if you so desire,” Hass said. “It was the nouveau thing at the time. My father was an electrical contractor and he was always doing the cutting edge things.”
The well-kept, spacious home has three bedrooms on the main floor and room for two in the basement where there’s also an office and a “tiki room.”
The real estate listing reflects the possibilities open to a new owner in a neighbourhood that’s on the cusp of major change: “Big lot, big sunny southern backyard w/covered patio. Near Oakridge Mall, Canada Line and YVR. Excellent home to reside, renovate or hold and build future dream home!”
