CLIFFTOP LIVING

Clifftop Living

The story of Barry Downs’ 1979 masterpiece and the online effort to save it from redevelopment.

Clad in cedar and staggered among the Vancouver treetops, the Downs House II is Canadian modernist perfection. If not for the efforts of a social media campaign to save it however, it might have disappeared without a trace. It was designed in 1979 by Barry Downs to be his personal residence. Though he’s an architect better known for his contributions to large scale civic projects, Downs’ portfolio of residential buildings all prove an innate understanding of the context in which he worked.

At his own home, each room is staggered a little further down from the next, following the curvature of the slope until it tapers off dramatically into the bay. At the very end of the house, the living room hovers on a single tall pillar where the rocky ground appears to have fallen away completely. At that point, it begins to feel as if it’s a lighthouse, commanding endless views over the water. It all makes for a stunning, inviting and organic character that the great Canadian modernists of the period just seemed to have a knack for.

Barry downs owned his home until his passing 2022, at which point the fate of the house became very uncertain.

Unfortunately, Canada’s protections over heritage architecture are notoriously ill-equipped for houses like these and like many before it, the Downs House II could very well have been on the chopping block.

Barry downs owned his home until his passing 2022, at which point the fate of the house became very uncertain.

It was at this point that West Coast Modern stepped in to sound the alarm. Thanks to their efforts, the story was spread far and wide throughout all the major design publications and eventually a buyer who appreciated its architectural significance was found, securing the house’s future for many more years to come.