Sunday, June 15, 2014

Happy Fathers Day To All The Dads Out There!

Here is my dad on the steps of our house in Edmonton, Alberta, shortly after he finished building it all by himself. Probably in 1944, the year before I was born. It was less than 500 square feet, probably too small to be legal today. He built it over time without a loan or a mortgage and they did not have much money. My older brother had a room in the basement, older sister in the attic, me and my parents on the main floor. My bedroom was about 6 X 8 and the stairs (almost like a ladder) to the attic were in my room. It was during the war and you could not buy copper so the plumbing was salvaged. The bath tub was a real bonus, salvaged out of the junk heap at an Air Force base where he did some carpentry work. I think that was why my room was so small, he had to move a wall a couple of feet to make room for the addition of the tub. We lived in it until 1955 when we moved to Vancouver and sold the house for a little over $5,000. It was well built.


Here it is on Street View. 11407 84th Street NW. The house is still there and it doesn't look like many changes have been made to the outside. The other houses are later additions to the neighborhood. There was no other house for several lots on either side of us.



12 comments:

  1. Does he look like Brooks or is it my imagination? :) Happy Father's Day Croft.

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    1. Brooks is looking more like him as he ages.

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  2. Wow, that's a great little house!

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    1. It was really tiny Kevin, but it felt like a mansion!

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  3. Nice story. Looks like the other houses grew around it.

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  4. Love those cute old houses and so many memories too.

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  5. Nice story to share on Father's Day. No doubt that Edmonton home was well built.

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  6. Croft what street was it on. Looks like we lived just a few blocks apart? We were on 115th Ave. and 86 St.

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    1. Very close, Contessa. It was on 114th Ave and 84th St, two blocks away. It is indeed a small world!

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    2. I thought I recognized the neighborhood. Our house was tiny also but when I was about 11 Dad had it rebuilt on site. I drove past the house last fall when I was in Edmonton and the entire street has small homes.

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  7. Great story about you Dad, Croft. Nice to see your old home is still standing too. I grew up in Winnipeg in a house not very much bigger than yours. To this day, I still remember how darned cold it was in the one bathroom at the back of the house during the winter! I swore the bathwater would ice over one day!

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    1. It used to get cold in Edmonton as well and houses simply were not insulated very well back then. My mother would light a little gas fireplace when I had my bath and I would get dressed in front of it.

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