From previous page of the sloping site. Seamless corner windows and a wall of french doors that open to a naturally landscaped patio bring the ourdoors in. Though he had no formal archi- tectural training, Thom was “an architect of rare originality and finesse.” and a brilliant draftsman who devised a parlour trick to help win commissions. Thom was abl. to draw upside down, a talent with which he was able to win over clients whose jaws would drop as a perspec- tive of their dream home emerged before their eyes. “They would think that Leonardo da Vinci was sitting across the table from them and the cheque books would come out to put the first fee down,” says Boddy. West Vancouver is home to dozens of Thom’s designs, most completed in the "50s and ’60s, the heyday for innova- tive West Coast-style architecture on the North Shore. “Pm sad to report that that spirit of design is less evident in West Vancouver in the last decade,” says Boddy, noting one outstanding exception. Located on a formerly derelict piece of land at the intersection of the Upper Levels and Taylor Way and completed in 1998, Har-El Synagogue and Cultural Centre has won numerous awards for its design, includ- ing a Lieutenant Governor medal and the Canadian Wood Council’s Ron Thom award. Like the early supporters of Vancouver's young architects who moved to West Van in the °50s and took a chance on pioncering design, the congregation hired the young, ambitious firm of Acton Johnsoa Ostry Architects to build their synagogue. “This was the spir- it of West Vancouver coming out,” says Boddy. And like the homes designed by Erickson and Thoin, Har-El (Hebrew for “Mountain of God”) takes full advantage of its site. Anchored by heavy masonry walls and concrete ¢le- ments that insulate the congregation from the highway traffic, the synagogue opens toward the creck and wooded Jandscape, forming a terrace to the south. The doors in. f NORTH VANCOUVER’ NEWS photo Ginay Goodmen RON Thom used design fea- tures like seamless corner windows to bring the out- tes design yy sanctuary is ofiented eastward to Jerusalem. The school bridges the creek linking the synagogue to the community While Har-El is certain to serve its congregation for decades to com: the future of West Van's pioneering residential designs is less secure. A movement is under way to pre- serve the Binning cesidence (pro- filed in Part 1] of our feature last week), a modest flat-tepped house on Mathers Crescent that is the most architecturally significant site in West Vancouver. Boddy would also like to see preserved the Smich residence, an early Arthur Erickson design for artist Gurdon and Marion Smith. Boddy is critical of B.C."s heritage legislation, which includes a com- pensation clause, whereby home owners are compensated for a loss in property value due to heritage designation. West Van's rising land values coupled with people’s taste for new and larger homes may well sound the death knell for the community’s architectural heritage. And that would be a real shame, says Boddy, who would fike to see Vancouver follow Hollywood's lead, where Modern era homes are now in vogue again. “Thirty years ago, Frank Lloyd Wright carried no cache. Today, movie producers are killing each other to move into a tiny, Frank Lloyd Wright house,” says Boddy. “In West Vancouver in the next five. years, there’s going to be an avalanche of older homes on the market. There’s a generation of peo- ple who built these homes who are now retiring and moving into con- dos. We're having a whole genera- tion of houses coming up for sale,” says Boddy. “Quite frankly, the development industry looks at these as knockdowns.” NEWS photo Paul McGrath DETAILS on a Clyde Avenue medicaf/den- tal clinic refiect the strong influence of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. mcr 7, Capilano Performing Arts Theatre _ Saturday, May 20,2000 « 5:30 & 8:00 p.m. fz Tickets: Ticketmaster (604) 280-4444 or www.ticketmaster.ca For rrore information cdl Xete! 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