Mcnair house

The McNair residence was commissioned and occupied by wealthy Vancouver manufacturer and businessman James Archibad McNair. Born in Jacquet River, New Brunswick in 1865, McNair was the son of two Scottish immigrants. Despite being the youngest of seven brothers, James had tremendous success when he moved to Vancouver in 1892 at the age of 27 to establish a shingle mill at Hastings. through the years the McNair Fraiser Lumber Company would expand greatly, expanding operations to Lynn Valley on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet and a number of shingle mills across the border in Washington. James was hit by a car when he was 75. According to his obituary, at its peak James’ company was at the largest shingle mill operation in the world.

This house is one of two in Vancouver that stand as a memento of James’ life. Built just before the turn of the 20th century, it housed his family for no more than four years. While it’s difficult to trace all of its historical feature back to its origin, the patterned shingle sidings remain as a worthy tribute to the man known as “the shingle king of North America”

Bibliography

Kalman, Harold and Robin Ward, Exploring Vancouver: The Architectural Guide. D &M Publishers. 2012. Google Books: Web. June 2017.

Kennith and Sharron Mcmillan, “Hard to Come By: A Family Archive”. Retrived from: http://www.hardtocomeby.com/ps04/ps04_105.htm