Fred Hollingsworth's West Coast Modern 'Mahogany House' for sale in North Vancouver

The living room of the Mahogany House in North Vancouver features a large fireplace, a vaulted ceiling and floor to ceiling windows. The house was designed by west coast modern architect Fred Hollingsworth in 1952. Photo by Jenn Xu /West Coast Modern

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Realtor Trent Rodney specializes in West Coast Modern homes. To help with the marketing, he gives them names, not just addresses.

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Hence, a modest 1952 house in North Vancouver designed by architect Fred Hollingsworth is no longer just 4065 Sunset Blvd. It’s the “Mahogany House.”

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Why? Because the walls of the house all feature mahogany veneer panelling, at the request of the original owner, who owned a millwork company.

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Three-quarters of a century after it was built, the house remains more or less original. The mahogany panels have never been painted and are in remarkable shape, retaining their rich reddish brown colour.

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You might think the mahogany walls might make the house a bit dark inside. But light flows in from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room, which has an open floor plan, a staple of post and beam architecture like this.

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The ceiling also vaults up around the giant fireplace in the living room, which features clerestory windows in the vaulted area for extra light. At its apex, the ceiling might be 3½ metres high.

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As a result, what would have been a fairly small house seems bigger, one of the reasons Hollingworth’s designs made him famous.

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It’s on the market for the first time in more than five decades, for $2.599 million.

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The house was one of the first homes built in Sunset Gardens, a 1950s development above Eldon Creek Park in North Vancouver. According to Rodney, there were 46 homes in the development, with designs by Hollingsworth and William Birmingham.

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The living room of the Mahogany House in North Vancouver features rich mahogany walls. The house was designed by west coast modern architect Fred Hollingsworth in 1952. Photo by Jenn Xu /West Coast Modern

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The home cost only $10,500 to build in 1952.

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“Fred told me that in the postwar era, they had to literally build cheap,” said heritage expert Don Luxton. “Nobody had money, and you had to build fast because people needed houses — they were getting married and having kids and doing the whole baby boom thing. So you built simply, but you designed well.”

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The house reflects this philosophy. There were some cost-saving measures in the house, such as a “colorundum” concrete floor painted reddish brown, and a large fireplace fashioned from concrete blocks, which have been painted white.

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But there was an also extensive use of mahogany, from a wall of built-in cabinetry in the living room to mahogany walls in the four bedrooms.

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Rodney said it really feels magical at night, when the lights come on and “it feels like you’re walking into a Japanese lantern.”

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The mahogany continued in a 1958 addition that was used as a family room, and brought the house’s size up to 1,900 square feet.

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It’s on a large 14,820-sq.-ft lot that is perched above a slope brimming with towering trees, giving it a house-in-the-forest vibe. The house has a real inside-outside feel because of the floor-to-ceiling windows, which face the forest in back.

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Its relatively small size and need for updating — it still has its original kitchen and bathroom — won’t appeal to some buyers. But the main living areas are everything that people love about west coast modern architecture.

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“It is really for someone who values art and culture and nature,” said Rodney. “Before we came around, I would say that this would be definite demolition bait.”

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Fred Hollingsworth designs had many interesting features, such as this folding wall which separated a 1958 addition from the original Mahogany House in North Vancouver. Jenn Xy photo West Coast Modern Photo by Jenn Xu /West Coast Modern

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The living room of the Mahogany House in North Vancouver features floor to ceiling windows. The house was designed by west coast modern architect Fred Hollingsworth in 1952. Photo by Jenn Xu /West Coast Modern

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