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History of the West End Guest House

Melora Edwards, the Matriarch of the Edwards Brothers Photography family, built the house at 1362 Haro Street on the death of her husband in 1906.

Vancouver was barely 20 years old but had already proven itself to be a bustling port city at the edge of the wealthy trade route to the orient. And the Edwards Brothers were there to capture the moment in pictures. Their photographs of early Vancouver and colonial British Columbia hang on our second floor hallway.

The Edwards family had moved from Belleville, Ontario to settle in this rustic frontier city. Their journey had taken the three brothers to the Yukon during the famous Gold Rush of 1897-98. The family was enterprising. They had a steam boat called the Beaver, named after another more famous boat that washed up at Siwash Rock - a vantage point on the Stanley Park Seawall - some years earlier. Day trips with young people, duck hunts and other excursions kept them busy.

Melora Edwards bought this site and went to some effort to build a sturdy family home for her three remaining unmarried children, Herbert, Arthur and Louise.

As in many influential houses in Vancouver at the turn of the century the Edwards had some interesting visitors. Pauline Johnson, the famous Canadian Indian Poetess and lecturer who came to Vancouver at the end of her touring and lecture life was a friend of Melora's daughter-in-law, Rosalind Webling a sometime actress from England. Pauline died in Vancouver in 1919, and there is a commemorative spot in Stanley Park where she was buried. Pauline Johnson was the only person who has been given this honour perhaps it is because it was she who named "Lost Lagoon" at the entrance to Stanley Park.

Sadly Melora died in 1919 being survived by her children and at least one grandchild. Arthur Edwards continued to live at the house until 1964.

Bea Currie was the next owner and she lived there until 1984. On the forefront of bed and breakfast accommodation in Vancouver were George Weigum and Charles Christie who envisioned this house for travellers and thus created the West End Guest House. Vancouver's first large bed and breakfast.

I was attracted to the house because of it's good reputation, full facilities and great central location. I felt lucky to be able to buy Vancouver's Pink Victorian as it was known back then. Over the years I have continued to improve the house, hopefully achieving an intimate "boutique" style hotel B&B. It was always my intention to produce an environment that is not too stuffy but still with a gracious feel and of course enough extras to make it special.

There has been a lot of changes at 1362 Haro since I purchased the property, but one thing has remained constant, the welcoming of people like you - guests from all over the world.

I hope you enjoy my offering of Vancouver style hospitality.

Evan Penner
Proprietor, West End Guest House

Hall Picture Gallery...George and Herbert Edwards opened Vancouver's first photography shop in 1893 on Cordova Street. Later the shop was moved to Granville Street.

Many of Vancouver's early historical photographs were taken by the "Edwards Brothers." The second floor hallway at The west end Guest House is filled with historical photos of Vancouver.

George W. Edwards and William Tinniswood Dalton - circa 1895 -
A trip up Grouse Mountain was more than an afternoon's excursion 100 years ago.

A hot and busy summer's day at English Bay. A short walk from the West End Guest House.

A PIONEER BACHELOR'S HALL, VANCOUVER, 1890

There were no grey hairs in early Vancouver but rather young men and women of vigor and enterprise who feared God and honoured the Queen, Victoria the Good. With rough sawn boards they built a shack on vacant ground; water came from wells, firewood from the forest, light from oil lamps or a candle. Clothing hung from a nail on the wood wall, pots and frying pans were pushed under the bed, and a tin washbasin lay on a bench outside. Cooking was done on a sheet iron stove. Photographs of the dear old folks back home adorned a tiny table at the bedside.

West End Guest House Bed & Breakfast
1362 Haro Street,
Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada. V6E 1G2.

— Toll Free 1.888.546.3327 —
Telephone: (604) 681.2889
Fax: (604) 688.8812
Email: info@westendguesthouse.com