One of Vancouver’s oldest homes has been moved from the West End to Olympic Village in preparation for its eventual restoration.
Sanjiv Sandhu, a real estate developer at Point Grey Developments, converts character housing into renter units and saved the 4,000 square-foot home from demolition.
"I found myself a 1967 Corvette. But a house," he said.
Sandhu said the home will eventually go to a new location near Mount Pleasant where it will be restored and built into market rental units.
"Some people look at it and they think, ‘Is this guy crazy? Why would he want to save that house?’ But, I have the vision," he said.
Dennis Langendorff, a mover with Nickel Bros, said this relocation was especially difficult as the home was lifted from its foundation, squeezed down a laneway and loaded onto a barge.
"Nickel Brothers does about 300 moves a year. This one is definitely one of the most complicated,” Langendorff said.
It cost nearly $200,000 to transport the 111-year-old house and Sandhu believes the project was worth the cost of preserving history.
"There's wood in that house that doesn't have any knots in it. Try finding that today. You can't do it," he said.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Jonathan Glasgow
