What began as a father-son project and turned into a two-year court battle is now over.
The highly contested one-of-a-kind pirate ship tree fort in Vancouver's Kerrisdale neighbourhood was taken down in a "fell the fort" event Saturday afternoon.
Andrew Dewberry built the $2,500 tree house for his two young boys. It was a deluxe version -- a 45-square foot pirate ship, complete with cannons, perched in a cedar in his Kerrisdale yard.
"They were into the Pirates of the Caribbean -- they sketched out the pirate ship they needed to have," says Andrew.
But not everyone loved the tree fort as much as the kids.
In 2005, a neighbour said that it blocked her view, and she complained to the city. Vancouver's board of variance ordered that the treehouse be removed.
Dewberry took the city to court. Citing international law he argued that the treehouse should stay up.
But this summer, a provincial court judge disagreed, and fined Dewberry $500.
Dewberry agreed to remove the tree house, but not before the family got to throw today's "fell the fort" garage sale and party.
With one last pirate adventure for the kids, the event raised money for the B.C. Children's Hospital.
"I've got all my friends here -- but I'm losing one," says Andrew's son Jack Dewberry, who was seven when the fort was built.
The tree fort will be disassembled and auctioned off at next month's Boys and Girls Club gala.
"We have heard there are a number of individuals interested," says Carolyn Tuckwell from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Vancouver. "In an auction that's for charity we always hope there'll be a big bidding war!"
With the help of friends and neighbours, what took one father months to design and build came down in a matter of hours.
"The tree looks a bit bare already," says Andrew Dewberry. "Just saying that I look up there and I've got visions of my kids looking down at me, so it's a bit sad -- but it's going to a good home."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Shannon Paterson
