Vancouver Hobbit house facing sale and rezoning

One of two so-called Hobbit houses in Vancouveris up for sale, and heritage advocates are worried its days are numbered because of its prime location.

The early 1940s thatched-roof-style house at 587 W. King Edward Avenue sits just a half a block from a Canada Line rapid transit system in an area undergoing fast change.

The propertyand the2,416-square-foot character house is listed for $2.86 million.

"Infamous Vancouver Hobbit House. Character intact. Fabulous VIEWS!" says the MLS listing by Sutton Group realtor Mary Ellen Maasik.

The listing also notes the lotis "1/2 block from Canada Line. In the Heart of the Cambie Corridor, with huge potential for rezoning as a part of the City Cambie Corridor Plan."

The characterhouse, whichis affectionately known in the neighbourhoodalso asthe gnome cottage, the fairytale houseand Snow White's house, is listed on the City of Vancouver's heritage B register.

Thatmeans that the structure "represents the best examples of a style or type of building," which, in this case, is called the Storybook style.

As a B-registered heritage house, it is not protected from being torn down; however the city is able to offer incentives to owners of B-registered buildings to keep and maintain the structures.

Neighbourhood in transition

Three formerly-single-family lots just west of Cambie Street at King Edward have recently been assembled and sold for $8.1 million as a development property. And three houses immediately west of 587 W King Edward have been sold under contract to a property developer.

Vancouver's other Hobbit house also known as the Lea Houseis at a less-trafficked location, at 3979 West Broadway in Point Grey, and was inneed of repair before its owner entered into a heritage revitalization agreement with the city in 2008.

In return for keeping and improving the existing cottage, the property owner was permitted to subdivide the lot and build a second single-family home on the lot.

A 2008 report from the city's director of planning noted that contractor Brenton T. Lea, whose family first lived in the 1942 Storybook house in Point Grey, also built the Storybook house at 587 W King Edward.

Theprevious owner of the home at 587 W King Edward, Mabel Pentland, is now deceased, her niece said.