Today we hung the Men in Hats show for the summer at Hycroft. This is one of mine in the show. It is Rudbeckias II. Tomorrow, Tuesday the 23rd, we have the reception from 6:30 to 9:00pm and. besides our very nice show, it will be a chance to tour this grand old mansion. Hycroft was built in 1911 by a retired military man - a General, I think- McRae. McRae made his fortune in concrete as a lot of building was going on in those early days in Vancouver. The house is mainly of conrete and has great concrete pillars to the house as well as the terrace. Stairways and fencing and arbour in the gardens are also concrete. The gardens were even larger in those pre-income tax days but the coach house and the gardens around the house remain. Some of the property on the east side was sold and then the house was given to become a nursing home for injured military after World War II. Then it wasn't needed for that any more and the University Women's Club of Vancouver decided it would be a wonderful clubhouse. However, women were not allowed to have mortgages in their own names so the club raised the money to pay cash for the property. (was it $35,000 or $45,000?). Since then, they have restored it- although all the wonderful old wood and fireplaces, tiled atrium and so on were pretty well intact- and it is now a grand old mansion that is a wonderful clubhouse and popular place to rent for a wedding. Our paintings hang in the upper hallway. How nice that this piece of Vancouver's history remains.
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