Related: Ghost stories I have known, and White Rock’s ghosts: homeless after the wrecking ball?
All that was left of White Rock's former landmark Art Deco Marine Drive home.
The notion of what happens to ghosts when their houses are demolished came rushing back to my thoughts a few months ago, when I learned that a well-known haunted house and architectural landmark in White Rock had been flattened by the wrecking ball.
The house at 14635 Marine Drive was one of my absolute favourite beach homes. An Art Deco-styled treasure dating from the early 1940s, the curving, two-storey home was like nothing else in town. It was covered in bright white plaster and trimmed with glowing sunset orange and lime green windows that appeared even brighter when its orange curtains were drawn.
Sometimes a mannequin or two populated the upper deck. A green arbour of wild-looking ivy arched over the entranceway (happily still there, along with a smidge of an old lilac bush) and a white lattice fence enclosed the pretty little yard. Walking along the promenade at the far end of West Beach, I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
My heart sank like a stone when I drove past one wintry Sunday morning, hoping to impress an out-of-town guest by pointing out the distinctive house, and I realized it was gone.
We pulled up to the sidewalk to take a closer look and snapped some photos, jaws agape at what appeared like total, wanton destruction.
All that was left was some rubble, a contractor’s excavator, and a pile of orange and yellow chimney bricks. A green guitar and its orange mate were tethered to fence separating the back of the property from the alley.
According to a 2002 story in The Surrey Now, the White Rock home was famous for its ghosts. The story describes how a man wearing overalls was seen lying on the top deck during a repainting job who demanded to know what was going on – before vanishing. Neighbours and passersby also reported seeing a ghostly woman in the former home’s distinctively orange-rimmed windows. She eventually appeared on the owners’ doorstep one night, too.
Now that the striking character home has been demolished, I can’t help but wonder what’s happened to these two Marine drive ghosts, too. (See related post: White Rock’s ghosts: homeless after the wrecking ball?)
My confusion and sadness about the demolition was eased somewhat after reading that owner had to tear the house down. She says it was “riddled with mould”, had structural problems with the foundation, and the lower floor would have been too costly to repair. That’s understandable. Many of White Rock’s oldest and most charming-looking character homes were originally built as summer cottages and lack such basic structural necessities as foundations.
She is building a new home on the same site. I wonder if special accommodation will be made for their former ghosts?
Related: Ghost stories I have known, and White Rock’s ghosts: homeless after the wrecking ball?
Hey baby. That was very creepy