![]() ![]() The Vancouver Heritage House tour is coming up Sunday June 2, and I haven’t been this excited since Casa Mia was featured in 2014. Department of Highways film 1966 – Horseshoe Bay to Burnaby.But if anyone has one of Curly Switzer’s albums I would very much like to hear it! Henry, Eleanor and Lloyd Switzer, Rossland 1951 Shortly after this, the Wigman Inn became known for more nefarious activities. “He played a steel slide guitar, and he had a pretty decent voice.” He was dressed up in his black cowboy shirt and pants, stetson hat and a couple of 45s on a holster,” says Garth. “We had our Christmas dinner at the Wigwam Inn. His songs include “High on Grouse Mountain,” “Wigwam Inn,” and “The Malibu.” Henry’s wife Eleanor was a noted pianist, and Garth tells me that Peter Cowan, co-owner of Harbour Navigation and the Wigwam Inn, played the bass fiddle in the band in the early 1950s. Henry or Curly as he was known, was a musician and a composer. “He was a very charismatic, charming and entertaining guy.” Courtesy Daryl Parsons “I have very fond memories of his house, his gold teeth, his pink Cadillacs and his band-Curly Switzer and the Red Mountain Boys,” says Daryl. Henry worked on the city hall and the high school in Rossland, on the Fernie General Hospital, and the courthouse in Chilliwack. During the 1940s and ‘50s he was the Superintendent at Marwell Construction, one of the largest construction companies in Western Canada. He was born in Bells Corner, Ottawa in 1904, and was the youngest of 15 children. “I’m told it took about two months to knock it down because there was so much rebar and all sorts of high-density concrete.” Courtesy Daryl Parsons Curly Switzer:īut Henry was much more than his house. “One arm was the kitchen eating area, one arm was the living area and the other two were bedrooms and bathrooms,” he says. Garth says the house was designed for the California hills. He put me in touch with his uncle Garth Switzer, who helped Henry build his house in 1960. ![]() Henry’s great nephew Daryl Parsons recently sent me a photo of the 1,600 sq.ft house. Henry Switzer (left) Winnie, wife Eleanor and brother Christopher, 1944 courtesy Daryl Parsons Switzer House: In 1971, it was expropriated along with 50 or so other houses between Taylor Way and Horseshoe Bay to make way for the widening of the Upper Levels Highway. Unfortunately, Henry’s home only lasted for 11 years. The actual address of the Switzer home was on the north side of Mathers.” With thanks to John Milinkovic for this current view “This view is looking east on the old Upper Levels Highway, and at the bottom of the hill is the intersection of Taylor Way, with traffic signals. Thanks to Angus McIntyre for finding and siting this still of the Switzer house in a 1966 Department of Highways film of a Burnaby to Horseshoe Bay road trip. Legend has it that Henry Switzer designed the house in an afternoon. Readers told me that they fondly remembered the pink house on the hill as the “airplane house,” the “Jetsons House,” the “windmill house,” and the “helicopter house,” because it appeared to have wings. 1970 courtesy Daryl Parsons Local Landmark:Ī few years ago, I wrote a story about a West Vancouver house that became a local landmark. ![]() It was designed one Sunday and received attention from all over the world. Henry Switzer’s shocking pink house sat at Mathers and Taylor Way in West Vancouver. ![]()
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