'Trend House' for Gwendoline Cash (1954)

3515 Richmond Ave, Mount Tolmie, Saanich

Architect: John Di Castri

On behalf of Western Canadian lumber industry the B.C. Coast Woods Trade Extention Bureau sponsored the construction of 10 housesaccross Canada to promote softwood lumber as a building material. John Di Castri was selected to design the Victoria house. It was the smallest of ten but pushed the technology and the material to its limits. The polygon plan supports diamond form roof trusses as if inspired by wooden airframe technology. A massive masonary chimney block slices diagonally into the body of the house as if to pinion the complex roof forms in flight. The building elements made extensive use of Western Hemlock and plate glass.