Events

Roedde House Museum’s Jazz in the Parlour Is a Vancouver Hidden Gem

May we suggest a night of music and local history in the West End?

By Anjini Snape /

Have you ever imagined yourself as a distinguished guest at a snazzy jazz soirée in the late 19th century? Do you love period dramas and just know in your heart you’re a Gilded Age girlie? Or wanted to sip tea inside the sophisticated parlour room of a Victorian-era home, surrounded by antique décor?

If your answer is yes, then you’re in for a treat. Because at Roedde House Museum’s monthly jazz series, you can do just that. Though the 1893 Class A Heritage House (Vancouver’s highest level of cultural significance, thank you very much) is walked past daily by locals, it is little-known to many Vancouverites.

While the museum’s guided tours allow you to get up close and personal with the many 19th century artifacts, it’s the jazz series that really makes the place special, and on these undeniably remarkable nights, instead of a visitor to a museum, you become a party guest. As the singers and pianist burst into song and the historical house in the West End comes to life, the whole thing feels like a hidden portal to the past—and it only costs $23.

January’s jazz series featuring Billy Bennett & Bob York in “Sounds of Sinatra”.

During the intermission, the hosts serve cookies and Earl Grey in antique china teacups. While you sip your tea, you can relax in the parlour like a proper lady of the house. Or, if you’re nosy like me, you can poke around the carefully restored bedroom and kitchen to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Roedde House, a piece of Vancouver’s history.

If you’re not already a history buff, here’s the low down on the West End’s hidden gem of history: the house is designed in the style of “Queen Anne Revival”, complete with verandas and bay windows. The style originated in the late Victorian-era and was most popular at the end of the 19th century, meaning the Roedde’s house would have been the absolute height of fashion at the time. The house was designed by renowned B.C. architect Francis Rattenbury (known for designing the Vancouver Art Gallery, the B.C. Parliament building and Victoria’s Empress Hotel) in 1893. At this time, the city of Vancouver was just 7 years old and Gustav Roedde, the owner of the house, was the city’s first bookbinder (and hello, we at Vanmag love print!). The Roedde’s era sat between two centuries at the intersection of ragtime and folk music, and the emerging age of jazz.

The jazz series at Roedde House Museum has been running for over a decade and was inspired in part by the Roedde children, who were big fans of jazz music in the 1920s. Sara Hepper, the manager of Roedde House Museum says “[the idea] originated with Dan Reynolds, whose grandmother was one of the founders of the Roedde House Preservation Society. When he was a child, he remembered coming here and playing the piano. Once he got older, a concert series made sense.”

The jazz nights bring together fans of all types of music (Gustav himself was actually more of an opera fan) and Hepper hopes that both locals from the neighbourhood and new fans of the series will come each week. The event is already full of regulars who strike up conversations with the hosts and each other and know exactly which seat to nab for the best acoustics (seriously, get there early).

The next jazz series at the Roedde House Museum is on March 27th, featuring Andrea Wong, a sound designer and new media artist who performs on a Chinese guzheng and Noah Franche-Nolan, a pianist, improviser, composer, and arranger.

The Details

When: March 27 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Cost: $23 ($20 for seniors, RHM members and students)
More info: roeddehouse.org