An Architectural Marvel in Dunbar…for Only $10,000,000

We know this house well. The designer, RUF Project, recently won the Arthur Erickson Award in (our sister publication) Western Living‘s Designer of the Year competition, and one of the cornerstones of their entry was this stunning house. Further, I cycle past it every time I go on a big road ride out to UBC (which sadly means I’ve cycled past it twice in 5 months). It’s a stunner. And it’s for sale. For $10,000,000.

The designer, Sean Pearson, had been working in London when the chance to return back to Canada and design a bespoke house on Salt Spring lured him home. Since that time he’s done a series of innovative residences (you can read WL‘s profile of him here), but this showstopper on a staid street in Dunbar takes the cake. For starters it’s on a standard Dunbar 50 x125 foot lot, and notwithstanding it’s dramatic facade, it actually blends in with the neighbours a whole lot better than some of the 1980’s McMansions that dot the area.

But while Western Living can dwell on the architectural wonder of it all, we’re a bit more grabbed by what it signals. A $10,000,000 house that’s “only” 4,400 sq/ft and 4 bedrooms, on a standard-sized lot on what would be described as a regular street in Dunbar is now 8 figures? What the heck is going on in our roller coaster of a real estate market when (less than 18 months after the market was officially in the doldrums) this new high water mark for Dunbar emerges in the middle of the pandemic. We’ll be exploring Vancouver’s return to property lunacy in our upcoming January real estate themed issue, but for now let’s just revel in the undeniable beauty of Sean Pearson’s design.

Weirdly if you look at the photos in the house listing it appears that it’s unfurnished and has never been lived in, but the below give an idea of the sort of fabulous (if minimalist) life one might live in this joint.