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Delta throwback: 'The Suburbanite'

The house was advertised as being designed to make full use of its 1,555-square-feet
ladner-new-house-1961
James Walter Allen of Allen Construction was the builder of Delta’s newest display home. It was introduced a couple of years after the opening of the new Deas Island Tunnel, which ushered tremendous population growth and primarily detached single-family housing in Delta.

Let’s head back to May 1961 when the newest single-family house style was on display for residents, a design that would end up being common in Delta.

Open houses were held for the all-gas display home called “The Suburbanite” on Arthur Drive in Ladner, which is still standing today.

“It has been designed for family enjoyment, as well as for gracious entertainment of guests,” read an article in the Optimist at the time.

Through a large sliding glass door “members of the family and guests will enjoy the large patio which runs across the back of the home, facing eastward over the large garden and across Chilukthan Slough.”

Another article stated, “Sunshine ceiling and large windows, together with generous cupboard space and modern built-in gas oven and surface burners, make the display home kitchen a delight to work in.”

Among the many other new features were a fireplace and front entrance made with Texas limestone Texas shellstone and non-slip black granite.

Hundreds of people would checkout the display home.

By September of that year, the city reported that the number of building permits issued for houses was, so far, at 160 units. By the first four months of 1967, the number of permits for new dwellings was 408, and the numbers only increase in the coming years.