Maquettes (small scale models) of the lions at the entrance to the bridge were rescued from someone’s yard.Ī 19th century cedar dugout canoe was found in the late 1970s or ‘80s, washed up on a local shore. Scenes from the recently opened MONOVA (the Museum of North Vancouver).īut then, several artifacts on display were saved from an ignoble end.Ī model of a twinned Lion’s Gate Bridge designed by architect Moshe Safdie in 1994 was purchased in a Burnaby thrift store. It’s hard to imagine today, but before it was rediscovered and restored, the streetcar was being used as a chicken coup near Chilliwack. The streetcar could carry 44 passengers, and had special rattan seats “that would not pull the women’s stockings.” The restoration includes colourful reproductions of old ads above the seats. Once the car got to the top of the run, they’d take the seats, lift them, flip them and run back.” Transit group and the West Coast railway heritage association up in Squamish,” said Wenhardt. “This one was lovingly restored by the B.C. Now passersby get a glimpse of the bright red streetcar, which did the run up-and-down Lonsdale from 1912-46. Previously the museum was in an old school at 4th and Chesterfield, and didn’t really have any street presence. The new location is bright and airy, and big enough to fit a vintage streetcar and 7,000 sq. This houses our collections, our exhibits, and some office area and meeting space.” “The developer was allowed to go a storey higher in return for this public amenity space. “We’re a public amenity space that was given to us by Polygon Developments and the City of North Vancouver,” explains museum director Wesley Wenhardt. The 16,000 square foot museum cost $7 million, and is on the ground floor of a Polygon condo development, Promenade at the Quay. The new digs come with a new name, MONOVA. The issue appears to be solved with the opening of a new location at 115 West Esplanade, in the Shipyards District near the foot of Lonsdale. The problem was, it didn’t have the room to properly display it. The North Vancouver Museum has always had an impressive collection. MONOVA director Wesley Wenhardt with a restored streetcar that used to run up-and-down Lonsdale.