Our Living City: Mount Pleasant Through the Eyes of Christine Hagemoen
We asked Christine Hagemoen, a Mount Pleasant-based writer and historical researcher, a few questions about her neighbourhood. The images below represent her views on Mount Pleasant and the changes that it has undergone.
Disclaimer: The views expressed below belong to those being interviewed and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Heritage Vancouver.
All images were taken by Christine Hagemoen. For more, please find Christine’s work at her blog | photofolio | Twitter
1) What piece of Mount Pleasant’s past do you feel people should know about?
It’s rich Mid-Century past. Most people are aware of the area’s late 19th and early 20th Century past, but don’t really know about Mid-Century Mount Pleasant. Exemplified architecturally by the use of Mid-century building materials (like my favourite bottle-dash stucco), building styles, and the Triangle Building built in the Streamlined Moderne style in 1947.
2) Who is someone very representative of Mount Pleasant to you?
Danielle. She has lived in Mount Pleasant for about 38 years, all of which have been at Quebec Manor. She is very active in the local Co-Op Housing and Arts communities and is one of the founding members of the Mount Pleasant Heritage Group.
3) Which place do you hold most dear?
My home at View Court Housing Co-Op that consists of two heritage buildings built in 1905 and 1912. I like being part of a shared community of residents and really enjoy the historical details of the buildings.
4) What makes Mount Pleasant different to other neighbourhoods?
It’s a neighbourhood that encompasses both east and west sides of the city, intersected by commercial high streets Broadway and Main. Because Mount Pleasant is endlessly adaptable and re-invents itself, it is an interesting mélange of light-industry, housing, heritage, gathering spaces, residents, and businesses.
5) What do you dislike most about Mount Pleasant?
It is losing what made it so “pleasant” in the first place – it’s affordability, diversity, human-scale streetscapes – and is heading towards becoming unaffordable, homogenized and “art-washed”.
6) What [word] expresses best a meaningful relationship you have with Mount Pleasant?
Familial. Not only in regards to my own maternal family history living in Mount Pleasant, but also in the sense of the relationship I have with Mount Pleasant…just like any familial relationship you may always love them, but sometimes you don’t like them very much.
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