Pemberton Heights, North Vancouver: Homes for Sale, Prices, Schools and Daily Life

Pemberton Heights covers the top of one hill. Marine Drive runs along the foot of it on the south side and Highway 1 passes on the north side. Mackay Creek runs in a ravine to the east, and Capilano Road is to the west. On top, West 19th to West 24th streets cross Bowser, Philip, Bridgman, Pemberton and Lloyd avenues, and West Keith Road follows the south edge.

The top is a plateau, which is a level area of high ground, and the south side is a steep slope. Natural Resources Canada's elevation data gives 47 to 63 metres above sea level at the 15 street corners we checked on top. Marine Drive at Pemberton Avenue is at 13 metres. West Keith Road at Pemberton Avenue, 224 metres to the north, is at 58 metres.

The slope interrupts the street grid. The District's street data shows a gap in Pemberton, Lloyd, Bridgman and Philip avenues where the slope is, so none of them runs straight up from Marine Drive. Drivers come up by Mackay Avenue and West Keith Road on the east side, or from Capilano Road on the west side.

In our view, Pemberton Heights suits a buyer who wants a detached house on a small grid of residential streets with an elementary school in the middle. Supermarkets and the frequent buses are at the foot of the hill, so most errands begin with a walk down or a drive. A buyer who wants a new townhouse should look at Pemberton, on the flat ground below.

The name comes from the family behind the Lonsdale Estates company. The North Shore Heritage Preservation Society writes that an English father and son set up the company in North Vancouver in 1882 and that a nephew, James Pemberton Fell, was appointed to manage it. In the Society's account, Pemberton Heights and the nearby Pemberton and Fell avenues take their names from him.

West Keith Road is named after James Cooper Keith. The Society writes that he started the building of a road across the North Shore and put up the first $40,000. Its article says the road appears again in Pemberton Heights at Mackay Avenue, heads west and then north, and that one branch leads to Capilano Road.

Streetcars reached the hill in 1911. Henry Ewert wrote in a North Shore newspaper article of April 23, 1997 that the Capilano line was extended that year by way of 20th Street and 22nd Street to a last stop at School Street and Bowser Avenue. It crossed Mackay Creek at 20th Street on a trestle, a bridge held up by a tall frame, that was 450 feet long and 98 feet high. That is 137 metres by 30 metres. The trestle was condemned, and on October 1, 1943 the line was shortened to end at 20th Street and Hamilton Avenue, east of the creek.

The District's heritage records describe houses from those decades. The list of heritage properties in its 2019 heritage plan includes a 1914 house on West 23rd Street that is on the heritage register and a 1918 house on the same street. Its 1997 inventory of buildings from 1930 to 1965 describes a log house on West Keith Road, built in 1938 for John and Laura Howse at a cost of $1,925, as one of several log houses built in this area before the Second World War. The plan also records the Capilano Timber Company's logging railway, dated 1917 to 1933, and names the Bowser Trail as part of its route.

A few daily needs are on the hill itself. Capilano Elementary is on West 20th Street, close to the middle of the area. The nearest cafe on this page's map, The Corner Stone Bistro, is on West 22nd Street at Lloyd Avenue. Sowden Park is at 23rd Street and Lloyd Avenue. The District calls it a community sports park, and its park data records two baseball diamonds and a soccer field there.

For groceries, residents go down the hill. The map shows Save-On-Foods as the nearest supermarket, with Bulk Barn and Sungiven Foods next, and all three are on the flat ground beside Marine Drive. Natural Resources Canada's data puts the Save-On-Foods site at 15 metres above sea level, so the walk home to West Keith Road at Pemberton Avenue is a climb of 43 metres. The distances on this page are straight lines and leave that climb out.

Highway 1 passes the north edge of the neighbourhood, beside West 24th Street and Plateau Drive. In our experience, houses on those two streets hear the highway, and houses in the middle of the grid are quieter. Visit at 5 p.m. on a weekday before you choose a street.

The Bowser Trail runs along the foot of the slope. The District's park data calls it a neighbourhood trail from Capilano Road to Pemberton Avenue and records a playground, swings and stairs on it. The District's heritage landscape inventory, last updated in March 1996 and reprinted in its 2019 heritage plan, lists the Zigzag Steps on the trail at the north end of Pemberton Avenue, dated 1917, with 110 steps and 11 landings. At the top of the slope, the map on this page shows Ashdown Park where Pemberton Avenue meets West Keith Road.

Mackay Creek runs through a ravine on the east side, and the District's creek data marks it as a creek with fish. Heywood Park, a City of North Vancouver park, lies along the creek east of Mackay Avenue. The City describes a green ravine around the salmon-bearing creek, with a playground, washrooms in the Mackay Creek Hatchery field house, a footbridge and a network of trails.

North of Highway 1 the creek continues into Murdo Frazer Park, where the photo at the top of this page was taken. The District's park data gives its entrance as Elizabeth Way and records a fenced area where dogs may run off leash and a nine hole pitch and putt course that is closed from November to March.