Caulfeild, West Vancouver: Homes for Sale, Prices, Schools and Daily Life

Caulfeild covers the slope behind Point Atkinson, the rocky point at the north entrance to Burrard Inlet. It has three levels. At the bottom is the old village around Caulfeild Cove, with lanes named Pilot House Road, Piccadilly South, The Dale and Clovelly Walk. Marine Drive passes behind the village. Keith Road and Caulfeild Elementary are on the middle slope. On the higher ground, Headland Drive meets Caulfeild Drive beside the Caulfeild Village shopping centre and Rockridge Secondary. The Upper Levels Highway (Highway 1) passes just above the shopping centre.

MLS® listings use three names for this neighbourhood: Olde Caulfeild, Caulfeild and Upper Caulfeild. As the words say, Olde Caulfeild is the old village by the water, Upper Caulfeild is the higher ground, and Caulfeild is the main area. The real estate board sets the lines between the three, and we found no public street list for them. Each listing prints its own area name, so read it there. This page shows the homes from all three names together.

The founder's spelling appears on many street signs. The District's history page says Caulfeild owes its unusual spelling to Francis William Caulfeild, and many of the upper streets copy it: Meadfeild Road, Timberfeild Road, Sprucefeild Road and Ashfeild Road all end in "feild". Type the name with "ei" when you search for a home here.

In our view, Caulfeild suits a buyer who wants forest, rock and sea within a short walk, a house with space around it, and a public elementary school and high school in the neighbourhood. That buyer accepts a drive for most errands. A buyer who wants shops, a library and a frequent bus close to home will find Dundarave or Ambleside a closer match.

The District of West Vancouver states that it is on the traditional and unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam Nations. A history essay on the District's Time Walk site says ships' pilots used the cove before 1900. Their boats waited there for ships that needed a pilot through the First Narrows, and a cottage was built for them on the point above. The cove was then called Skunk Cove, a name the province's place name office also found on a government map of 1908.

Francis William Caulfeild was an Englishman who saw the cove on a boat trip from Vancouver. The province's record says he bought land here in 1899, laid part of it out as a model village and sold the first lots in 1909. The District's essay dates his visit and his first purchase one year earlier, to 1898. He wanted an English village with a green and a church, and he drew lanes that follow the shape of the land where other towns drew a grid. He kept the strip of land on the water as a public park. The West Vancouver Archives holds a map of the area that he drew by hand, dated November 1907. He gave the lanes English names, and the essay says Clovelly Walk is named for his birthplace in the west of England.

The village grew slowly. The essay says Caulfeild had to pipe water down from Caulfeild Falls in wooden pipe before he could sell lots. The first houses were summer cottages, and their materials came by barge and were carried across the beach by hand. A road came after West Vancouver became a municipality in 1912: Marine Drive was extended to the village and opened by Premier Richard McBride in 1915. A post office named Caulfeild opened on June 1, 1920 and closed on March 28, 1955. The province adopted the name Caulfeild Cove on January 8, 1929, as chosen by West Vancouver's council.

The church of St. Francis-in-the-Wood stands in the trees above the cove, behind the village green. A record in the West Vancouver Archives says it was built in 1927 to a design by H.A. Stone, and the District's essay lists an H.A. Stone among the first residents. The essay adds that the east end of the church, where the altar stands, was completed in 1938. A roofed gate with benches, called a lych gate, leads from the green to the church. Caulfeild died in London in 1934. His son and grandson later placed a large black anchor with a plaque in the waterfront park as his memorial. The District has made the old village, which it calls Lower Caulfeild, a Heritage Conservation Area.

Daily shopping happens at Caulfeild Village, the shopping centre on Headland Drive across from Rockridge Secondary. The map data on this page shows a supermarket, a pharmacy and a clinic there, and the 253 and 262 buses stop beside it. The supermarket is the only grocery store mapped inside the area. From the old village by the cove the shopping centre is uphill, and in our experience most residents drive to it.

For a library, a swimming pool or a wider choice of shops, residents go east. The table on this page gives the straight line distance to the nearest library, to Park Royal, to Lions Gate Hospital and to downtown Vancouver. The closest community centre in the table is Gleneagles Community Centre, toward Horseshoe Bay. The District lists a fitness centre, a sports gym, a pottery studio and an art studio there.

The old village is a place to walk. Its public spaces are the green, the church and the waterfront park, and the District's essay notes that the lanes were laid out before cars. They have since been made one-way, and the essay says parking there is difficult. In our experience, residents value the quiet: forest lies on one side, the sea on the other, and traffic passing through stays on Marine Drive and the highway.

Lighthouse Park is beside the old village, at the south end of Beacon Lane off Marine Drive. Canada's register of historic places gives its size as 75 hectares, and the District describes its trees as old growth coastal forest. The park is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Dogs that behave well may be off the leash on every trail except Birdsong Path, and all barbecues are banned in the park. The trails are short and some are steep. The District tells visitors to allow 25 minutes for the climb from the lighthouse back to the parking lot.

The lighthouse at Point Atkinson is a national historic site. The province's place name record says the first light here was lit on March 17, 1875. Canada's register of historic places says the present tower was built in 1912 by the contractor W.H. Rourke. It has six sides, is made of reinforced concrete and stands 18.3 metres high. Parks Canada lists May 18, 1974 as the date it was designated. The light now works without a keeper and still guides ships toward Vancouver. Visitors cannot enter the grounds around the tower, and the District's trail map leads to a viewpoint.

Caulfeild Park is the strip of shore that Francis Caulfeild kept public. The District's directions are to leave Marine Drive at Piccadilly and turn onto Dogwood Lane, where there is parking. The Caulfeild Trail follows the water past rocky shore and sandy beaches. The District says the water is calm and protected and that people swim there in summer, with no lifeguards on duty. Washrooms are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. from May to October, and dogs must stay off the beaches. Council adopted a management plan for the park in 1996 to protect its natural setting, its views and its walks.

The map on this page marks the smaller parks, among them Meadfeild Park, Plateau Park, Trails Park, The Dale Park, Klootchman Park and Kew Beach Park. Pay parking applies all year at Lighthouse Park, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The District's page, as saved in August 2025, gives the rate as $3.75 an hour plus taxes and fees, and says a West Vancouver resident can apply for a yearly pass at no cost. The District also warns that the lot is small and fills quickly in good weather. In our experience, residents who live near the park walk in.