East Hill.

How East Hill took shape

East Hill is Vernon's historic residential hill just east of downtown. It became the town's fashionable subdivision in the 1890s, and houses from 1893 onward still stand on Pleasant Valley Road and the streets above. Early 1900s subdivisions such as Hillhead, Lakeview, Hillcrest and Pine Grove filled it in, and Vernon Secondary School anchors it today.

East Hill rises from Pleasant Valley Road toward the curving Crescent streets, looking back over downtown and the valley. As Vernon grew in the 1890s, this slope became its fashionable residential subdivision. Some of the town's grandest early houses stood closer to the core near today's 32nd Street, but most were later lost to commercial growth, so the houses that survive on the hill carry much of that early story. Several date from the town's first years. R. Megaw, later mayor, and the house at 3401, built by Samuel Sommerville in 1895, now holds the Caetani Cultural Centre.

Up the hill, the City's heritage register lists the Mohr House at 2301 32nd Avenue from 1893, the Spinks/Ellison House at 2159 36th Avenue from 1894 and the Campbell House at 2203 30th Avenue from 1898. In the early 1900s new subdivisions filled the upper hill at Hillhead, Lakeview and Hillcrest and the lower hill at Pine Grove, keeping pace with a fast growing town. Those old names faded after 1947, when Vernon swapped its street names for numbers. The school at the heart of the hill has changed too. Vernon Senior Secondary opened in 1967, and a new $38 million Vernon Secondary School, a carbon neutral building with a geothermal field, opened on the old lower field in January 2013. Today East Hill mixes Victorian and Edwardian era houses with midcentury homes, suites and newer infill, all a short walk from downtown.

1. 1900sHillhead, Lakeview, Hillcrest and Pine Grove subdivisions open on the hill. Source

The homes & their setting

Houses from the 1890s to the 1910s, several on the City heritage register, sit beside 1950s to 1970s bungalows, newer infill, suites and duplexes. Mostly freehold lots.

Building age, tenure, amenities and permitted uses vary by address. Explore the actual property documents with Elaine and the appropriate specialists.

Places with a story

• Caetani Cultural Centre, 3401 Pleasant Valley Road — An 1895 Late Victorian house, now an arts and culture centre. History source
• Megaw house, 3203 Pleasant Valley Road — Built in 1893 in the Queen Anne style for a future mayor. History source
• Mohr House, 2301 32nd Avenue — An 1893 house on the City heritage register. History source
• Spinks/Ellison House, 2159 36th Avenue — An 1894 house on the City heritage register. History source