Graffiti-covered West Vancouver home made famous by 'party house' post destroyed by fire

A graffiti-covered house on one of the most picturesque points of B.C.'s South Coast, which garnered widespread attention on social media earlier this year, has been destroyed by fire, the local fire department says.

West Vancouver Assistant Fire Chief Matt Furlot said crews responded to the property at 6689 Nelson Ave. in Horseshoe Bay just after 11 p.m. PT Thursday to find the home, which was built in 1951, engulfed in flames.

The property on Tyee Point, which has a current assessed value of more than $5.3 million, gained fame earlier this year on social media when a photo taken from the water near the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal was posted with the caption: "Party house with a view."

The Vancouver Sun explored the history of the home, which has been owned by the family behind developer PAK Construction Ltd. since November 1991. The house had been rented out, but had most recently been abandoned as PAK tried to develop the land.

"[I was] just shocked," said owner Payam Askari about the fire. "We've been trying really hard to do something on that land with the district."

The house is perched on a rocky shorefront, looking out over the water, islands and mountains of Howe Sound. It's easily seen from aboard ferries arriving at and departing from the busy B.C. Ferries terminal.

B.C. Assessment said on its website that, as of July 1, 2022, the land was worth almost $5.29 million and buildings on the property worth $77,100.

West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager said he was thankful fire crews from his district and the City of Vancouver were able to contain the flames to the house.

"Just really, really grateful to our fire department and a huge thanks to the Vancouver fire boat for coming to help out," he said. "Just extremely grateful that it didn't spread to Tyee Point up the hill."

Sager said although the home has been fenced off to keep it secure, he has been worried about safety at the site.

"Yes I've been extremely concerned [about] exactly this," he said. "Let's face it, if somebody wants to get around a fence, they can, and obviously did. It has been a concern."

A statement from the District of West Vancouver said the owners of the home had applied for a demolition permit, which is currently being processed.

"As is reflected in the Horseshoe Bay Local Area Plan, there was talk of this site being developed into a public park," the statement added.

Askari said his family wanted to swap the land the house is on with West Vancouver in exchange for Tantalus Park to develop that land and have Tyee Point become a new park.

But when that fell through, they began work to develop a boutique hotel at Tyee Point, with the demolition permit just weeks away from being ready when the fire struck.

"Now it's just going to cost us more to do the cleanup, than removing the simple, wooden structure, now there's an environmental impact," said Askari.

'Very challenging fire'

The property's location made it difficult for firefighters to get equipment to knock down the flames.

"There's no fire hydrant, there's no fire truck we can get to the area, so it's a very challenging fire for the crews," said Furlot.

The West Vancouver Fire Department requested assistance from Vancouver Fire Rescue Services' fire boat, which helped spray water on the structure.

By Friday morning, Furlot said the fire was out, with crews remaining to put out other spot fires. No injuries have been reported, the district said.

Furlot said the house has been abandoned for years, but has had squatters living in it at times. He said it doesn't appear anyone was in the home at the time of the fire, although he suspects the fire was human caused.

"It's going to be investigated but it would make sense that this is probably human caused," he said. "There was no lightning last night in the area, so there doesn't seem [to] be a natural cause."

Furlot said the fire caused the home to collapse in on itself. Several trees in the area also burned, but there was no threat or damage to any other nearby structures.