West End Christmas house delights Vancouver every year with all-out display

Santa is said to live at the North Pole, but you’d be forgiven for thinking he’s taken up residence in a luminescent heritage home in Vancouver’s West End.

The Rand House at the corner of Nelson and Bute streets delights onlookers every year with its dazzling Christmas and Halloween displays. This Christmas, it’s no different, as passersby stop to capture photos of the candy cane trees, wreaths on the wraparound porch, and star atop the turret.

The home captures imaginations and hearts as it spreads the Christmas spirit, year after year.

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The home was built nearly 130 years ago and is one of the oldest remaining houses in the West End, according to the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. It’s crafted in the Queen Anne Revival style and has been home to several prominent Vancouverites over the years.

It’s named after the Rand family — Edward E. Rand was prominent in the real estate industry and founded Rand Bros Real Estate, which is known as Rand and Fowler Insurance today.

The Rands lived in the house from 1919 to 1925, after Edward E. Rand’s wife Laura inherited the property from her brother Henry Town, who died in a 1905 business trip to Australia.

Town, the home’s first owner, made his fortune in the South African diamond rush of the 1870s, according to Rand and Fowler Insurance.

It’s fitting because the home’s current owner is also a mining executive. Daily Hive has reached out to him asking for an interview about the Christmas display but has not heard back.

These days, the Rand House is divided into four strata units, all owned by the same mining engineering professional. BC Assessment values the units between $780,000 and $2.1 million, bringing the total assessed value of the home to just over $4.6 million. All units have two bedrooms and at least two bathrooms.

Inside, Fowler and Rand Insurance says the home has its original fir hardwood floors, trim, and doors to complement fish-scale shingles and a recognizable turret.

Have you visited this Vancouver holiday gem? Let us know what you think at [email protected]

With files from Daily Hive’s Nikitha Martins

This story was originally published in 2023. It has been updated.