AS SEEN IN WESTERN LIVING
Western Living has been around since 1971, but we’re a phoenix from the ashes of
Western Homes and Living magazine, which started in the mid-’50s. And we still have just about every issue of both publications in an archive room here at the office. (Every once in a while, we become the grateful receivers of a collection that someone’s loved one carefully saved over the years, which helps replenish those copies that have yellowed over time.)
These back issues are a fascinating dive through Western Canada’s design history. Whenever a junior member of the team is tasked with finding a certain article at the request of one of our readers, we inevitably lose them in the archive room for the day, with the odd pop-up to show us some delight they’ve discovered—a fantastic sunken living room, an original Erickson home, or a bedroom that carried the carpet on up to the ceiling. (Not all discoveries are good discoveries.)
There was one summer student who really got into our vintage issues and started publishing photos of them on westernliving.ca. As it turns out, one home she fell in love with has come back in the pages of this issue with a very 21st-century update. The Spiral House was first published in 1976, and when its current owners found the property, it had fallen into a state of disrepair. But they so appreciated its design that they reached out to the original architect, Rol Fieldwalker, to see what he could do with it. And the rest is West
ern Living history: you’ll see the beauty he created on page 42 (and its original iteration at westernliving.ca).
I love hearing from readers who have discovered that their own home once appeared in Western Living, and getting the chance to see modern-day photos of alumni homes from our magazine. If you’re one of those who’ve been lucky enough to capture a little piece of the West’s design history, drop me a line.