JACK M. MOON HOUSE
Firm: J. A. Cawston
Address: 5815 Elbow Drive SW
Date of final plans: November 1954
Status: demolished in 2022
In 1950, Jack and Marion Moon were living in Vancouver while he worked for B. L. Johnson & Watson. That year, the couple moved into a new home they had commissioned from architect Fred Thornton Hollingsworth. The house, located at 2576 Edgemont Blvd in North Vancouver, is now listed on that city's heritage register (see here) and in 2011 received an extensive profile in the Globe and Mail (see here). In 1979, Hollingsworth designed a second home for the Moons located in "Foothills, Alberta." I haven't confirmed whether or not it was built. For more information on Hollingsworth and the Moons, see this article.
Shortly after they moved into the new house, Moon was sent by his company to set up a new office in Calgary. Four years after they had arrived in their new city, the Moons commissioned Jack Cawston to design them a house on a 340'x70' lot backing onto the Calgary Golf and Country Club. The house is a split-level with three bedrooms, and the master bedroom has a door that exits to the backyard. The living room walks out to a patio in the center of the house. In 1964, Rule Wynn and Rule designed a garage that was built onto the front of the house (see plans here).
The Moon House was included in the 1961 Allied Arts Centre House Tour.
After sitting vacant for several years, the house was demolished in 2022.
THE CLIENT
Jack Mayhew Moon (1918–1992) was born on 25 October 1918 in Victoria, British Columbia to Charles Edward Moon (1880–1959) and Ethel Medwin Gardner (1879–1958). He graduated from North Vancouver High School then took classes at the Banking and Insurance Institute. Between 1937 and 1940 he worked for the Royal Bank. From 1940 to 1946 Moon was in the Canadian Army and served overseas with the 6th Canadian Anti-Tank Regiment, Cameron Highlanders, and Fort Garry Horse. He ended the war at the rank of Captain in the RCAPC.
After the war Moon returned to Vancouver where he joined the insurance brokerage firm Marsh and McLennan. In 1947 he joined B. L. Johnson and Watson and in 1950 moved to Calgary and set up a new office. In 1951 he founded R. M. Abernethy Limited, which in 1959 merged with Johnson and Watson, which then a few months later merged with Reed Shaw McNaught. Moon retired in the 1970s as president of Reed Shaw Stenhouse, one of Canada's largest insurance brokerages.
On 6 December 1938 Moon married Marion Jean McNeil (1922–2020). They had four children: David, John, Joanne, and Kathy. Jack died on 5 August 1992 at age 73.