Word.ws English Dictionary

Vancouver Special

Vancouver Special noun: a style of detached two-storey residential house widely constructed in Vancouver, British Columbia from the 1960s to 1980s, characterized by its large and boxy shape (often occupying most of the width of a lot), low-pitched gabled roof, and a front balcony spanning the entire second floor.

vancouver special: a style of detached two-storey residential house widely constructed in Vancouver, British Columbia...
Image: Jason V from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

Vancouver Special (plural Vancouver Specials)

  1. (British-Columbia) A style of detached two-storey residential house widely constructed in Vancouver, British Columbia from the 1960s to 1980s, characterized by its large and boxy shape (often occupying most of the width of a lot), low-pitched gabled roof, and a front balcony spanning the entire second floor.
    • The 'Vancouver Specials' are unique in that they quickly achieved widespread unpopularity for their boring flat fronts, boxy shapes, and low roofs.1993, Harold Kalman, Ron Phillips, Robin Ward, Exploring Vancouver: The Essential Architectural Guide, page 202
    • There were campaigns waged by neighbourhood groups against boxy “Vancouver Specials” in the 1980s and highly eclectic “monster houses” in the 1990s.2014, John Punter, The Vancouver Achievement: Urban Planning and Design, page 116

Forms of Vancouver Special

pluralVancouver Specials

Questions about Vancouver Special

What does Vancouver Special mean?
Vancouver Special means a style of detached two-storey residential house widely constructed in Vancouver, British Columbia from the 1960s to 1980s, characterized by its large and boxy shape (often occupying most of the width of a lot), low-pitched gabled roof, and a front balcony spanning the entire second floor.
What part of speech is Vancouver Special?
Vancouver Special is a noun.
What is the plural of Vancouver Special?
The plural of Vancouver Special is Vancouver Specials.

Words near Vancouver Special in the dictionary

  1. Vancouver Island
  2. Vancouver Island marmot
  3. Vancouver Island marmots
  4. Vancouver Islander
  5. Vancouver Islanders
  6. Vancouver Special
  7. Vancouverish
  8. Vancouverism
  9. Vancouverite
  10. Vancouverites
  11. Vancouvers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Vancouver Special (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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