Vancouver filmmaker Corbie Fieldwalker captures beauty in derelict mansions

Vancouver filmmaker Corbie Fieldwalker started taking a closer look at some of the city's vacant multimillion-dollar mansions last summer when he was walking his dog in Point Grey.

"The first house we found was Drummond Drive. You can see through the fence what looks to be a World War II movie set, and once you have a closer look around the neighbourhood, you can see there are a lot of houses in that similar state and a lot of empty lots," he said.

Fieldwalker, with his company Arc Cine, shoots and produces video of architecture for various clients, but it's the run-down mansions that have turned into a passion project for him.

• PHOTOS: Vancouver mansion sells for more than $51M
• Vancouver teardown in Point Grey sells for almost $2.5M
• Vancouver's most expensive teardown?

"The same patterns are there. The paint's peeling off, the door's gone, but if you really look and you think about how the space was designed and what's going on, all those patterns are still there and they'll reveal a lot about the values of the people that were there."

Fieldwalker says the home on Drummond Drive that he filmed is valued at nearly $20 million, but his haunting images reveal the condition of the property — the broken windows, the overgrown landscaping, the graffiti, and the damage caused by years of neglect.

Other multimillion-dollar properties he has explored have revealed signs of life, despite the abandoned appearance from the outside.

"You find everything and anything," said Fieldwalker. "You can tell that there's been people living in them, and whether they're drug addicts, or homeless people, or whoever, they're finding a use for that space."

He doesn't like to discuss the fact that, like some of the squatters, he's entering private property without the owner's permission. Fieldwalker said he takes his cues from the neighbours, and the community in which the neglected houses have stood for years.

"We talk to the neighbours and we ask them what has been their experience, and if they're upset, or curious at all, we feel that it's worth a little more examination," he said.

When he's shooting video inside the dilapidated structures, Fieldwalker shuts out the idea that he's trespassing.

"It's someone else's idea of what you should be doing and what space should be doing. So I think they've had their say by having their property in that state," he said. "It's about architecture, and about patterns and about films and the rest of it is you do what you have to do to get the shot."

"When people say these are vacant and nothing's happening, in a way that's true. But also there's artists, graffiti artists, poets, installation art going on in those spaces," said Fieldwalker. "If you're paying attention, and you're actually watching that space, it's quite active."