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VANCOUVER — Here’s something you don’t expect to see in the “Free” section of the classified ads: Two detached houses in downtown Vancouver.

There’s a catch, though: The homes don’t come with real estate.

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But if you‘re willing and able to relocate one or both of the century-old wooden dwellings on Hornby Street near Davie, the property owner is happy to part with them for free.

“It’s home free,” laughed developer Jon Stovell.

Stovell’s company, Reliance Properties Ltd., is developing the property with Jim Pattison Developments Ltd., as part of a large project that will take up most of a downtown block bordered by Burrard, Davie, Drake and Hornby streets. When finished, the Burrard Place development will include a mix of residential, office and public space, and the third-tallest residential tower in Vancouver.

But for now, a pair of side-by-side, two-and-a-half-storey wooden houses sit on the 1200-block of Hornby Street. Originally built as single family homes by the same owner in 1904, they are two of the last remaining houses of their type in a dense part of downtown increasingly filled with high-rises.

Brandon Barton, 27, has already spent most of his 20s living in what he and his friends fondly call “The Hornby House.”