Jessie Binning

Jessie Binning (nee Wyllie) was an important figure in the protection of the "Binning House" in West Vancouver and the emerging culture of West Coast Modernism. Her father was a businessman and one of the early entrepreneurs to trade with Japan and took Jessie on a trip to Japan when she was 19 years old, where she developed a lifelong appreciation for Japanese culture and art. Jessie Binning was also Bertram Charles (B.C.) Binning's wife, who founded the Department of Fine Arts at UBC in 1949 and was a renowned artist and teacher in BC. Jessie and Bert build their modern house in West Vancouver in 1941 and she lived there until her death at the age of 101.