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Dr. William & Ruth Baldwin House
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/landmark534
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Description
- The Dr. William & Ruth Baldwin House is a two-storey modern post-and-beam structure, located on the southern shore of Deer Lake in Burnaby's Deer Lake Park. The site is steeply sloped, and the main entrance of the house is at the top of the slope facing onto Deer Lake Drive.
- Associated Dates
- 1965
- Formal Recognition
- Community Heritage Register
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Geographic Access
- Deer Lake Drive
- Associated Dates
- 1965
- Formal Recognition
- Community Heritage Register
- Enactment Type
- Council Resolution
- Enactment Date
- 26/05/2003
- Description
- The Dr. William & Ruth Baldwin House is a two-storey modern post-and-beam structure, located on the southern shore of Deer Lake in Burnaby's Deer Lake Park. The site is steeply sloped, and the main entrance of the house is at the top of the slope facing onto Deer Lake Drive.
- Heritage Value
- The Baldwin House is valued as a prime example of Burnaby’s post-Second World War modern heritage and progressive architectural style, as well as for its personal connections to internationally-acclaimed architect, Arthur Erickson. Inspired by the modern domestic idiom established earlier in the twentieth century by Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra, Erickson conceived his architecture as responding directly to the site. A cohesive expression of simple orthogonal lines and ultimate transparency, this structure reduces the idea of post-and-beam West Coast modernism to its most refined elements. A fine example of the evolving talent of Erickson’s earlier work, this house is a landmark modern house in Burnaby and is unique in terms of siting and context. Having just won the 1963 competition for the new Simon Fraser University in Burnaby with his partner, Geoff Massey, and having built fewer than half a dozen homes previously, Erickson’s reputation was growing and his skill as a designer of modern buildings was in great demand. The same year that Erickson/Massey Architects designed SFU, Dr. William Baldwin and his wife, Ruth, personal friends of Erickson, commissioned him to design this house. Erickson was already familiar with the site; as a child he had spent time at this spot when his family visited friends who lived on Deer Lake. Both the Baldwin House and the university were completed in 1965. SFU became internationally famous; the Baldwin House was also considered an architectural success and was recognized in publications of the time. Only a single storey of this two-storey house is visible from the road, as it is built into the hillside in response to its steep site and proximity to Deer Lake. Like many other Erickson designs, this structure was conceived as a pavilion. Constructed of glass and wood, its transparency facilitates visual access to the lake’s edge, acting as an invitation, rather than a barrier, to the landscape. The house blends into the natural surroundings and the site includes other man-made landscape features such as a reflecting pool. As a reaction to the often grey quality of light in the region, Erickson exploits flat planes of water as a source of borrowed light. The refined and purposeful design, transparency, openness of plan and adjacency to the lake combine to give the house a floating appearance at the water's edge. The concept of a floating house set within an accompanying garden was inspired, in part, by the palaces and house boats of Dal Lake in Kashmir and the famed nearby Mughal Gardens. Although Erickson never visited Dal Lake, he travelled extensively throughout India, and specifically mentions the Kashmir reference in relation to this house. There is a rich complexity of other allusions worked into the fabric of the house, unified by a feeling for the conjunction of light, water and land at this special location. Widely renowned as Canada’s most brilliant modern architect, Erickson’s reputation is important to the development and growth of modern architecture in Canada and North America.
- Defining Elements
- The elements of the Baldwin House that define its character are those materials and details which respond to the location of the building and determine the relation between landscape and building, combining to create a single cohesive site. These include its: - close proximity to water - orthogonal plan and massing, with flat tar-and-gravel roof - stepped down massing orienting the house towards the water - post-and-beam construction, with the width of the beams matched to the width of the posts - wood and glass used as primary building materials - transparency and light achieved by the abundant use of glass - large undivided sheets of single glazing - butt glazed glass corners - abundant and generous balconies, which blur the transition from interior to exterior - horizontal flush cedar siding - use of salvaged brick for chimneys - use of chains as downspouts - built-in rooftop barbeque - built in furniture and fittings dating to the time of construction, such as original hardware, benches, bathroom vanities and kitchen cabinets - landscaped site including reflecting pool, plantings and a dock protruding into the lake
- Locality
- Deer Lake Park
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Morley-Buckingham Area
- Function
- Primary Current--Single Dwelling
- Primary Historic--Single Dwelling
- Community
- Burnaby
- Cadastral Identifier
- P.I.D. No. 011-946-032 and P.I.D. No. 011-946-067
- Boundaries
- The Baldwin House is comprised of two municipally-owned lots located at 6543 and 6545 Deer Lake Drive, Burnaby.
- Area
- 6,070.20
- Contributing Resource
- Building
- Landscape Feature
- Ownership
- Public (local)
- Other Collection
- Canadian Architectural Archives, University of Calgary, Collection: Original Plans No. ERI 4A/76.13
- Documentation
- Heritage Site Files: PC77000 20. City of Burnaby Planning and Building Department, 4949 Canada Way, Burnaby, B.C., V5G 1M2
- Street Address
- 6543 Deer Lake Drive
Images
Charles R. Shaw House
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/landmark525
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Description
- The Charles R. Shaw House is a one and one-half storey plus basement wood-frame late Victorian era residence, located on the grounds of the Normanna Rest Home development in East Burnaby, near its original location on this site. Originally a modest vernacular Victorian structure, it has been enlarg…
- Associated Dates
- 1891
- Formal Recognition
- Heritage Designation, Community Heritage Register
- Other Names
- Charles R. & Mary Shaw House
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Other Names
- Charles R. & Mary Shaw House
- Geographic Access
- 12th Avenue
- 4th Street
- 13th Avenue
- Associated Dates
- 1891
- Formal Recognition
- Heritage Designation, Community Heritage Register
- Enactment Type
- Bylaw No. 10739
- Enactment Date
- 06/04/1998
- Description
- The Charles R. Shaw House is a one and one-half storey plus basement wood-frame late Victorian era residence, located on the grounds of the Normanna Rest Home development in East Burnaby, near its original location on this site. Originally a modest vernacular Victorian structure, it has been enlarged and embellished through later additions.
- Heritage Value
- The Shaw House is one of the oldest surviving houses in Burnaby, and is valued as a representation of a typical vernacular pioneer house in Burnaby, and a rare survivor from the late Victorian era. The original portion of the house displays a simplicity of form and detail consistent with early local construction, while the later additions display a more sophisticated approach. Originally built in 1891, this house is valued for its association with first owner, Charles R. Shaw (1834-1916) and Mary D. Shaw (1848-1897), one of Burnaby’s earliest settlers. Born in England, Shaw immigrated to Toronto in 1869, and relocated to New Westminster in 1889, where he worked as an employee of the Mechanic's Mill Company, an early woodworking plant. After moving to Burnaby, he was unanimously elected by acclamation as first reeve (mayor) of the new municipality in 1892. In 1894, Shaw sold his house and farm and moved his family to Kamloops due to his wife Mary's failing health. After Mary died in 1897, the Shaw family returned to Toronto. The Shaw House is additionally valued for its association with a later owner, James Brookes (1884-1953), founder of James Brookes Woodworking Ltd., a mill that was a major employer in East Burnaby. Brookes bought and renovated the house in 1917. In 1927, he built a much larger house on the property (now demolished), and the original house was moved to the corner of the property to serve as a gardener's cottage for Brookes' estate. The additions made to the house at this time employed sash and milled products produced by the Brookes plant. Although altered, this Victorian era residence remains largely intact, with Brookes’s later additions.
- Defining Elements
- Key elements that define the heritage character of the Shaw House include its: - modest vernacular residential form, scale and massing, as exemplified by its one and one-half storey plus basement height, front gabled roof, shed roofed verandah and asymmetrical plan - asymmetrical front entrance - cladding: horizontal wooden drop siding on the original portion of the house; cedar shingles on additions; decorative octagonal cedar shingles in the front gable; original decorated bargeboards at front, with cut-out details - later renovations to the front verandah and side addition which resulted in a partially glazed porch entrance and addition with large window assemblies - square verandah columns - irregular fenestration: double-hung wooden-sash windows in a variety of configurations such as 6-over-1 and 4-over-1 windows in the original portion of the house, 12-over-1 windows, and one 24-over-1 window in the front addition - small window at front entry - fifteen-pane French front entry door - internal red brick chimney with corbelled cap
- Historic Neighbourhood
- East Burnaby (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Edmonds Area
- Function
- Primary Historic--Single Dwelling
- Primary Current--Single Dwelling
- Community
- Burnaby
- Cadastral Identifier
- 003-253-848
- Boundaries
- The Shaw House is comprised of a single residential lot located at 7725 Fourth Street (legal address), Burnaby
- Area
- 9199.27
- Contributing Resource
- Building
- Ownership
- Private
- Names
- Shaw, Charles R
- Street Address
- 7725 4th Street
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
Images
