James & Agnes Smith Residence
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/landmark601
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Description
- Residential building.
- Associated Dates
- 1907
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Geographic Access
- Royal Oak Avenue
- Associated Dates
- 1907
- Description
- Residential building.
- Heritage Value
- During the Edwardian era, the western provinces were experiencing unprecedented population growth, and in response, in 1904 the Vancouver-based B.C. Mills, Timber and Trading Company patented a modular prefabricated building system that could be adapted to provide everything from modest one-room cottages to churches, schools and banks. Wall panels were assembled from the short mill ends of lumber and siding, until then just waste material that piled up in the millyard. These panels were bolted together on site, with the joints between the panels covered by distinctive vertical battens. Wall panels were assembled at the mill, pre-painted, and packaged with the other components and the instructions necessary to assemble the building. The disassembled building was then shipped to the waiting customer. As western settlements became established, labour and materials were more freely available and local construction companies could be more competitive in their costs. By 1910, this prefabricated system was rendered obsolete. The Smith Residence is a beautifully-preserved example of a B.C. Mills house, and is one of the models that featured a gambrel roof and a full open front verandah. This house was built by local contractor Mr. MacLean for James Smith, a ship’s engineer on the Empress of Japan, and his wife, Agnes. Agnes Smith continued to live here after her husband’s death and sold the house and property in the late 1920s with two of the acres being purchased by her daughter, Grace and husband Henry Pletcher to build a neighbouring house.
- Locality
- Central Park
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Central Park (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Oakalla Area
- Area
- 1147.85
- Contributing Resource
- Building
- Ownership
- Private
- Street Address
- 6186 Royal Oak Avenue
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
Images
