This home was built by Captain William J. Eyres. In 1912, it was reported in The British Columbian: “Captain Eyres of Seattle is remodelling the front of his house on Douglas Road and otherwise improving it.” The house was later sold to William A. Mawhinney, who subsequently built houses at 6011 Buckingham Avenue and 7616 Burris Avenue. This spacious, high-quality Craftsman bungalow remains in excellent condition. It features a cross-gabled roof with multiple half-timbered front gables with large exposed purlins, in contrast to the shingle cladding on the rest of the house. At the front corner is a glazed sun-room. The entrance porch features tripled square columns. The property still has a beautiful garden, but once included large vegetable gardens, an orchard, and a large chicken house.
With its long, narrow plan and hipped, cross-gabled roof, this impressive residence was designed for local surveyor and civil engineer Geoffrey Kirby Burnett, who married Kathleen Wallen (1888-1978) in 1916. It was designed by New Westminster architects R.W. Coventry Dick & Son. Beautifully conceived in the British Arts and Crafts style, it features a steeply-gabled roof over the side entry porch, with square timber columns. Other decorative details include half timbering in the gables, first storey casement windows with leaded transom lights and decorative window hoods on the side elevation.
The house was built by Lonsdale L. Guardhouse, who was employed with the real estate company of Merithew & Ramsay in 1912. The British Columbian reported in November 1913 that: "Mr. L.L. Guardhouse, a well-known New Westminster man has recently let the contract for a home on Douglas Road near Edmonds Street. This Building is to be erected after the bungalow style and will cost when completed about $4,000." This Craftsman style pattern-book residence is notable for its unusual roofline, which features gently curved eaves. The house remains in excellent original condition and retains its lapped and shingled siding. Other notable features of the house include its pre-cast concrete block foundation–simulated to look like cut stone–and a rustic red-brick chimney. The front verandah has been altered through the removal of its floor structure. Many houses at the time were built from Craftsman-style pattern book designs, which were readily available in magazines and brochures. This house has a twin located in New Westminster at 315 Fifth Avenue.
The Burnaby Lake Line was constructed due to the advocacy of Burnaby residents and the Municipality of Burnaby to build the line. A petition was circulated by residents in 1907, and eventually substantial land bonuses were given to the company to induce them to build the line. Property owners in the area hoped the construction of the line would increase their land values. Construction of the 15-mile line was announced in 1909, and the line opened in 1911. The line travelled from Vancouver to New Westminister through central Burnaby.The last day of service was October 23, 1953. When the Trans Canada highway was constructed in the 1960s, it followed the right of way of the Burnaby Lake Line through Burnaby.
In 1911, a brick building was built to replace the smaller wooden structure that had served as Burnaby's Municipal Hall since 1899. This new, larger structure was built to reflect Burnaby's growth into a large suburban municipality and remained in use for over 40 years. The old Municipal Hall became a public hall which was demolished upon the construction of the Edmonds Branch of the Burnaby Public Library in 1962. The second Municipal Hall was renovated in 1956 (when the current City Hall was built at Canada Way), and was used as a Police building. In 1966 after the construction of the new Justice Building, the old 1911 Municipal Hall was left vacant and in 1970 it was demolished. The site was redeveloped as a senior citizens residential centre with Edmonds House built on the old hall location.
The Central Park Entrance Gate is the ceremonial entrance to Burnaby’s historic Central Park from Kingsway, and consists of two massive stone pillars, approximately 7.5 metres high and 1.8 metres square, adjacent gate posts and a low flanking stone wall that curves into the park to the east.
The Central Park Entrance Gate is the ceremonial entrance to Burnaby’s historic Central Park from Kingsway, and consists of two massive stone pillars, approximately 7.5 metres high and 1.8 metres square, adjacent gate posts and a low flanking stone wall that curves into the park to the east.
Heritage Value
The Central Park Entrance Gate is significant as a ceremonial entry to a major park, for its connection with the early history of the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) and as an important design by an accomplished British Columbian architect.
When the original interurban line between Vancouver and New Westminster was constructed in 1891, one of the first stations was located where the tramway crossed the Vancouver-Westminster Road (now Kingsway) within the newly-created Central Park. The interurban line ran through the park on a diagonal right-of-way (the current SkyTrain line, opened in 1986, follows this original alignment). In 1912 an agreement was reached between the successor interurban company, the BCER, and the Central Park Provincial Park Board, to deed additional land for an expanded right-of-way through the Park in exchange for improvements that included the construction of an ornamental stone wall and gate with an iron arch, with an illuminated 'Central Park' sign, adjacent to the interurban station on Kingsway. This was an early and rare example of an electric sign used for a public recreation facility.
The Gate is also significant as a surviving early design by Robert Lyon (1879-1963), an Edinburgh-born and trained immigrant who was one of the most accomplished of British Columbia's early architects. After he moved to Vancouver, he was employed by the BCER from 1911 until 1918, and worked on a broad range of projects including some of the grandest and most innovative local industrial structures of the time. The arch was built by the Westminster Ironworks Company, one of the leading firms of its kind in Western Canada, operated by John Reid of New Westminster. The Gate was completed in 1914; in 1968 the decorative ironwork was removed due to corrosion and placed in storage.
Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Central Park Entrance Gate include its:
- two subtly tapered massive stone pillars, which rise in stages from a larger base to a shaft with random coursed multi-coloured granite with roughly formed grey granite quoins, to a top formed of finely finished grey granite blocks with a coved and bracketed cap
- adjacent gate posts with monolithic pyramidal granite caps
- low flanking stone wall that curves into the park to the east, constructed of random coursed multi-coloured granite with a river rock triangular cap
P.I.D. No. 017-767-172
Legal Description: Block B of Lot 2 Except Firstly: Part on Plan 8669 and Secondly: Part on Plan LMP4689 District Lot 151, Group 1, New Westminster District, Plan 3443
Boundaries
The property (Central Park) is a municipally-owned park that lies at the western edge of Burnaby, between 49th Avenue to the south, Kingsway to the north, Boundary Road to the west and Patterson Avenue to the east.
In 1911, the Vancouver Daily Province reported that “Mr. Harrison D. Morrison is building a twelve-room house of two stories and an attic, with stone basement, on Dundas Street, at a cost of about $4,500.” Harrison Donald Morrison (1864-1944) was a life-long contractor who lived in Burnaby with his wife Beatrice Amanda (née Smith, 1875-1954), until his death in 1944. This Edwardian-era house displays many holdover elements of the Queen Anne Revival style, particularly the elaboration of wall surfaces. In this example, the use of bay and cutaway bay windows, and integral first and second storey verandahs–now removed or altered–add visual interest. The distinct dual pitch of the roof is also a transitional characteristic, used in the late days of the Queen Anne Revival style. A later coat of stucco now covers the original ground floor siding.
The Inman Avenue school was built in 1912. The original four-room building was expanded in 1923 and an additional four rooms were constructed. In the mid-1950s, the current building replaced the older structure.
This bungalow was built and owned by Peter John Newstrom (1861-1947), who later worked as a bricklayer, and his wife Alma Mary (1865-1935). The Newstroms arrived in Canada from Sweden about 1912 and were long-term residents of this home; Peter lived in the house after the death of his wife, until his own death in 1947. Typical of the Craftsman style, the house has a side gabled roof with large front gabled dormer, scroll-cut bargeboards, open front verandah and granite rubble-stone foundation and tapered piers. It retains its original glazed front door assembly.
The Sperling Avenue School was opened in 1914 to service the growing community around the B.C. Electric Company's Pole Line Road (Sperling Avenue). This school replaced the one-room Duthie schoolhouse.
This house was built by Thomas Davis Coldicutt (1879-1970) and Margaret Jane Coldicutt, pre-eminent local citizens. Thomas Coldicutt was born in Birmingham and arrived in Canada in 1900, finding success in the steamboat industry. In 1902, he married Margaret Jane Styler who had been born in Redditch, Worcester, England, and in 1908 they settled in East Burnaby–some of the first pioneers to the area–and established a fruit farm. Thomas had a successful real estate, insurance and brokerage business, and was elected as a councillor for East Burnaby in 1909. He was also active in civic, political and social circles in Burnaby and became president of the Burnaby Board of Trade. "East Burnaby is booming and the signs of prosperity that may be seen on every hand. Most of these are substantial dwellings, such as effect a permanent improvement to the countryside. Among those whose homes have been completed, or on the point of completion may be mentioned. Councillor Coldicutt, who has built himself a habitation on Second Avenue at a cost of $4,000. (The British Columbian, 1911). In 1913, Coldicutt sold his original farm described as “the show place of Burnaby” to the Burnaby School Board for the development of Second Street School and this house was moved from Second Street and Sixteenth Avenue to this site. It has been extensively altered, but retains its original form, scale and massing.
'Fairacres' is a large, two-and-one-half storey estate house in the British Arts and Crafts style, located in Deer Lake Park, with four associated original outbuildings.
'Fairacres' is a large, two-and-one-half storey estate house in the British Arts and Crafts style, located in Deer Lake Park, with four associated original outbuildings.
Heritage Value
'Fairacres' is important as a record of the early years of Burnaby, specifically the Deer Lake area, as a place of tranquility and beautiful scenery in which the wealthy and successful in the burgeoning cities of New Westminster and Vancouver chose to retire or to make their family homes. The main house, which anchors in style and setting the outbuildings on the estate, demonstrates the social, cultural, and aesthetic values of local wealthy businessmen and women of the early twentieth century - values such as appreciation of architectural elegance and grand interior spaces, leisure and recreation, formal landscaped gardens and scenic views.
Also important is the association with the English-born and trained architect Robert Mackay Fripp (1858-1917), as this was one of his grandest residential commissions. Steeped in the current architectural trends in Great Britain, Fripp designed this sprawling mansion in the Arts and Crafts style, reflected in the architectural detailing and proportions. The style was common at the time and was often used for estate mansions as a symbol of affluence and good, modern taste as well as an affinity for all things British. Quality is displayed inside and out in the finishes and materials, orchestrated by prominent local contractor, James Charles Allen, including imported English materials of specific value such as imported Medmenham tiles in the fireplace surrounds, one of the earliest documented use of these tiles outside the United Kingdom. Detailed features of the interior woodwork were carved by Scottish-born master wood carver George Selkirk Gibson (1867-1942), who was best known for his many commissions for prominent British Columbia architect Samuel Maclure.
The outbuildings at 'Fairacres' are an important record of the functioning of a large estate of the time. The Garage and Stables and the Chauffeur’s Cottage accommodated the use of automobiles, horses and carriages, and in concert with the estate's location near the new British Columbia Electric Railway 'Burnaby Lake' interurban line, illustrate the evolving nature of regional transportation and the growing bedroom communities and estates made possible by increasing options for transportation. Other outbuildings accommodated the agricultural activities that helped support the Ceperley estate.
The estate was conceived and funded by American-born Grace E. Dixon Ceperley (1863-1917), who had achieved significant wealth through a bequest from her brother-in-law, Vancouver pioneer Arthur Ferguson. Her husband, Henry Tracy Ceperley (1850-1929), also American-born, was a successful and well-respected businessman who made a significant contribution to the development of the City of Vancouver. The construction of 'Fairacres' spawned the transformation of the Deer Lake area from a farming community into a preferred location for elite suburban homes.
'Fairacres' is significant to the City of Burnaby as its first civic heritage conservation project. Acquired in 1966 for conversion to Burnaby’s first art gallery, it was dedicated in 1967 to mark Canada’s Centennial of Confederation.
Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the ‘Fairacres’ mansion include its:
- setting in relation to the gardens, its former market garden, and the vistas to Deer Lake and other grand homes in the area
- side gable roof with prominent dormers and cedar shingle cladding
- verandah across the eastern (garden) facade, with its view over the landscaped gardens and the distant mountains
- porte cochere with its side steps for those arriving by automobile, and central raised step for those alighting from horse-drawn carriages
- rich variety of exterior elements that demonstrate the typical Arts and Crafts use of local materials such as cobble stone chimneys and foundations, wide wooden siding and half-timbering
- mixture of double-hung and casement wooden-sash windows, many with multi-paned sash
- lavish interior spaces, designed for entertaining on a grand scale, including a billiard room with a beamed ceiling and an inglenook fireplace, and generous living and dining rooms arranged off a central hall
- quality of the interior materials such as imported Medmenham tiles in fireplace surrounds, window hardware by Hope and Sons, and leaded stained glass
- interior wood work including the staircase, and carvings by George Selkirk Gibson
- remaining formal Edwardian garden landscape elements, including the cross-axial plan that reflects the relationship of the mansion to its 'outdoor rooms'
P.I.D. No. 004-493-311
Legal Description: Block 3 Except: Part subdivided by Plan 26865, District Lot 79, Group 1, New Westminster District, Plan 536
Boundaries
‘Fairacres’ is comprised of a single municipally-owned property located at 6344 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby.
Area
17,065.00
Contributing Resource
Building
Landscape Feature
Ownership
Public (local)
Other Collection
City of Burnaby, Visual Art Collection: Original rendering by R.P.S. Twizell
Burnaby Historical Society, Community Archives: Ceperley Photograph Album
Burnaby Village Museum, Collection: Carved dining room panels by G.S. Gibson and other hardware items
Documentation
Heritage Site Files: PC77000 20. City of Burnaby Planning and Building Department, 4949 Canada Way, Burnaby, B.C., V5G 1M2