Studies in the scriptures : series 1 : the plan of the ages : a vindication of the divine character and government: showing, by a recognition and harmonizing of all the scriptures, that the permission of evil, past and present, is educational and preparatory to the userhing of mankind into the golden age of prophecy in which all the families of the earth will be blessed with a full knowledge of God and a full opportunity for attaining everlasing life through the redeemer, who then will be the great restorer and life-giver.
Between 1905 and 1924, the Broadview neighbourhood in Burnaby was settled by almost 100 families who saw the advantage of living in an area that was served by two railway lines - the B.C. Electric Railway and the Great Northern Railway. Touted as being only a 20 minute car ride to the city centre, this neighbourhood expanded during the early 1920s with the promise of a new direct access road to the city being built by the Great Northern Railway company and new blocks being opened up on two government reserves adjoining it.
The Oakalla Prison Farm opened in 1912 and was hailed as the most modern facility of its kind. Initially designed to hold 150 men and 50 women, by the 1950s, the population was well over 1000. A working farm, the prison had its own dairy, vegetable gardens and livestock. From the beginning, the location of Oakalla on 185 acres of scenic land next to Burnaby's Deer Lake was the source of contention with residents petitioning the government to relocate the prison and by 1979 it was decided to close the farm and 64 acres of land were transferred to Burnaby for inclusion on the Deer Lake Park. In 1991, Oakalla closed forever and the buildings were demolished to make way for a new residential housing development and an expansion of the park.
Burnaby’s landmark Ocean View Burial Park was British Columbia’s first non-sectarian cemetery created as a for-profit business enterprise. Organized by a group of local investors headed by Lieut. Col. G.H. Dorrell, the Ocean View Cemetery Company offered a place for burials that was not owned or associated with a civic government, religious or fraternal organization. The cemetery’s design was the vision of Albert F. Arnold, an officer of the Canadian Financiers Trust Company, who was “...always depressed by the lack of beauty in so many places of internment and inevitable neglect that finally reduced them to long-grassed places of unhappy memories.” One local newspaper described the landscape of the cemetery: "The design includes ornamental trees and shrubs, beautiful flower beds and smooth winding walks and drives, with a total absence of the usual somewhat ostentatious reminders of the harvest garnered by the grim reaper."
The R.F. Anderson House is a large, two-and-one-half storey Arts and Crafts style wood frame house, now located in Deer Lake Park, built as a family home and now used as institutional offices.
Associated Dates
1912
Formal Recognition
Heritage Designation, Community Heritage Register
Other Names
Robert Fenwick & Bessie Anderson House, Anderson Residence
The R.F. Anderson House is a large, two-and-one-half storey Arts and Crafts style wood frame house, now located in Deer Lake Park, built as a family home and now used as institutional offices.
Heritage Value
The R.F. Anderson House contributes to the overall stylistic ambiance of the area and demonstrates that a range of architectural features can be read as a cohesive whole. Although designed primarily in the British Arts and Crafts genre, as were other residences around Deer Lake, it also displays some influences of the popular Craftsman style.
It was constructed in the Deer Lake Crescent subdivision, which was originally promoted as an upper class neighbourhood. It represents one of the first residential developments in the City of Burnaby that required buildings to be of a specific value, thus demonstrating the desire for exclusivity among the successful businessmen who chose to settle in the area. The house and grounds illustrate the social, cultural, lifestyle and leisure sensibilities of a successful local businessman and his family in the early twentieth century; Anderson was a New Westminster hardware merchant and Justice of the Peace.
The development of the house and grounds within a controlled suburban context also illustrate the values of the owners in the Deer Lake Crescent subdivision, such as social aspiration, racial exclusivity, demonstration of architectural taste, importance of a landscaped garden, and the provision of facilities for fashionable leisure pursuits such as lawn tennis. The estate makes an important contribution to the residential grouping now preserved within Deer Lake Park, and demonstrates the broad social mix of those who chose to live in the area at a time when it was in transition from a market gardening area to a more exclusive residential community.
The R.F. Anderson House is important for its association with local architect Frank William Macey (1863-1935), the first resident architect in Burnaby. Macey was born and trained in England where he was well-respected for having published two standard texts for the architectural profession. He settled in Burnaby in the first decade of the twentieth century and obtained a number of commissions from prominent businessmen who were building grand homes in the new community of Deer Lake. He designed these houses mostly in the British Arts and Crafts style.
Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the R.F. Anderson House include its:
- location within a park setting in relation to the W.J. Mathers House
- irregular massing of the exterior and its cladding of drop-siding, with half-timbering and rough-cast stucco in the gables
- picturesque irregular roofline, including an alteration in pitch over the front verandah, with cedar shingle cladding
- interior plan with its generous entrance hall, staircase, and massive staircase window with leaded-lights
- multiple-assembly wooden-sash casement windows
- quality of interior features such as the Douglas Fir woodwork (some with original varnish finish); original hardware supplied by Anderson's hardware company; and original fireplaces with ornate tile surrounds
- setting with the imprint of the lawn tennis court, now a garden terrace, and some of the original plantings