Forest Lawn Memorial Park was founded and designed by Albert F. Arnold, who wanted to design a memorial park “which would be a place of perpetual beauty and which would banish the ‘graveyard’ taint from such places forever.” The 145 acres of Forest Lawn were designed as a garden, which overlooks Vancouver and has a magnificent view of the mountains. Called “God’s Acres,” with white-shelled walks and piped sacred music, the design allowed a natural setting to offer solace to grieve. Bronze memorial plaques were used rather than headstones, which would have marred the garden effect. Arnold acted as a consultant to memorial parks all over Canada and the United States and many of his innovations have become standard practice in North American cemeteries. Equipped with its own greenhouses, the park has more than a million plants of all types. The chapel, which sits on the lower southern slopes, is a sophisticated modernist structure that was designed by renowned local architects McCarter & Nairne.
In 1945, the McColl-Frontenac Oil Company purchased the western section of what used to be the Barnet Mill site from the City of Burnaby. McColl-Frontenac handled the distribution of Texaco gas and built a new plant at the site for this purpose. The company built an improved road access to the plant which later became known as Texaco Drive. Competition from other refineries eventually forced the closure of this plant and in 1985 the area was acquired by the Municipality for the expansion of Barnet Marine Park.
In 1938, the Ford Motor Company selected Burnaby as its site for a new assembly plant to serve Western Canada. Ford purchased the land which had been owned by the Silver family at Kingsway and Silver Avenue and built its factory using steel from Burnaby's Dominion Bridge Company. During World War II, the plant was used to produce military vehicles. In 1988, the building was demolished and the Station Square development was constructed on the site.
The Jubilee Grove Arch sits at the corner of Kingsway and Patterson Avenue. Located within Central Park, the ceremonial arch and its decorative plantings provide a visual anchor to the northeast corner and entry point to the park.
The Jubilee Grove Arch sits at the corner of Kingsway and Patterson Avenue. Located within Central Park, the ceremonial arch and its decorative plantings provide a visual anchor to the northeast corner and entry point to the park.
Heritage Value
Jubilee Grove Arch was dedicated as part of the municipality’s celebration of the Jubilee of the coronation of King George V and was dedicated during Burnaby’s annual May Day celebrations in 1935. Much of the construction work was carried out by local citizens under the direction of the Burnaby Engineering Department through a Depression era work relief program that provided a way for local residents to pay their taxes. The garden was also chosen as the site for the ceremonial planting of an oak tree from the Royal Forest at Windsor, in honor of the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937. The original bronze garden dedication plaque and oak tree remain at the site today.
The decorative stone arch was erected in 1939 as a symbol of Burnaby's, and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia’s, strong ties to the English monarchy at the time, and the arch’s unveiling during May Day ceremonies shows the social role that such a commemorative feature played both to the local government and people of Burnaby. It was erected just prior to the Royal Visit of 1939, the first time that reigning British monarchs had travelled to Canada. Built of Haddington Island sandstone, the arch itself was reconstructed from a salvaged architectural element of a historic Vancouver landmark. The arch originally framed the entrance door to the Vancouver Club building in Vancouver, built in 1893-94 on West Hastings Street and designed by architect C.O. Wickenden. The building was demolished in 1930, however the arch was stored and rebuilt as the focal point of the Jubilee Grove after being bought by the Municipality of Burnaby. The work was undertaken by Italian-born stone mason Rizieri Stefanini (1879-1954), the owner of Burnaby Monumental Works. The re-use of the arch symbolizes the close tie between Vancouver and Burnaby and the joint evolution of the neighbouring cities.
Defining Elements
The Jubilee Grove Arch has character-defining elements that recognize it both as a remnant of a past building and as a new and individual structure. These include its:
- axial diagonal placement and prominent corner location marking one of the entries to Central Park
- visibility and accessibility as a public monument
- hand carved stone blocks of Haddington Island sandstone
- decorative twisted-rope motif carved to outline the arch
- supporting rusticated sidewalls with planting urns
- original bronze dedication plaque
- flanking ornamental gardens
- Royal Oak tree and plaque
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.
Area
853,403.82
Contributing Resource
Structure
Landscape Feature
Ownership
Public (local)
Documentation
Heritage Site Files: PC77000 20. City of Burnaby Planning and Building Department, 4949 Canada Way, Burnaby, B.C., V5G 1M2
Development in the Broadview area slowed during World War Two, but after the war, the area became home to a number of industrial sites. The first major plant to be built here was the Dominion Bridge Company which opened in 1930.
The Kelly Douglas Company was founded in 1896 as a wholesale grocery business. It enjoyed rapid success during the Klondike Goldrush of 1898 when it became a primary supplier for prospectors. In 1946, its headquarters moved from Vancouver to Burnaby and a manufacturing plant and warehouse was built on the site.
After considering several sites in the Greater Vancouver area, the Shell Oil Company chose 70 acres in North Burnaby with frontage of one third of a mile on Burrard Inlet. Shell proposed to build a four-million dollar plant that would employ up to 2000 - providing some relief in the middle of Burnaby's economic crisis of the Depression years. The site became known as the Shellburn Refinery and was in operation until 1993.
The Rosalie (Moore) Barrett Residence is a one-storey ranch-style bungalow with a cross-gabled roofline, located on Sperling Avenue. It is located within the Deer Lake Park Heritage Precinct, and is adjacent to a related house, the Ethel Moore Residence, built the previous year.
The Rosalie (Moore) Barrett Residence is a one-storey ranch-style bungalow with a cross-gabled roofline, located on Sperling Avenue. It is located within the Deer Lake Park Heritage Precinct, and is adjacent to a related house, the Ethel Moore Residence, built the previous year.
Heritage Value
This house is significant for its connection with first owner, Rosalie Barrett, the daughter of Ethel Hutchings Moore, who lived in the adjacent house at 5145 Sperling Avenue. A spacious modernist bungalow, it was constructed in 1942, and was designed by Rosalie Moore herself. Moore intended to build several houses on this property, but further development was curtailed due to wartime restrictions on domestic construction.
The Rosalie (Moore) Barrett Residence is a testament to Deer Lake's continued popularity as a residential neighbourhood in the 1940s. Although Burnaby was serviced by a number of transportation links at the time, the increasing availability of automobiles provided improved access to outlying suburbs. Rising real estate prices in Vancouver and New Westminster attracted residents to this neighbourhood because of its relative affordability, central location and beautiful scenery.
Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Rosalie (Moore) Barrett Residence include its:
- location within the Deer Lake Park Heritage Precinct
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its one-storey height, rambling linear plan and cross-gabled roof
- wood-frame construction with stucco siding and waney-edged boards in the gable peaks
- red brick on the front façade and rough-cut granite at the base of the house
- Modernist design as exemplified by the asymmetrical, linear plan with low pitched roof
- internal granite chimney
- original windows, including wooden-sash casement windows in double and triple-assembly with four-part, horizontal leading
- original front door with glass block sidelights
- associated landscape features such as granite gateposts, foundation plantings and mature coniferous trees
Photograph of a woman named Kay seated on the grass of Mabel Hawkshaw's home located at 3908 Deer Lake Avenue (R.F. Anderson house - 6504 Deer Lake Avenue). Gardens and trees are visible behind.
Photograph of a woman named Kay seated on the grass of Mabel Hawkshaw's home located at 3908 Deer Lake Avenue (R.F. Anderson house - 6504 Deer Lake Avenue). Gardens and trees are visible behind.
Photograph of Louise Irwin standing on a limb of a cherry tree in the yard of the Irwin family home on the site of the Barnet Lumber Mill. The cherry tree is in full bloom with cherry blossoms.
Photograph of Louise Irwin standing on a limb of a cherry tree in the yard of the Irwin family home on the site of the Barnet Lumber Mill. The cherry tree is in full bloom with cherry blossoms.
Photograph of Louise Irwin standing under a cherry tree that is in full bloom with cherry blossoms. The tree is in the yard of the Irwin family home on the site of the Barnet Lumber Mill.
Photograph of Louise Irwin standing under a cherry tree that is in full bloom with cherry blossoms. The tree is in the yard of the Irwin family home on the site of the Barnet Lumber Mill.
Summary: Promotional film. The BC Electric Railway Company's $50 million post-war expansion and modernization program, to be completed by 1950. Includes: expansion of transit services, including start of the switch from streetcars to trolley buses; water gas plant; explanation of the Bridge River project, with footage of construction (including La Joie Falls storage dam); Lower Mainland power sub-stations. Various Vancouver street scenes, especially Fraser Street and downtown
Credit note : sponsored/presented by: British Columbia Electric Company; producer: Lew M. Parry; producing agency/company: Trans-Canada Films Ltd.
Photograph of a stump in Central Park. Typed note at the bottom of the photograph reads, "Hollow stump in Central Park (about centre of park). Fifty feet high. At five feet from ground, fifty feet in circumference as measured by Mr. and Mrs. R.T. Wilson. Central Park, November 1936. / City Archiv…
Photograph of a stump in Central Park. Typed note at the bottom of the photograph reads, "Hollow stump in Central Park (about centre of park). Fifty feet high. At five feet from ground, fifty feet in circumference as measured by Mr. and Mrs. R.T. Wilson. Central Park, November 1936. / City Archives."
Photograph of Mary Ada Bingham standing in front of a giant tree stump in Willingdon Heights which was to be cleared for a veterans' housing project in 1948. According to an accompanying note prepared by Burnaby Village Museum, and supported by the inscription on the photograph, Ada Bingham came to…
Inscribed in black ballpoint pen, on the back of the photo: "Ada and Big Stump / Clearing time on Willingdon Heights / 1948. / Burnaby 2. B. C" and in blue ballpoint pen: "Mrs. Mary Ada Bingham / 1 Real Pioneer Wife; she helped me clear the land. Build our home, dig out well and worked for the community for nearly 50 years. She died August 9, 1969 / Alf Bingham."
Scope and Content
Photograph of Mary Ada Bingham standing in front of a giant tree stump in Willingdon Heights which was to be cleared for a veterans' housing project in 1948. According to an accompanying note prepared by Burnaby Village Museum, and supported by the inscription on the photograph, Ada Bingham came to Burnaby to homestead with her husband, Alfred "Alf" Bingham, in 1919. They settled in the Lochdale district of North Burnaby but later moved to Parker Street.
Photograph of Alfred "Alf" Bingham standing in front of a fir tree stump that is approximately 400 years old on the 4200 block of Kitchener Street. This is part of the Willingdon Heights subdivision site.
Photograph of Alfred "Alf" Bingham standing in front of a fir tree stump that is approximately 400 years old on the 4200 block of Kitchener Street. This is part of the Willingdon Heights subdivision site.
This portion of the recording includes Alfred Bingham's continuation of reading his series of short stories. He reads; "The ICE AGE and other observations before Burnaby", "The Coming of the Great Trees in Burnaby", "AND THEN MODERN CIVILIZATION STRUCK BURNABY" each written in March of 1962.
This portion of the recording includes Alfred Bingham's continuation of reading his series of short stories. He reads; "The ICE AGE and other observations before Burnaby", "The Coming of the Great Trees in Burnaby", "AND THEN MODERN CIVILIZATION STRUCK BURNABY" each written in March of 1962.
Recording is of Alfred Bingham's writings, as read by Alfred Bingham. Major themes discussed are: Pioneers, early days in Burnaby and the Co-op Movement. To view "Narrow By" terms for each track expand this description and see "Notes".
Biographical Notes
Alfred "Alf" Bingham was born in England in 1892 and moved to Canada in 1912. His first job in Canada was laying track for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) from Edmonton to McBride in 1912. His second was in Vancouver at the Rat Portage Mill on False Creek, working on the Resaw machine. He quit after one week due to poor working conditions.
After taking part in the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike as a delegate of the Retail and Mailorder Union (A.F.L.) on the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council, Alfred moved to Burnaby where he and fellow Burnaby residents Aungus McLean and Percy Little worked ten hour days to build a Shingle Mill on the edge of Burnaby Lake for Simpson & Giberson. George Green, carpenter and millwright (author of “The History of Burnaby”) also helped in the construction of the mill. Alfred built his own home from lumber cut from the mill in the Lochdale area on Sherlock Street between Curtis Street and Kitchener Street.
On April 10, 1920 Alfred married Mary Jane “Ada” Reynolds. Alfred and Ada often took in foster children during their marriage. Due to her nursing experience, Ada was often called upon to deliver babies in the Burnaby area.
Alfred and Ada Bingham were instrumental members of the Army of the Common Good, collecting vegetables and grains from growers in the area and even producing over 125 tons of vegetables from its own gardens to feed children and youth suffering from the lack of resources during the Depression years. The army was in operation for ten years and during that time the members organised the Credit Union movement of British Columbia and drew up the Credit Union act thorough the Vancouver Co-operative Council. They also started Co-Op stores and the Co-Op Wholesale Society.
Alfred was also Secretary of the Burnaby Housing committee and in 1946 he became the Secretary of the North Burnaby Labour Progressive Party (LPP).
Mary Jane “Ada” (Reynolds) Bingham died on August 9, 1969. Her husband Alfred died on April 29, 1979.
Interview was digitized in 2010 allowing it to be accessible on Heritage Burnaby. The digitization project was initiated by the Community Heritage Commission with support from City of Burnaby Council and the BC History Digitization Program of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia. It was recognized by the Heritage Society of BC with an award in 2012.
Images
Audio Tracks
Track nine of recording of Alfred Bingham's writings
Track nine of recording of Alfred Bingham's writings
Photograph of the Allen family mother and daughters in front of a blossoming tree. Left to right: Pat, Marjorie (mother) and Stephanie. This photograph was taken at their home at 3976 McGill Street.
Photograph of the Allen family mother and daughters in front of a blossoming tree. Left to right: Pat, Marjorie (mother) and Stephanie. This photograph was taken at their home at 3976 McGill Street.
1 photograph : b&w postcard ; 8 x 13 cm, mounted on heavy-weight paper 17.5 x 26.5 cm
Scope and Content
Photographic postcard of five of the six members of the small party of City of Courtenay officials and their guides walking along the edge of Battleship Lake. The sixth member is the photographer who took this photograph. This was part of a trip to the Forbidden Plateau on Vancouver Island. In this…
1 photograph : b&w postcard ; 8 x 13 cm, mounted on heavy-weight paper 17.5 x 26.5 cm
Description Level
Item
Record No.
243-055
Access Restriction
No restrictions
Reproduction Restriction
No known restrictions
Accession Number
BHS1990-06
Scope and Content
Photographic postcard of five of the six members of the small party of City of Courtenay officials and their guides walking along the edge of Battleship Lake. The sixth member is the photographer who took this photograph. This was part of a trip to the Forbidden Plateau on Vancouver Island. In this photograph George A. Grant is leading the group.