Letter from R.L Greens behalf of several intending settlers who have recently acquired property in the new Government allotments at Central Park seeking construction of a road to their holdings.
North Road Line re Centre of North Road, from the Boundary of New Westminser City to Burrard INlet, be taken as the centre of the joint highway of Burnaby & Coquitlam and the Government Townsite of Port Moody
South Vancouver and Burnaby Horticultural & Pet Stock Assocation had been duly incorporated and application made to the Government for lease of portion Central Park
Westminster Board of Trade requesting the Council to appoint a delegate on the deputation about to wait on the Government re the Fraser River Bridge and the Ladner-Westminster Road projects
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.
Overlooking the rich farmland of the Fraser River floodplain, 'Glen-Lyon' is an Edwardian era rural estate, with a tall, two and one-half storey plus basement wood-frame mansion, set in a pastoral and formal landscape with an associated barn and early log pond, located near a ravine and forested ar…
Overlooking the rich farmland of the Fraser River floodplain, 'Glen-Lyon' is an Edwardian era rural estate, with a tall, two and one-half storey plus basement wood-frame mansion, set in a pastoral and formal landscape with an associated barn and early log pond, located near a ravine and forested area adjacent to Marine Drive in South Burnaby.
Heritage Value
‘Glen-Lyon’ is valued as an excellent example of a privately-owned Edwardian era country estate built at the turn of the nineteenth century. The property retains significant heritage features including the Edwardian era mansion with rustic Arts and Crafts features, and elements of a working agricultural landscape. The property was originally the Royal City Mills logging camp, and in 1900 was purchased by Duncan Campbell McGregor (1853-1929) and Margaret Jane McGregor (1875-1960), who named their estate ‘Glen-Lyon’ after Duncan McGregor’s birthplace in Perthshire, Scotland. The McGregors were active in municipal affairs and social activities, and played a significant role in the early development of Burnaby. Duncan McGregor served as a city councillor from 1909 to 1912 and was elected reeve of Burnaby in 1913. Margaret McGregor was instrumental in the formation and fundraising activities of the Victoria Order of Nurses in Burnaby.
Additionally, the site is historically significant for its association with early social welfare and correctional reform. The estate was sold in 1926 to an inter-denominational religious organization called the Home of the Friendless, which used it as their B.C. headquarters. The organization was charged with several cases of abuse and neglect in 1937, after which a Royal Commission was formed that led to new legislation to regulate and license all private welfare institutions. 'Glen-Lyon' was sold to the provincial government, and was dedicated in 1939 by the Lt.-Gov. E.W. Hamber for use as the New Haven Borstal Home for Boys and Youthful Offenders (later renamed the New Haven Correction Centre). The Borstal movement originated in England in the late nineteenth century, as an alternative to sending young offenders and runaways to prisons by providing reformatories that focused on discipline and vocational skill. This site’s role as the first North American institution devoted to the Borstal School philosophy was historic, and influenced corrections programs across Canada. The site retains significant features from its development in 1939 as the Borstal School, including a large gambrel-roofed barn designed by Chief Provincial Architect Henry Whittaker of the Department of Public Works that is the only remaining structure of its kind in Burnaby. Between 1941 and 1945 the mansion housed the Provincial School for the Deaf and Blind when the Borstal School was closed temporarily as a war measure during the Second World War.
Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of 'Glen-Lyon' Mansion include its:
- location on a sloping site with expansive southern exposure, adjacent to Marine Drive
- residential form, scale and massing of the house as exemplified by its two and one-half storey height, above-ground basement and rectangular plan
- Arts and Crafts elements of the house such as its stone foundation, multi-gabled roof line with steep central hipped roof, symmetrical cross-gables, side shed dormers, bellcast upper walls sheathed in cedar shingles and lower walls sheathed in narrow clapboard
- original exterior features of the house such as the full width front verandah with square columns, central staircase on the southern elevation, original doors and stained glass windows; and the irregular fenestration such as double-hung 1-over-1 wooden-sash windows, bay windows, and projecting windows in the gable ends
- original interior features of the house such as the U-shaped main stair designed around two symmetrically placed Ionic columns, and interior trim on the main floor including boxed beams and fireplaces
- gambrel-roofed barn with roof vent with finial, sliding hay loft and access doors, small multi-pane windows, and lapped wooden siding
- associated landscape features such as the original garden plantings with some exotic and many native specimen trees; the original log pond and its concrete Marine Drive causeway and culvert; rockeries and a rose garden
Prior to 1900, Hastings Street in Vancouver (named after Rear Admiral George Fowler Hastings, commander of Her Majesty's Pacific Coast Squadron) only extended eastward as far as Renfrew Street. By 1903, however, with operations at the Barnet Mill expanding, a direct route into Vancouver was deemed necessary and the Provincial Government ordered that Hastings be extended to connect with the rough trail known as the Barnet Road.
1 map : col. lithographic print on paper ; 52 x 59 cm
Scope and Content
Item consists of a map titled "Sketch map of the Province of / British Columbia / Showing Mining Divisions"; "Department of Mines, / Victoria, 1907". Map includes wagon roads and trails and geographic disticts.
1 map : col. lithographic print on paper ; 52 x 59 cm
Material Details
Scale not determinable
Scope and Content
Item consists of a map titled "Sketch map of the Province of / British Columbia / Showing Mining Divisions"; "Department of Mines, / Victoria, 1907". Map includes wagon roads and trails and geographic disticts.
1 plan : graphite on paper + 2 plans : black ink on paper + 1 map : col. on paper mounted on 2 sides of cardboard 76 x 102 cm
Scope and Content
Item consists of a large board with one New Westminster District subdivision plan mounted on one side and two New Westminster District subdivision plans and one colour map mounted on the other side.
Side A:
1. "Plan / of Subdivision of / Blocks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 / Lot 77 / Group 1 / New Westminster D…
1 plan : graphite on paper + 2 plans : black ink on paper + 1 map : col. on paper mounted on 2 sides of cardboard 76 x 102 cm
Material Details
Scales 1:720 and 1:1200 and 1:.00001578
Scope and Content
Item consists of a large board with one New Westminster District subdivision plan mounted on one side and two New Westminster District subdivision plans and one colour map mounted on the other side.
Side A:
1. "Plan / of Subdivision of / Blocks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 / Lot 77 / Group 1 / New Westminster District / BC. / Scale 100 feet = 1 inch", "Deposited 8th day / of April 1890 / Mowileg [sic] / Dist. Regt". Plan is drawn in graphite with annotations: "AB_Parts_lettered_are_lots_in / the_different_subdivisions" / "Owners: / James E. Hall / P.S.Cabilan [sic] by his attorney Joseph Hall / Joseph Hall / Eliza J. Shannon / John Harrison"; "This plan is correct and is prepared under the / provisions of the Land Registry Act" ; signed by: "Gordon Herman & Burwell / Dominion & Provincial Land Surveryors / Vancouver March 19th/90" . Plan is initialed by: "RB" [sic] (in blue pencil crayon) and measures: 99.5 x 65 cm (Geographic location: Burnaby)
Side B:
1. Map titled "Canada / Department of Mines / Geological Survey Branch" / "Hon.W Templeton, Minister / A.P. Low, Deputy Minister / R.W. Brock, Acting Director", Vol. XXXI, Plate I / Compiled under the direction of / James White, F.R.G.S. Geographer /Dep. of Interior". Note above map reads: "To illustrate Mr. James Barrowman's report as Delegate at the Excursion - meeting of the Canadian Mining Institute", "The instiitution of Mining Engineers / Transactions 1908 - 1909", "The Mining Institute of Scotland / Transactions 1908-1909". Map identifies minerals and includes a Legend and Scale: 100 miles = 1 inch
2. "Plan / of Subdivision of / Lot 4 / of Subdivision of / Lot 87. Gr. 1 / New Westminster District / Scale 60' = 1in." Plan is initialed by: "RB" [sic] along with a note "also Board / 48" (in blue pencil crayon) (Geographic location: Burnaby)
3. Plan of "Lot 335 / G. 1" west of Boundary Road and north of River Road - Vancouver. (Geographic location: Vancouver)
The letters of Queen Victoria : a selection from her Makesty's correspondence between the years 1837 and 1861, published by the authority of His Majesty the King, vol. ii, 1844-1853