Burnaby Central School became the third high school to be built in Burnaby (following Burnaby North and Burnaby South). The increased school enrolments due to the rapidly growing population in Burnaby meant that the School District required this third high school to be placed between the other two. In its first year, 719 students attended Burnaby Central.
When staff outgrew the municipal buildings at Edmonds and Kingsway, a debate erupted over where to build a new municipal hall. North Burnaby residents argued against the Kingsway and Edmonds site as it was too removed for their needs, but South Burnaby residents were not prepared to accept a hall in North Burnaby. The debate was finally resolved when it was suggested that the new civic centre for the municipality be in the exact geographic centre of Burnaby. Fortunately, this meant that the new hall was to be built near Deer Lake, in the beautiful Central Valley setting. Burnaby voters accepted this decision and approved the $625,000.00 it would take to build the new structure and the official opening ceremony was held June 22, 1956 when then Reeve Charles MacSorley received the keys to the hall from the contractor.
Skating on Deer Lake and Burnaby Lake was the inspiration to form the Burnaby Winter Club in the 1950s. In 1958, the volunteer group opened an indoor ice facility, still operating today at 4990 Canada Way. Originally, the facility boasted 8 sheets of curling ice, that were used to capacity by the more than 500 family and individual members in the heyday of the Club. The Winter Club was a social centre: in addition to curling, it was a popular place for banquets and dances, and a place for families to spend time together. In the 1960s, the eight sheets of curling ice were reduced to five, to make room for a sheet of hockey ice for the members’ children. Volunteer coaches were committed to excellence, and the Club produced many professional hockey players. By 1964, the Club’s first future NHL player was playing: Pee Wee player Jack McIlhargey.
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 Shadbolt Centre for the Arts opened in 1995. The Shadbolt Centre was named after two Burnaby residents who dedicated a lifetime of support and cultivation of the arts locally, nationally and internationally. Doris and Jack Shadbolt resided in Burnaby for over 50 years until Jack's death in November 1998. Doris Shadbolt spent her life's work bringing the artist and the audience closer together through her writing and curatorial work. Jack Shadbolt was an internationally recognized Canadian painter. He was also an author and both received many awards including the Order of Canada. In keeping with the Shadbolts' generosity the arts, Jack Shadbolt donated two of his paintings to the Centre for permanent display.
Came in with Oakalla Prison records and artifacts in 1991. Filmstrip was utilized by staff and inmates of Oakalla. Digitized by BVM into preservation and accessible formats in 2020.
Notes
Filmstrip (photographs and illustrations with subtitles) provides a brief synopsis of apprenticeship training for a motor vehicle mechanic. Segments include "Motor Vehicle Mechanic"; "Related Fields of Training"; "Opportunities in the Trade". Film was created in collaboration with the Occupational Analysis Section of the Department of Labour.
Film frame 36 reads: "For further information... read Monograph No. 10 in the "Canadian Occupations" series, consult your local National Employment Service office, teachers, counsellors and person familiar with the automobile trades." Accompanying sound recording is missing.
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.
The Douglas-Gilpin Neighbourhood developed into a diverse area incorporating residential, business, educational and park districts in the period after 1955. The BCIT site was built in the early 1960s, shortly after the Burnaby Municipal Hall was located on Canada Way near Deer Lake in 1956. The construction of the Municipal Hall at this location fostered the creation of an administrative and business centre adjacent to the park, while the northern and central areas of the neighbourhood retained their primarily residential character.