Alta Vista Baptist Church
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Other Names
- Royal Oak Community Church
- Geographic Access
- Royal Oak Avenue
- Associated Dates
- 1936
- Description
- Church building.
- Heritage Value
- This Baptist congregation originally held services in a tent at the corner of McGregor Avenue and Portland but they soon were able to build a small church. A membership drive by Pastor Arthur James Bowbrick (1875-1961) was so successful that the congregation was able build this fine structure, prominently located at the corner of Victory Street. Although it has been altered with later additions and stucco over the original siding, the original windows and the rooftop belfry remain.
- Locality
- Alta Vista
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Alta Vista (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Sussex-Nelson Area
- Ownership
- Private
- Street Address
- 7175 Royal Oak Avenue
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
Less detail
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Geographic Access
- Royal Oak Avenue
- Associated Dates
- 1935
- Description
- Cemetery site.
- Heritage Value
- 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.
- Locality
- Burnaby Lake
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Douglas-Gilpin Area
- Architect
- Albert F. Arnold
McCarter & Nairne
- Area
- 449910.00
- Contributing Resource
- Landscape Feature
- Building
- Ownership
- Private
- Street Address
- 3789 Royal Oak Avenue
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
Less detail
James & Agnes Smith Residence
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Geographic Access
- Royal Oak Avenue
- Associated Dates
- 1907
- Description
- Residential building.
- Heritage Value
- During the Edwardian era, the western provinces were experiencing unprecedented population growth, and in response, in 1904 the Vancouver-based B.C. Mills, Timber and Trading Company patented a modular prefabricated building system that could be adapted to provide everything from modest one-room cottages to churches, schools and banks. Wall panels were assembled from the short mill ends of lumber and siding, until then just waste material that piled up in the millyard. These panels were bolted together on site, with the joints between the panels covered by distinctive vertical battens. Wall panels were assembled at the mill, pre-painted, and packaged with the other components and the instructions necessary to assemble the building. The disassembled building was then shipped to the waiting customer. As western settlements became established, labour and materials were more freely available and local construction companies could be more competitive in their costs. By 1910, this prefabricated system was rendered obsolete. The Smith Residence is a beautifully-preserved example of a B.C. Mills house, and is one of the models that featured a gambrel roof and a full open front verandah. This house was built by local contractor Mr. MacLean for James Smith, a ship’s engineer on the Empress of Japan, and his wife, Agnes. Agnes Smith continued to live here after her husband’s death and sold the house and property in the late 1920s with two of the acres being purchased by her daughter, Grace and husband Henry Pletcher to build a neighbouring house.
- Locality
- Central Park
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Central Park (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Oakalla Area
- Area
- 1147.85
- Contributing Resource
- Building
- Ownership
- Private
- Street Address
- 6186 Royal Oak Avenue
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
Less detail
Beaver Creek - Royal Oak Avenue
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- August 9, 1996
- Collection/Fonds
- Doreen Lawson fonds
- Description Level
- File
- Physical Description
- 13 photographs : col. slides ; 35 mm
- Scope and Content
- File consists of photographs of Beaver Creek and Royal Oak Avenue taken during the Royal Oak Avenue Realignment project.
England family home on Royal Oak Avenue
- Repository
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Date
- [between 1927 and 1930] (date of original) , copied 2020
- Collection/Fonds
- Mary England fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph (tiff) : b&w ; 600 dpi
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of a Craftsman style house located at 1906 Royal Oak Avenue near Victory Street in Burnaby (address was changed to 7353 Royal Oak Aveue after 1958). The house was built in 1914 and was the home of Alfred Henry and Mary England (nee Gooding). Alfred H. England died suddenly in 1917. Mary…
Royal Oak Avenue
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1930] (date of original), copied 1992
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 8.2 x 12.2 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Royal Oak Avenue looking north from the Price's property near Dover Street.
Oakalla Prison
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Geographic Access
- Royal Oak Avenue
- Associated Dates
- 1912
- Heritage Value
- 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.
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Oakalla Area
Less detail
Ada Smith and her friend
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1920] (date of original), copied 1986
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.7 x 17.8 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of (right) Ada Smith and an unidentified friend. Ada was the daughter of James Smith and Agnes Smith, and lived in one of the first homes built at 6186 Royal Oak Road. This photograph was probably taken in the back yard of the family home.
Davis family neighbourhood
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1929 (date of original), copied 1986
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 10.2 x 17.8 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the neighbourhood where the Davis family lived, looking up Royal Oak Road at Imperial Street, taken from an upstairs room of the Davis home. Arthur Davis later built a corner house at 2345 Royal Oak, right next to house from which this photograph was taken.
James Smith house
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1907]
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 10.0 x 14.0 cm mounted on 17.7 x 22.cm cardboard
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the exterior of the James Smith house, 6186 Royal Oak Avenue. A woman and two girls are seated on the porch stairs. The accession description states that the house is a B.C. Mills Prefab erected in 1907 by Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Smith family home
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1960] (date of original), copied 1986
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.7 x 17.8 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the Smith family home at 6186 Royal Oak Road. Although this photograph was taken in the 1960s, this was one of the first houses built on Royal Oak, in 1907. This was the home of James Smith and his wife, Agnes Smith (nee Taylor). They had four children: Grace Smith (later Grace Pletc…
All Saints Anglican Church and Parish Hall
- Repository
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Date
- [191-]
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Village Museum Photograph collection
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w postcard ; 8.8 x 13.9 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photographic postcard of two buildings identified as All Saints Anglican Church and Parish Hall. There are two men in work clothes (cover-alls) standing in between the two buildings. There is a ladder going up to the roof of one building.
Al MacInnes in Aunt Leah's Society Tree Lot
BCGEU Protestors
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- October 14, 1976
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Public Library Contemporary Visual Archive Project
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 16 cm mounted on cardboard
- Scope and Content
- Photograph shows two members of the BC Government Employees Union, holding a large sign protesting wage and price controls outside the gates of the Lower Mainland Regional Correctional Centre at 5700 Royal Oak Avenue (later 5220 Oakmount Crescent).
BCGEU Protestors
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- October 14, 1976
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Public Library Contemporary Visual Archive Project
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 16 cm mounted on cardboard
- Scope and Content
- Photograph shows a group of BC Government Employees demonstrating against wage and price controls outside the fence of the Lower Mainland Regional Correctional Centre at 5700 Royal Oak Avenue (later 5220 Oakmount Crescent).
Bertha McLaren with her daughter Bessie
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1913] (date of original), copied 1986
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.7 x 17.8 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Bertha (Vallie) McLaren sitting on the grass, holding her daughter Bessie McLaren (later Taylor) at her side. This photograph was taken in the backyard of the family home at 3079 Royal Oak Avenue (later renumbered 6362 Royal Oak Avenue), South Burnaby.
Bessie McLaren and Jimmy Taylor
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1934 (date of original), copied 1986
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.7 x 17.8 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Bessie McLaren and James "Jimmy" Taylor, her fiance. They were married two years later. The photograph was probably taken at the McLaren family home at 3079 Royal Oak Avenue (later renumbered 6362 Royal Oak Avenue).
Bezanson brothers
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1932
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.7 x 17.8 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the Bezanson brothers, Charlie and Albert. The boys are shown with a homemade bobsled used to careen down Royal Oak Road hill past Oakalla.