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
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.
Photograph of Jay MacLennan, the ceramic technician at the Shadbolt Centre, holding up a ceramic bowl created as part of the Bowls For Hunger fundraising event.
Photograph of Jay MacLennan, the ceramic technician at the Shadbolt Centre, holding up a ceramic bowl created as part of the Bowls For Hunger fundraising event.
Collected by editorial for use in an April 2001 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Jay MacLennan, the ceramic technician at the Shadbolt Centre, checks his handiwork as he kiln fires 500 bowls in time for Thursday's Bowls For Hunger fundraiser."
Photograph of an unidentified person viewing paintings on display at the Burnaby Artists' Guild annual show and sale at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
Photograph of an unidentified person viewing paintings on display at the Burnaby Artists' Guild annual show and sale at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
Collected by editorial for use in an April 2002 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Art lovers get the chance to see the talents of local artists, and expand their own collections, at the Burnaby Artists' Guild annual show and sale, held over the weekend at the Shadbolt Centre. More than 33 artists displayed their work."
File contains photographs of the Burnaby Arts Council's Showcase 2002 at the Shadbolt Centre. Photographs depict Mas Hori demonstrating Japanese Sumi brush painting and a performance by The Maple Leaf Singers chorus.
File contains photographs of the Burnaby Arts Council's Showcase 2002 at the Shadbolt Centre. Photographs depict Mas Hori demonstrating Japanese Sumi brush painting and a performance by The Maple Leaf Singers chorus.
Collected by editorial for use in a February 2002 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata for 535-1989-1: "Mas Hori demonstrates Japanese Sumi brush painting at the Burnaby Arts Council's Showcase 2002, at the Shadbolt Centre over the weekend."
Caption from metadata for 535-1989-2: "The Maple Leaf Singers perform at the Burnaby Arts Council's Showcase 2002, at the Shadbolt Centre over the weekend."
Photograph of the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts' digital marquee on Canada Way, at night. The marquee, which reads "Closed", is brightly illuminated in the dark.
Photograph of the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts' digital marquee on Canada Way, at night. The marquee, which reads "Closed", is brightly illuminated in the dark.
Photograph of the exterior of the James Cowan Centre (now the James Cowan Theatre at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts) and the nearby parking lot and gardens. The photograph is taken looking down from a high point, facing east.
Photograph of the exterior of the James Cowan Centre (now the James Cowan Theatre at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts) and the nearby parking lot and gardens. The photograph is taken looking down from a high point, facing east.
Photograph of a craft market taking place in the Cowan Centre (now the James Cowan Theatre at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts). The photograph shows a crowd of people examining and purchasing the handmade crafts on display. The photograph is taken facing north, inside of the room.
Photograph of a craft market taking place in the Cowan Centre (now the James Cowan Theatre at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts). The photograph shows a crowd of people examining and purchasing the handmade crafts on display. The photograph is taken facing north, inside of the room.
Photograph of a craft market taking place in the Cowan Centre (now the James Cowan Theatre at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts). The photograph shows a crowd of people examining and purchasing the handmade crafts on display. The photograph is taken facing south.
Photograph of a craft market taking place in the Cowan Centre (now the James Cowan Theatre at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts). The photograph shows a crowd of people examining and purchasing the handmade crafts on display. The photograph is taken facing south.
1 photograph : b&w glass negative ; 16.0 x 20.9 cm
Scope and Content
Photograph of Deer Lake. An earlier catalogue record from 1988 notes that the view is of the north shore of Deer Lake, looking northeast. Also noted is that the Hart's boathouse is in view at the mouth of Deer Lake Brook, and that the Anderson and Mathers houses on can be seen on Deer Lake Avenue
1 photograph : b&w glass negative ; 16.0 x 20.9 cm
Scope and Content
Photograph of Deer Lake. An earlier catalogue record from 1988 notes that the view is of the north shore of Deer Lake, looking northeast. Also noted is that the Hart's boathouse is in view at the mouth of Deer Lake Brook, and that the Anderson and Mathers houses on can be seen on Deer Lake Avenue
File contains photographs of the Burnaby Empty Bowls Project fundraising event at the Shadbolt Centre. Photographs depict potter David Lloyd at work creating ceramic bowls and children Michael Oliver, Susan Oliver, and Jennifer Tan making their own creations from potter Bob Kingsmill's scraps.
File contains photographs of the Burnaby Empty Bowls Project fundraising event at the Shadbolt Centre. Photographs depict potter David Lloyd at work creating ceramic bowls and children Michael Oliver, Susan Oliver, and Jennifer Tan making their own creations from potter Bob Kingsmill's scraps.
Collected by editorial for use in a March 2003 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata for 535-2291-1: "Children, Michael Oliver, 7, left, Susan Oliver, 5, centre, and Jennifer Tang, 7, work on their own creations from the scraps of Bob Kingsmill, potter, left, during the Burnaby Empty Bowls competition Saturday afternoon at the Shadbolt Centre."
Caption from metadata for 535-2291-2: "David Lloyd, potter, works hard and fast during the Burnaby Empty Bowls Project Saturday afternoon at the Shadbolt Centre. Potters spent the day creating their own distinctive ceramic bowls which will eventually be painted and auctioned off to raise money for the Empty Bowls Project."
Caption from metadata for 535-2291-3: "Scraps litter the floor where potter, David Lloyd, has been making his distinctive ceramic bowls all afternoon Saturday for the Burnaby Empty Bowls Project at the Shadbolt Centre in Deer Lake Park.
Caption from metadata for 535-2291-4: "Michael Oliver, 7, left, Susan Oliver, 5, centre, and Jennifer Tang, 7, work on their own creations from the scraps of Bob Kingsmill, potter, left, during the Burnaby Empty Bowls competition Saturday afternoon at the Shadbolt Centre."
Collected by editorial for use in a March 2000 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Kelt Eccleston, one of the Fairy Tale Players, livens up a story for an audience of kids at the Spring Ding concert at the Shadbolt Centre."
File contains photographs of actors Kim Bunka, Trent Glukler, and Donna Walberg in costume and posing in character as promotion for Footlight Theatre's production of Anne of Green Gables at the James Cowan Theatre.
File contains photographs of actors Kim Bunka, Trent Glukler, and Donna Walberg in costume and posing in character as promotion for Footlight Theatre's production of Anne of Green Gables at the James Cowan Theatre.
Collected by editorial for use in a November 2002 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata for 535-2992-1: "Anne (Kim Bunka) is upset, as Matthew (Trent Glukler) and Marilla (Donna Walberg) argue over whether to keep her, in a scene from Footlight Theatre's production of Anne of Green Gables, playing at the James Cowan Theatre until November 23."
Caption from metadata for 535-2992-2: "Matthew (Trent Glukler) and Marilla (Donna Walberg) try to decide Anne's fate (Kim Bunka), in Footlight Theatre's production of Anne of Green Gables, playing at Burnaby's James Cowan Theatre until November 23."