Alta Vista, named for its high views of the Fraser Valley, rapidly grew during the period 1910-1912, seeing its settlement jump from about a dozen buildings in 1910 to about four hundred by the end of 1912. Home-seekers were attracted to its location just a short walk from the B.C.E.R. line at Royal Oak and Highland Park and easily accessible to both New Westminster and Vancouver.
Typical of the Arts and Crafts style, this house has a front gabled roof with triangular eave brackets and a front verandah with twinned square columns on tapered piers. It is notable for its stained glass windows and early ‘ripple’ float glass. Asbestos shingles were at one point added over the original siding, but are being removed by the owner, exposing the cedar shingles. The house is believed to have been built and occupied by Albert and Emma Greenwood.
This Craftsman bungalow was built for the Neville family. Richard Neville (1884-1950) served as a Burnaby councillor in 1924 and is remembered as the man who gave the CCF party (now the NDP) land on Maple Avenue on which to build Jubilee Labour Hall. He worked as a tile layer for the O’Neill Company and was married to Ada Neville (née Cook, 1885-1970). Ada Neville still lived in this house at the time of her death. Typical of the Craftsman style, the house has a side gabled roof with large front gable dormer, triangular eave brackets, an open arched front verandah and a textural mix of siding including cedar shingle on the main floor and lapped siding at the foundation.
Located on Rumble Street in the Alta Vista neighbourhood, the Roy and Catherine Cummins House is a one and one-half storey, front-gabled rustic Arts and Crafts house, distinguished by the use of log construction and fieldstone verandah columns.
Located on Rumble Street in the Alta Vista neighbourhood, the Roy and Catherine Cummins House is a one and one-half storey, front-gabled rustic Arts and Crafts house, distinguished by the use of log construction and fieldstone verandah columns.
Heritage Value
The Roy and Catherine Cummins House is valued for its association with the early settlement of Burnaby. Its construction is linked to the opening of the Burnaby Lake Interurban line, which ran through the central part of Burnaby, providing access between Vancouver and New Westminster. The accessibility of the area, combined with spectacular views of the Fraser River, made Alta Vista a desirable Edwardian era middle-class neighbourhood. The house was built in 1912 for Roy Franklin Cummins and his wife, Catherine Emma Cummins (née Cook), shortly after their marriage. Roy Cummins was a lineman with the B.C. Electric Railway Company, an economic driving force in Burnaby.
The Roy and Catherine Cummins House is a unique and sophisticated local example of a rustic Arts and Crafts structure. Roy Cummins constructed the house from logs cleared for the construction of Rumble Street; the house is also unique for its use of local fieldstone for its verandah columns and chimney. Reminiscent of park lodge architecture, it exemplifies the semi-wild nature of the area as it was being opened for subdivision. It is also an indication of how far Burnaby was removed from the more urban lifestyles and attitudes of Vancouver and New Westminster.
Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Roy and Catherine Cummins House include its:
- location on a steeply sloping site in the Alta Vista neighbourhood of Burnaby
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its one and one-half storey height plus full basement, front-gabled roof and shed dormer, full open front verandah and partial rear verandah
- peeled log construction including notched corner posts, log verandah roof framing and log balustrades
- masonry elements including fieldstone verandah columns and internal chimney, and board-formed concrete foundations with fieldstone aggregate
- rustic Arts and Crafts features such as the use of natural materials, tapered columns, front door with sidelights and exposed eave purlins
- original windows, including wooden sash casement windows in multiple assembly with continuous transoms
- interior features including fir-panelled walls, wooden mouldings and fieldstone fireplace
- associated landscape features including terraced stone walls
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.
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.
Photograph of the Bickerton family home at 2125 Nelson Avenue (later renumberd 7082 Nelson Avenue) near Victory Street, built in 1905 In front of the home are Edgar and Jane Bickerton, and three of their children: Edward, Nancy and Patricia.
Photograph of the Bickerton family home at 2125 Nelson Avenue (later renumberd 7082 Nelson Avenue) near Victory Street, built in 1905 In front of the home are Edgar and Jane Bickerton, and three of their children: Edward, Nancy and Patricia.
1 photograph : sepia ; 19 x 24 cm (sight), in mat 29 x 34 cm + 1 p.
Scope and Content
Photograph of lawn bowlers gathered together at the first bowling green in Burnaby, located at Victory Street and Gray Avenue (on Stan Wood's property). Standing in the back row (from left) are; M. Van George, Reverend A.C. Cameron, George Gascarth, Bennett, Oliver Goodacre and John Brown. Sitting …
1 photograph : sepia ; 19 x 24 cm (sight), in mat 29 x 34 cm + 1 p.
Scope and Content
Photograph of lawn bowlers gathered together at the first bowling green in Burnaby, located at Victory Street and Gray Avenue (on Stan Wood's property). Standing in the back row (from left) are; M. Van George, Reverend A.C. Cameron, George Gascarth, Bennett, Oliver Goodacre and John Brown. Sitting in the front row are; J.N. Durrell, Charles Mirren McInnes Harper, A.E.S. "Stan" Wood, William "Will" Taylor, and Edward Lumley Wriglesworth. Most of the men are wearing suit vests and pocket watches.
Photograph of the Gough family and relatives clearing the lot for the family home on Nelson Avenue, Alta Vista. Identified in the photo (back row, centre) Donald Gough. Others in picture are aunts and uncles named Evans. Donald was the son of Agnes Gough and her husband William, who settled here…
Photograph of the Gough family and relatives clearing the lot for the family home on Nelson Avenue, Alta Vista. Identified in the photo (back row, centre) Donald Gough. Others in picture are aunts and uncles named Evans. Donald was the son of Agnes Gough and her husband William, who settled here at 2119 Nelson Avenue (later 7126 Nelson Avenue).
Photograph of an unidentified family at Marlborough Avenue and Victory Street. A man and woman are seated outside in a forested area holding two small children. An annotation at the top of photograph reads, "Marlborough & Victory Sts. 1913."
Photograph of an unidentified family at Marlborough Avenue and Victory Street. A man and woman are seated outside in a forested area holding two small children. An annotation at the top of photograph reads, "Marlborough & Victory Sts. 1913."
Photograph of (left) Leslie Gough and (right) Phyllis Gough, children of William and Agnes Gough, on the porch of of 2119 Nelson Avenue (later 7126 Nelson Avenue).
Photograph of (left) Leslie Gough and (right) Phyllis Gough, children of William and Agnes Gough, on the porch of of 2119 Nelson Avenue (later 7126 Nelson Avenue).
Photograph of the Gough family children in front of their Nelson Avenue home. Left to right: Dorothy Gough Love, Phyllis Gough and Donald Gough. The address on Nelson Avenue was later changed from 2119 to 7126.
Photograph of the Gough family children in front of their Nelson Avenue home. Left to right: Dorothy Gough Love, Phyllis Gough and Donald Gough. The address on Nelson Avenue was later changed from 2119 to 7126.
Photograph of the Gray family clearing a lot for the family home at 4375 Winnifred Street. Clamor Gray (father of William Gray) and Ernie North (uncle, right), both carpenters, built this house and others for relatives nearby.
Photograph of the Gray family clearing a lot for the family home at 4375 Winnifred Street. Clamor Gray (father of William Gray) and Ernie North (uncle, right), both carpenters, built this house and others for relatives nearby.
Photograph of the Gray family clearing the lot for their family home at 4375 Winnifred Street. (From left) Clamor Gray (father of William Gray) Emily Gray (mother), and Ernie North (uncle by marriage; he had married Hilda, the sister of Clamor Gray).
Photograph of the Gray family clearing the lot for their family home at 4375 Winnifred Street. (From left) Clamor Gray (father of William Gray) Emily Gray (mother), and Ernie North (uncle by marriage; he had married Hilda, the sister of Clamor Gray).
Photograph of the Gray family tent on their 4375 Winnifred Street property. (Inside tent) Clamor Gray (father of William Gray). The Grays lived in the tent while their house was being built by Mr. Gray, a carpenter.
Photograph of the Gray family tent on their 4375 Winnifred Street property. (Inside tent) Clamor Gray (father of William Gray). The Grays lived in the tent while their house was being built by Mr. Gray, a carpenter.
Recording is of an interview with former Mayor William “Bill” Lewarne, conducted by Rod Fowler. Bill Lewarne was one of eleven participants interviewed as part of the SFU/Burnaby Centennial Committee's oral history series titled, "Voices of Burnaby". The interview is mainly about Bill Lewarne’s business and political careers, and memories of growing up in South Burnaby in the 1930s. Bill Lewarne talks about his parent’s origins, his family and community struggles during the Depression, the interurban, his education, war service, and joining his father's business. He describes the start, operation and expansion of the family ice cream business, and how business life compared to political life. The interview explores the role of politics in community affairs, his political activities, the history of the BVA, and his involvement in various community organizations. To view “Narrow By” terms for each track, expand this description and see “Notes”.
Biographical Notes
William Alfred “Bill” Lewarne was born in Burnaby in 1926 to Ethel Cecilia Leer (1899- ) and Alfred Lewarne (1893-1962). The family, Ethel, Alfred and their three children Patricia, Beverley and William, moved to a house on Nelson Avenue in Alta Vista in 1931. Ethel still lived in the family home in 1990. Bill Lewarne attended Nelson Avenue School and South Burnaby High School (1932-1944). His father Alfred worked at Colony Farms as a dairy inspector and then for the Port of Vancouver Dairy before being laid off early in the Depression. The family struggled until in 1936 Alfred started his own ice cream business. After graduation Bill was in the army for two years, taking a refrigeration course under the veteran’s training benefit, before joining his father’s business. Three generations of the family operated the successful company, expanding from wholesale, retail and distribution of ice cream products into refrigerated warehouses and the wholesale ice business, until the business was sold to its competitor Dairyland in 1989. Bill Lewarne entered politics in 1965, first with the Nonpartisan Association (NPA) and then as a founder of the Burnaby Citizens Association (BCA). He served as an alderman on Burnaby Council 1973-1975 and 1977-1981 and as Mayor 1981-1987. In 1979 he ran for provincial office for the Social Credit Party against Rosemary Brown but lost.
Bill Lewarne married June Lawrence and they had three children Robert, Leslie and Janice. He was active in many organizations: Burnaby/Willingdon Liberal Association, Seton Villa, Irish Fusileers of Canada, Lions Club, Rotary Club, Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion, and the Burnaby Hospital Foundation, and continued to be active on the Board of the BCA. Bill Lewarne died in 1995.
Rod Fowler returned to university as a mature student in the 1980s after working about twenty years in the field of economics and business computerization in England, Europe and Western Canada. He graduated with a BA from SFU in both History and Sociology in 1987, his MA degree in Geography in 1989, and his PhD in Cultural Geography at SFU. He taught courses in Geography, Sociology, History and Canadian Studies at several Lower Mainland colleges, before becoming a full time member of the Geography Department at Kwantlen University College.
Interviews were digitized in 2015 allowing them to be accessible on Heritage Burnaby. The digitization project was initiated by the Community Heritage Commission with support from City of Burnaby Council.
Photograph of the Leer family. From left to right: Richard Hedges, George Leer, Sarah Leer, and Ethel Leer. George Leer and his wife would be grandparents of Mayor William Lewarne. This photograph was taken in front of the Leer family home at Portland Street and McGregor Avenue.
Photograph of the Leer family. From left to right: Richard Hedges, George Leer, Sarah Leer, and Ethel Leer. George Leer and his wife would be grandparents of Mayor William Lewarne. This photograph was taken in front of the Leer family home at Portland Street and McGregor Avenue.
Photograph of the Naud family home. Left to right: Georges Naud (father), Ernie Naud (brother), and Bernie Naud (brother) are on the front porch. The house was green on its upper half and light grey at the bottom. It was located at 4737 Victory Street.
Photograph of the Naud family home. Left to right: Georges Naud (father), Ernie Naud (brother), and Bernie Naud (brother) are on the front porch. The house was green on its upper half and light grey at the bottom. It was located at 4737 Victory Street.