Helen 'The Swinging Girl' Neon Sign
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Description
- Commercial building.
- Associated Dates
- 1956
- Formal Recognition
- Heritage Designation, Community Heritage Register
- Other Names
- Helen's Childrens Wear Sign
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Other Names
- Helen's Childrens Wear Sign
- Geographic Access
- Hastings Street
- Associated Dates
- 1956
- Formal Recognition
- Heritage Designation, Community Heritage Register
- Enactment Type
- Bylaw No. 12771
- Enactment Date
- 19/04/2010
- Description
- Commercial building.
- Heritage Value
- While the building here is of some importance as the former North Burnaby municipal office, its primary importance is its delightful neon sign that has become a North Burnaby landmark. Helen Arnold opened Helen’s Childrens Wear shop in the building next door to the old Municipal offices in 1948. In 1955, when North Burnaby moved out, she moved into the vacated building. As part of the renovations, Helen enlisted the assistance of her good friend Jimmy Wallace, owner of Vancouver’s Wallace Neon Company, to create a new sign for her expanded business. One of the company’s designers, Reeve Lehman, created the swinging neon girl that was installed in 1956. Designed in two parts, one section of the sign is cloud shaped and reads ‘Helen’s’ while the other section is a moving representation of a little girl on a swing. The sign is nine feet six inches high and nine feet wide, and the lower section is animated with an internal motor and gears. It immediately became a landmark on Hastings Street, and recently the sign’s design fame has spread far and wide as one of the best surviving examples of kinetic neon art in North America.
- Locality
- Vancouver Heights
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Vancouver Heights (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Willingdon Heights Area
- Community
- Burnaby
- Names
- Helen's Childrens Wear
- Subjects
- Buildings - Commercial - Stores
- Advertising Medium - Signs and Signboards
- Street Address
- 4142 Hastings Street
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
Less detail
Willingdon Heights Neighbourhood
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Associated Dates
- 1925-1954
- Heritage Value
- Willingdon Heights was another new subdivision developed in Burnaby during the post-World War Two building boom. A brochure about the development published in 1948 proclaimed "the Willingdon Heights 500 home development project in Burnaby fulfills its promise to provide a self-contained community for former members of the armed services and their families...the largest single veteran housing project in Canada as far as homes for individual ownership is concerned, Willingdon Heights development was planned by the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation...At this date the earlier built rows of homes have passable roads and the owners are improving lawns and gardens in spare time...eventually additional stores and professional services will be installed and recreational projects will add to the amenities of a community of congenial residents..."
- Planning Study Area
- Willingdon Heights Area
Less detail
Willingdon Heights Neighbourhood
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Associated Dates
- 1955-2008
- Heritage Value
- The convenient location of Willingdon Heights to the Trans Canada Highway, Lougheed Highway and Hastings Street has fostered its development as a primarily residential commuter neighbourhood. Characterised in the post-World War Two period by predominantly single-family developments, the neighbourhood has retained this identity despite some higher density apartment buildings now found there.
- Planning Study Area
- Willingdon Heights Area
Less detail
Willingdon Heights United Church
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Geographic Access
- Parker Street
- Associated Dates
- 1951
- Description
- Church building.
- Heritage Value
- This church was built to serve a 500-home subdivision known as Willingdon Heights–Canada’s largest single veteran’s housing project created by the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation and constructed by the Whitsell Construction Company in 1948. The church building was designed as a simplified Gothic Revival church with a tall front tower and Gothic pointed-arch stained glass window and entrance. This church was designed by Vancouver architects Twizell & Twizell. Both Robert Twizell (1875-1964) and younger brother George Twizell (1885-1957) articled at Newcastle, England’s Hicks & Charlewood before arriving in Vancouver in late 1907 or early 1908, with George working for Robert until they established a partnership a few years later. Their firm lasted for nearly half a century and was well known for its numerous church designs.
- Locality
- Vancouver Heights
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Vancouver Heights (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Willingdon Heights Area
- Architect
- Twizell & Twizell
- Area
- 1808.82
- Contributing Resource
- Building
- Ownership
- Private
- Street Address
- 4304 Parker Street
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
Less detail
5th Burnaby Brownies and Guides at Willingdon Heights United Church
- Repository
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Date
- [ca. 1950]
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Girl Guides fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 20.5 x 25.5 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of a group of 5th Burnaby Brownies, Guides and their leaders standing on the sidewalk in front of Willingdon Heights United Church.
Allan Beaton
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [195-] (date of original), copied 1992
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 9 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Allan Beaton inspecting an apple tree in front of a house.
Betty Stevenson in the Stevenson family garden
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [195-] (date of original), copied 1992
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 8.7 x 10.9 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Betty Stevenson in the Stevenson family garden.
Front room of Venables Street home
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Harold H. Johnston fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph (jpeg) : b&w
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the original front entrance of the home belonging to Harold Johnston and his family at 4447 Venables Street, Burnaby.
Garage at 4447 Venables
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Harold H. Johnston fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph (jpeg) : b&w
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the original garage at the Johnston family home at 4447 Venables Street.
George Winter
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1950] (date of original), copied 1992
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 7.5 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of George Winter who worked as a commissionaire (guard) for the Loomis Armoured Car company.
Harold and Frances Johnston
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Harold H. Johnston fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph (jpeg) : b&w
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Harold Johnston (seated) and his wife, Frances in the living room of their Venables Street home in Burnaby.
Harold and Sean Johnston
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Harold H. Johnston fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph (jpeg) : b&w
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Harold H. Johnston, seated, holding his two-year-old son, Sean, outside of an unidentified house. The location is likely at the Johnston family home at 4447 Venables Street.
Johnston family home
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Harold H. Johnston fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph (jpeg) : b&w
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the home belonging to Harold Johnston and his family, located at 4447 Venables Street.
Johnston family home
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Harold H. Johnston fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph (jpeg) : b&w
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the home belonging to Harold Johnston and his family, located at 4447 Venables Street.
Kitchen of Venables Street home
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Harold H. Johnston fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph (jpeg) : b&w
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the original kitchen of the home belonging to Harold Johnston and his family at 4447 Venables Street, Burnaby.
Knight-Roberts family home on Gilmore Avenue
- Repository
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Date
- [195-]
- Collection/Fonds
- Margaret Norton fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : sepia ; 9 x 6.2 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the front of the Knight-Roberts family home located at 931 Gilmore Avenue in Burnaby. The house was moved to this location from the forty hundred block of Georgia Street, Vancouver in the mid 1920s.
Knight-Roberts family home on Gilmore Avenue
- Repository
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Date
- [195-]
- Collection/Fonds
- Margaret Norton fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : sepia ; 6.2 x 9 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the front of the Knight-Roberts family home located at 931 Gilmore Avenue in Burnaby. The house was moved to this location from the forty hundred block of Georgia Street, Vancouver in the mid 1920s.
Outside Safeway
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [195-] (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 two women standing beside a car in the parking lot of Safeway. The woman on the left may be Betty Stevenson.
Rita Taylor with Dolly, Lila and Margaret Knight
- Repository
- Burnaby Village Museum
- Date
- [195-]
- Collection/Fonds
- Margaret Norton fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : sepia ; 8.5 x 6 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of (left to right) Rita Knight (nee Taylor) standing together with sisters in law Dolly Walker-Kirkwood (nee Knight), Lila McKinley (nee Knight) and Margaret Norton (nee Knight) in the yard of the Knight-Roberts family home on Gilmore Avenue.