Description of Historic Place

The Park Residence is a picturesque two-storey British Arts and Crafts farmhouse, with stucco and half-timber cladding. It is located north of the Pitt Meadows town centre in a rural setting, set far back from Lougheed Highway, in the District of Pitt Meadows.

Heritage Value

The Park Residence is significant for its association with the Park family, prominent early residents of Pitt Meadows. This house was built by William James Park (1879-1964) and Mary Agnes Park (1888-1979) on property that they purchased from Frank Harris, after Harris began subdividing the property his father pre-empted. This additional land was added to the Parks' existing property, and was likely purchased to provide access to the new Lougheed Highway. William Park was known for his sawmill that sold ties to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), as well as telegraph poles and cordwood. One of the signatories of the petition to create the municipality, Park became its first clerk in 1914, when Pitt Meadows was incorporated. He was Reeve from 1920 to 1923 and again between 1934 and 1947, and was a school trustee through the 1930s. Park was also one of the founders of the Fraser Valley Milk Producers Association in 1917, which was formed by farmers representative of every district in the valley, to bargain with the distributors on behalf of its members for a standardized quality or pricing system.

This property is historically significant for its association with the development of the Lougheed Highway, the provision of direct road access through Pitt Meadows in the 1930s, and the vibrant agricultural economy. Built as a Depression era make-work project, the Lougheed Highway had a significant regional impact as part of an expanded road network that linked Vancouver east to the Fraser Valley and south to the United States, facilitating the movement of goods and people. This improved road access benefitted the Pitt Meadows economy substantially during the depression years, as may be seen in the boom in local construction.

Built in 1929, the heritage value of the Park Residence is associated with its picturesque British Arts and Crafts architecture. The popularity of traditional period revival styles during the interwar years illustrates the reluctance to relinquish historical references in domestic architecture. Homeowners of the period understood and found comfort in traditional historically-referenced architecture, yet appreciated the domestic comforts of the modern home. Typical of period revival houses built in the 1920s, it reflected the modern ideals of economy and good design, as well as an ongoing pride in past traditions. At the time, it was presumed that a well-built house would display a traditional and readily-identifiable style as a hallmark of good taste.

Source: Department of Development Services, District of Pitt Meadows

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Park Residence include its:
- rural location with a deep setback from the front property line
- residential form, scale and massing, as expressed by its one and one-half storey height, west elevation bay window, and asymmetrical plan
- picturesque roofline, with a steeply pitched side gabled roof, a gabled roof dormer, lower cross gable, a jerkin-headed roof that incorporates a gabled porch roof, and open eaves with exposed purlins and rafter ends
- wood-frame construction with stucco and half-timbered cladding
- additional exterior features include a central open front porch with square columns and two internal red-brick chimneys
- original fenestration, including original double-hung, wooden sash windows in single and double assembly containing multi-paned upper sashes; leaded upper sash on the ground floor; and multi-paned and leaded glass front elevation window in triple assembly
- associated mature garden setting and grassed lawns