Description of Historic Place

The McNeice Residence is a one and one-half storey Arts and Crafts style house with a bellcast front-gabled roof, set on a high basement. Located in a low-density residential neighbourhood, the house sits on a south-sloping corner lot at the intersection of St. George and Douglas Streets, with Hope Street running behind, and has extensive views overlooking downtown Port Moody and Burrard Inlet.

Heritage Value

The house is significant for its association with Frederick William McNeice, a prominent citizen and landowner in early Port Moody. McNeice was born at sea of English parents, arrived in Port Moody in 1907, and worked as a clerk. Shortly afterwards he formed a partnership in a successful real estate firm, McNeice Brothers, with his brother, J.H. McNeice. In 1910, he married Elizabeth Maud Hague. After civic incorporation in 1913, McNeice served as an alderman on the first City Council.

Built circa 1912, the McNeice Residence is a well-maintained example of the Arts and Crafts style with features such as triangular eave brackets and a mixture of wooden sidings. The house sits high above the ground on a full basement to take advantage of the views over Burrard Inlet. Indicative of the city's early development patterns, the McNeice Residence sits near the edge of the slope directly south of the downtown area, the original limit of residential expansion. The City of Port Moody is naturally constrained by water and steeply sloping topography, and as it grew it expanded southwards up the hill as far as houses could be easily constructed.

Source: City of Port Moody Heritage Planning Files

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the McNeice Residence include its:
- steeply sloping site that drops to the north and east, with views to the south
- corner lot location with three street frontages
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its raised one and one-half storey height, full raised basement, front-gabled roof with bellcast eaves, open front verandah and front window bay
- wood-frame construction with lapped wooden siding at the foundation level, bellcast shingle siding, fishscale shingles in the gable end, and half-timbering in the gable peak
- Arts and Crafts style elements such as triangular eave brackets, textural mix of siding and square verandah columns and balusters
- variety of windows including 1-over-1 double-hung wooden sash windows with horns, wooden sash casement windows and a leaded glass piano window
- mature trees and landscaping