Description of Historic Place

The Campbell Residence is a one and one-half storey, wood-frame house with a full basement, a gabled roof, and a verandah and side entry facing west. Situated within the low-density residential neighbourhood of Moody Centre, the house faces extensive views overlooking downtown Port Moody and Burrard Inlet.

Heritage Value

Built in 1900, the Campbell Residence is a good example of the type of housing constructed for the working class of Port Moody, and represents the resilience and fortitude of the earliest settlers. The house dates from the turn of the twentieth century, when the prosperous local economy was driven by industrial activity. The local growth of the lumber industry had increased job opportunities in the city, leading to a steady influx of residents during the boom years that lasted until the start of the First World War. It was built by William Norman Campbell (1861-1906) as a family home for his wife, Eleanor Johnston Seal Campbell (1856-1942), and son Norman Campbell (born 1896). Eleanor’s father, John Johnston, had built a hotel at Aliceville on Burrard Inlet in the 1880s, and when the business was expropriated for the continuation of the Canadian Pacific Railway line to Vancouver, the hotel was dismantled and some of the lumber was used to build this house. William was killed in a logging accident in 1906, after which Eleanor ran a boarding house to support the family. The house was altered over time and for many years was divided into apartments. It is one of the earliest surviving houses in Port Moody.

The Campbell Residence is additionally significant for its location within the residential neighbourhood of Moody Centre, which is associated with the early twentieth-century economic and population growth of Port Moody, and is valued as a reflection of Port Moody's early development patterns. The City is naturally confined by water and steeply-sloping topography. When the population began to grow, the residential area, adjacent to the downtown area, expanded up the hills as far up as houses could easily be constructed, with the houses at the top marking the city's original limit of expansion.

Source: City of Port Moody Heritage Planning Files

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Campbell Residence include its:
- steeply sloping site that drops to the north, with views of Port Moody and Burrard Inlet
- residential form, scale and massing, as exemplified by its raised one and one-half storey height, full basement, steeply pitched side-gabled roof with multiple planes, side gable projection facing the street, open front verandah facing west and gabled wall dormer
- wood-frame construction with wooden drop siding
- Typical features of Edwardian era architecture such as closed soffits and square porch columns
- double-hung wooden sash windows