Description of Historic Place

The Lambert Residence is a one-and-one-half storey Arts and Crafts residence located on the southern edge of Ladner village, mid-block on the west side of Arthur Drive in the context of other late nineteenth and early twentieth century houses. Notable features of the house include its front-gabled roof, gabled side-wall dormer, and open front verandah with a hipped roof.

Heritage Value

The Lambert Residence, built 1915-1916, is significant for its connection with first owners and well-known Ladner citizens, Cecil Overton Lambert (1880-1971) and his first wife Sylvia Field Lambert (1881-1932). Welsh-born Cecil Lambert immigrated to Vancouver in 1908. The following year, along with his business partner, George Clement, he purchased the hardware business of Latimer & Elliot, located on Westham Street. After he retired from this business, Lambert worked for the Delta Civic Engineering Department. In 1910, he married English-born Sylvia Lyon Field in Ladner, and the couple moved into this house after it was completed in 1916. After Sylvia died, Cecil Lambert continued to reside in the house until after his daughter’s marriage in 1941.

Additionally, the heritage value of the Lambert Residence lies in its design and craftsmanship as an example of Arts and Crafts architecture. It typifies the style in its use of natural materials and a mix of traditional design elements inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement in England. Prominent local contractor James Leonard (1878-1951) built and designed the house; he was also responsible for two other nearly identical residences: the Handford Residence, 5038 47A Avenue, 1912; and the Guichon Sisters’ Residence, 4240 River Road West, circa 1919.

The Lambert Residence is also significant as a landmark house within the early and well-established residential corridor of Arthur Drive, a prestigious area that developed south of Ladner village starting in the late nineteenth century. This house was begun in 1915; however, due to wartime shortages of labour and materials, it was not completed until the following year. The date of wartime construction demonstrates the agricultural boom that occurred during the First World War, at a time when rising food costs brought new prosperity to local farms. Many local residences were built during the war years, an unusual pattern at a time when there was little other domestic construction in the province. There are a number of other residences on Arthur Drive that were also built during this time period.

Source: Corporation of Delta Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Lambert Residence include its:
- location on Arthur Drive, among a grouping of historic early houses
- residential form, scale and massing, as expressed by its one-and-one-half storey plus full basement height, front-gabled roof with gabled side-wall dormer, and full-width open front verandah with hipped roof and closed balustrades
- wood-frame construction, such as cornerboards, square verandah columns with diagonal brackets, horizontal lapped wooden siding on the first storey, and cedar shingle siding on the upper storey
- influence of the Arts and Crafts style, as evident in details such as triangular eave brackets, notched bargeboards, and open eaves with exposed rafter tails
- internal and external red-brick chimneys
- original interior features such as wooden trim and floors
- early, front-gabled, wood-frame garage with drop siding and shingled gable ends
- associated landscape features, including a mature Black Locust tree and a hedge screen