Description of Historic Place

Located on in the historic West End of New Westminster, the John & Annie Chamberlain Residence is a one-and-one-half storey cottage that demonstrates a Storybook Cottage influence. This house is notable for its high-pitched roofline, with a catslide extension over the inset entry porch.

Heritage Value

Built in 1910-11 and altered in subsequent renovations in 1937 and 1941, the John & Annie Chamberlain Residence is valued as a picturesque example of a Storybook Cottage residence. During the years between the two world wars, domestic styles in North America were resolutely historicist. In order to display good taste, it was expected that a house would have an identifiable period revival style. As economics dictated that houses of the time were generally modest, they often assumed a cottage appearance that provided a romantic ideal of traditional domesticity, harkening back to the values and ideals of an earlier age. The American Sesquicentennial in 1926 reinforced this historicist trend, and the most popular Hollywood movies of the time were swashbuckling costume dramas. This romantic influence is demonstrated in the asymmetrical roofline, which swoops in a 'catslide' over the front entry, multi-paned windows and rustic materials.

The first owners of the house were John B. Chamberlain (1883-1956) and his wife Annie (1883-1944). Originally from St. Norbert, Manitoba, John was employed as a mechanic with the British Columbia Electric Railway Company. The Chamberlains had five children before moving in 1915. The house was acquired by the Denchel family, then in 1921 by Frederick and Margaret Spooner, who undertook some alterations. The Spooners sold to Roy and Dorothy Gilpin in 1937. Roy Gilpin was the superintendent of the Burnett saw mill, and used many of the mill’s products in his renovations, which included enclosing part of the front porch, adding a sunroom at the rear, and installing interior wood-panelled walls and ceilings. The Gilpin family owned the house until 2001.

This residence is also significant for its association with the Edwardian-era and subsequent development of the West End neighbourhood in New Westminster.

Source: City of New Westminster Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the John & Annie Chamberlain Residence include its:
- location in the historic West End neighbourhood of New Westminster
- residential form, scale and massing, as expressed by its one-and-one-half storey plus basement height, high-pitched gabled roofline, and square plan
- wood-frame construction with wide, random-width cedar shingle siding and regular cedar shingles in the gable peaks
- Storybook Cottage details, such as catslide roof extension over the inset entry porch, boxed eaves, and internal red-brick chimney with chimney pots
- windows, such as its one-over-one and multi-paned double-hung wooden-sash windows
- interior features, such as wood-panelled walls and ceilings