Description of Historic Place

The historic place is a two-and-one-half-storey (with basement) single-family residence at 1032 Nanaimo Street, located on a single residential lot in the Moody Park neighbourhood. This vernacular house, built in 1907, has a hipped roof, a pebbled-stucco finish, two bay windows, and two dormers. The lot faces north and slopes to the south in the direction of the Fraser River. The north-facing front yard has a low cement retaining wall and cedar hedges across the width of the lot, with a break for the cement walkway to the front steps. There is a lane behind the home and a freestanding, flat-roofed single-car garage with pebbled-stucco siding. The back yard has a tall plank-and-lattice fence.

Heritage Value

1032 Nanaimo Street, built in 1907, is valued for its association with the early development that took place in the Moody Park neighbourhood of New Westminster. It is located near the 12th Street streetcar line, which made this area easily accessible to and from downtown. The property features a family with long-time ownership. The Wilkie family owned the property on and off from 1893, when title was held by Ellen G. Wilkie, through 1953, when Anne Mary Wilkie sold it to William and Henry Rouse.

The house also has value as a good representative of the hipped-roof, ‘Foursquare’ vernacular house that builders erected around the Lower Mainland and Western Canada at the time. Such houses were popular among new home-owners in the middle and working classes.

The property underwent alterations over the years, representing the changing needs of its occupants. This is seen in the stucco finish, which presumably covers wood horizontal or shingle siding; and is also illustrated in the construction of the detached garage in 2006.

Source: City of New Westminster Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the residence at 1032 Nanaimo Street include its:

- location in the historic Moody Park neighbourhood of New Westminster
- minimal setback from street, representative of the pre-zoning era
- residential form, expressed by its modest scale, square floor plan, full basement, and two-and-one-half-storey height
- ‘Foursquare’ hipped roof with enclosed eaves
- centred dormers with hipped roofs on the north and south elevations; the north dormer has small side-by-side six-over-one windows
- red brick chimney in the centre of the roof
- wooden-sash, double-hung windows
- bay window with three double-hung windows on the east elevation
- off-centre front door, wood with three-by-three lights