Description of Historic Place

The Royal City Christian Centre is a 2,436 square metre British Arts and Crafts style institutional building on a landscaped two hectare lot that includes playing fields and a parking lot. This sprawling one-and-one-half storey wood-frame building, clad with roughcast stucco and distinctive half-timbering, is located at the corner of Eighth Avenue and Sixth Street.

Heritage Value

The Royal City Christian Centre is of community significance as the historic location of the Loyal Protestant True Blue and Orange Home for Children, an institution founded and funded by the Loyal True Blue Association the Grand Orange Lodge of B.C. and the Ladies' Orange Benevolent Association.

The work of caring for orphaned and neglected children in New Westminster commenced in 1910 after the Loyal True Blue Lodge became aware of the need for their care. In January 1910, the Lodge adopted an orphaned child, and the Grand Lodge of the Loyal True Blue Association formed that year. The children were housed in a private home until 1913, when a house was rented to accommodate the growing numbers. Financial help was provided by many Loyal Orange Lodges throughout western Canada, and in recognition the Loyal Orange Association was given a seat on the True Blue board. By 1925, the institution was renamed the Loyal Protestant True Blue and Orange Home for Children, in recognition of the equal representation from the Loyal True Blue Association, the Grand Orange Lodge of B.C. and the Ladies' Orange Benevolent Association. The work of the Home was undertaken through donations from private individuals and organizations.

This large site was secured with the assistance of the City of New Westminster, and the cornerstone was laid on September 22, 1925, in front of a crowd of five hundred people, including the mayors of New Westminster, Vancouver and North Vancouver. Construction was delayed while funds were being raised to complete the structure, but children were moved in before the official opening. The building was finally opened in September of 1928. Lack of funding and the onset of the Great Depression delayed the landscaping of the site until the City agreed to provide relief labour crews. Community volunteers and service clubs also became involved, and the trees were donated from the grounds of the Essondale Mental Hospital. At its busiest time, the Home housed up to sixty-five children through the donations of private individuals and organizations, and later served as a home for handicapped children before its closure in November 1983. In 1984, it was acquired by the Royal City Christian Centre, an institution which also has strong ties to the local community.

The Royal City Christian Centre is an excellent example of sophisticated British Arts and Crafts architecture adapted for institutional purposes. The imposing design features numerous elements typical of the British Arts and Crafts movement, such as stucco cladding and half-timbering, buttresses and overhanging gables. The building was originally designed to have a symmetrical, H-shaped plan. Due to budgetary constraints, one of the flanking dormitory wings remained uncompleted, leaving the building with a T-shaped plan. The building was designed by E. Evans and Son, a prominent father and son partnership of architects, Enoch Evans (1862-1939), and George Norris Evans (1887-1964). British-born and educated, the Evanses had a thorough understanding of the British Arts and Crafts movement, and completed many commissions in the style, including Grace Hospital in Vancouver, 1926-27.

Source: City of New Westminster Heritage Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Royal City Christian Centre include its:

- prominent corner location with a deep setback from the road
- diagonal placement on the site
- institutional form, scale and massing, as expressed by its one-and-one-half storey plus basement height and T-shaped plan
- wood-frame construction on a concrete foundation with rough-cast stucco cladding and precast concrete detailing
- complex and picturesque roofline, including: cross-gabled bellcast roof; bellcast gabled wall dormers on front elevation; bellcast hipped roof dormers; two louvred roof ventilators with bellcast roofs; skylights punctuating the roofline; closed eaves; built-up, flared bargeboards; and flat roofs over the dormitory wing porches
- British Arts and Crafts detailing, such as buttressed walls, half-timbering with decorative bolt ends, numerous overhangs supported by triangular brackets within the gable, and precast concrete entry Tudor arch architrave
- additional exterior elements such as: the projecting central entry bay; front elevation semi-octagonal bays; inscribed granite cornerstone at the front corner of the dormitory wing; raised parapets and sheet metal cornices over the front and rear porches; cast iron exterior light fixtures with amber-coloured glass; concrete exterior stairs (double stair at main entrance and side elevation entrance) with straight-sided cheeks; precast concrete window sills and staircase caps; and two internal corbelled red brick chimneys
- original fenestration, including multi-paned double-hung and casement wooden-sash windows
- substantially intact internal room configuration
- interior features such as: original doors, wooden trim and detailing; office suite beside entry with a coved ceiling and tiled fireplace with side, glass-fronted bookcase displaying stained glass inserts; second-storey skylights set in deep wells lining the central hallway; second-storey central apartment featuring a tiled fireplace with glass-fronted side bookcase with stained glass insets; second-storey sitting-room with fireplace with built-in bookcase
- associated site features from the original landscaping including: the diagonal axial path leading from the corner of the site to the entry, marked by a descending flight of concrete steps with splayed stair cheeks; front path lined by an allee of mature cypress trees with two central mature copper beech trees; central flagpole; grassed lawn providing expansive setting for the building; pollarded maples at site perimeter; and other mature trees including willow, Norway spruce, ash, oak and maple