Home / Accueil

Chivers Residence

306 First Avenue, Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada

Formally Recognized: 2002/07/23

Chivers Residence, 306 First Avenue; City of Port Moody, 2008
Side view
No Image
No Image

Other Name(s)

Chivers Residence
Ioco Company Residence

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1921/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2011/10/06

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Chivers Residence is a modest one-and-one-half-storey plus basement Arts and Crafts bungalow. It is located on a terraced site bordered by a coursed granite wall, on First Avenue in Ioco, an early Imperial Oil Company town in Port Moody, British Columbia. Similar in design to other houses in the Ioco townsite, it features twin-coursed shingle siding, a low-pitched side gable roof with overhanging eaves, exposed rafters and a prominent shed roof dormer. The Chivers Residence is listed as a heritage site within the Ioco Heritage Conservation Area.

Heritage Value

The Chivers Residence is valued as a reflection of the early development of the Ioco townsite, a company town developed by Imperial Oil near its refinery on the north shore of Burrard Inlet. The site was selected in 1914 and subdivided in 1921. Forty new workers' houses were designed by prominent local architects Blackadder and MacKay and built by the Dominion Construction Company of Vancouver. Fifteen additional houses, originally situated on the Ioco grounds, were also moved to the townsite, creating an instant community. The houses were situated strategically according to rank, with lower paid workers assigned to the western side of the townsite. The town also included a community hall, two grocery stores, a restaurant, a meat market, churches and a school. The surviving residences represent the birth of Ioco as a community and company town.

Built in 1921, the Chivers Residence is also significant for its modest Arts and Crafts detailing and for its association with first owner Charles George Chivers, who worked as a treater at the Imperial Oil Refinery for forty years, retired in 1945, and lived in the house until his death in 1973. The residence displays elements of the Craftsman movement popularized through countless periodicals and plan books, including a simple rectangular plan, overhanging eaves with exposed rafters and purlins, and an inset verandah. Associated landscape features, such as the terraced site with coursed-granite wall and mature trees, contribute to the setting of the Chivers Residence.

Source: City of Port Moody Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Chivers Residence include its:
- location, on the west side of First Avenue within the historic company town of Ioco, amongst other houses of similar form and scale, with views of Burrard Inlet
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its one-and-one-half-storey plus basement height, rectangular plan, side-gabled roof with overhanging eaves, and prominent shed roof dormer
- wood-frame construction, with twin-coursed cedar shingle siding
- Arts and Crafts details such as exposed rafters and purlins, inset verandah
- central red-brick chimney
- variety of windows including multi-paned casement windows in single and multiple assembly, now boarded over
- associated landscape features such as the terraced site with coursed-granite wall fronting First Avenue, and mature coniferous trees at rear of property

Recognition

Jurisdiction

British Columbia

Recognition Authority

Local Governments (BC)

Recognition Statute

Local Government Act, s.970.1

Recognition Type

Heritage Conservation Area

Recognition Date

2002/07/23

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Peopling the Land
Settlement

Function - Category and Type

Current

Historic

Residence
Single Dwelling

Architect / Designer

Blackadder and MacKay

Builder

Dominion Construction Company

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

City of Port Moody Planning Department

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

DhRr-238

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

SEARCH THE CANADIAN REGISTER

Advanced SearchAdvanced Search
Find Nearby PlacesFIND NEARBY PLACES PrintPRINT
Nearby Places