Description of Historic Place

The Cliff Building is a four-storey plus lower level Edwardian-era masonry commerical structure located on a steeply sloped site at the corner of Sixth and Clarkson Streets, in New Westminster's historic downtown core.

Heritage Value

The Cliff Building is significant for its contribution to the consistent and distinctive built form of downtown New Westminster, which dates from 1898 to 1913, when the city was the major centre of commerce and industry for the booming Fraser Valley area.

Built in 1910, the Cliff Building is valued for its construction history. This prominent structure was built at the extraordinary pace of one floor per week. The building was composed of B.C. Douglas fir girders, covered with plasterboard in the interests of fireproofing. The pressed tan bricks used for the exterior cladding came from the Clayburn brick factory in Matsqui. Other construction brick was manufactured at the Westminster Brick Works. Typical of commercial buildings of the Edwardian era, the facade has elements of the Classical Revival style. The double-hung windows cover a great deal of the wall surface, illustrating the desire for ever greater amounts of glazing and light, and the gradual shift toward a lighter appearance of buildings. It was built during the Edwardian era building boom for an investment group headed by Ronald Lorraine Cliff (1881-1953), a lumber manufacturer.

The Cliff Building is valued for its association with its architect Henry Sandham Griffith (1865-1943), a prominent architect with successful offices in both Victoria and Vancouver, known for designing all types and styles of buildings, from skyscrapers to palatial residences. He executed several commissions in New Westminster including the Coulthard-Sutherland Building.

Source: Heritage Planning Files, City of New Westminster

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Cliff Building include its:
- location on a steeply sloping site at the corner of Sixth and Clarkson Streets, part of a grouping of late Victorian and Edwardian era commercial buildings in historic downtown New Westminster
- siting on the property lines, with no setbacks
- form and scale as expressed by its four-storey plus lower level height, recessed central entry on Sixth Street, flat roof and cubic massing
- smooth dressed sandstone foundation with exterior cladding of pressed tan bricks
- Classical Revival influence, as demonstrated in: the tripartite facade articulation; vertical brick pilasters with a solid base, shaft and detailed capital; and intermediate cornices with dentils above the storefronts
- side entry on Clarkson Street with horizontal metal sign above "Cliff Building - 1910"
- regular fenestration, with double-hung wooden-sash windows
- rectangular storefront windows of varied size due to the slope of the hill, with wooden profiles and transoms
- mosaic floor tiles at main entry
- interior elements such as wooden window trim
- interior heavy timber frame structure of Douglas fir beams