Home / Accueil

Jones Residence

406 East 2nd Street, North Vancouver, British Columbia, V7L, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1991/10/28

Exterior view of the Jones Residence, 2004; City of North Vancouver, 2004
Oblique view
No Image
No Image

Other Name(s)

Jones Residence
William Dallas Jones Residence

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1906/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2005/02/25

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Jones Residence is a one and one-half-storey plus basement wood-frame residence located above street level on East 2nd Street in North Vancouver. It is the last known surviving example in the City of North Vancouver of a prefabricated house built using the modular system developed by the B.C. Mills Timber and Trading Company.

Heritage Value

The Jones Residence is significant as a rare surviving example of an early prefabrication system. During the Edwardian era, the western provinces were experiencing unprecedented population growth, and in response, in 1904 the Vancouver-based B.C. Mills, Timber and Trading Company patented a modular prefabricated building system that could be adapted to provide everything from modest one-room cottages to churches, schools and banks. Wall panels were assembled from the short mill ends of lumber and siding, until then just waste material that piled up in the millyard. These panels were bolted together on site, with the joints between the panels covered by distinctive vertical battens. Wall panels were assembled at the mill, pre-painted, and packaged with the other components and the instructions necessary to assemble the building. The disassembled building was then shipped to the waiting customer. As western settlements became established, labour and materials were more freely available and local construction companies could be more competitive in their costs. By 1910 this prefabricated system was rendered obsolete.

The Jones Residence is also significant as an example of working class housing of the era. Modest in scale, the choice of a prefabricated system for this house demonstrates that the system was financially viable for different levels of income. The original owner was William Dallas Jones (1856-1943), a conductor on the B.C. Electric Railway and from 1913 to 1933 a ticket taker on the North Vancouver ferry.

Source: Heritage Planning Files, City of North Vancouver

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Jones Residence include its:
- rectangular plan form and regular massing
- prominence on the street, due to the steeply sloping south-facing lot
- prefabricated design and wooden construction
- lapped wooden siding on ground floor assembled in bolted pre-fabricated panels, with narrow vertical battens covering joints
- bellcast front gable roof with hipped dormer and cedar shingles in gable end
- inset corner porch with classical columns
- projecting bay window facing street
- wooden-sash windows
- mature landscaping and a river rock retaining wall

Recognition

Jurisdiction

British Columbia

Recognition Authority

Local Governments (BC)

Recognition Statute

Local Government Act, s.967

Recognition Type

Heritage Designation

Recognition Date

1991/10/28

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Peopling the Land
Settlement

Function - Category and Type

Current

Residence
Single Dwelling

Historic

Architect / Designer

B.C. Mills Timber and Trading Company

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

Heritage Planning Files, City of North Vancouver

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

DhRs-279

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

SEARCH THE CANADIAN REGISTER

Advanced SearchAdvanced Search
Find Nearby PlacesFIND NEARBY PLACES PrintPRINT
Nearby Places