Description of Historic Place

The historic place is a group of two nearly identical one-and-a-half storey pre-fabricated houses of the historic British Columbia Mills Timber and Trading Company (BCMTT). Located on Hawks Avenue between Keefer and Pender Streets in the Strathcona neighbourhood of Vancouver B.C., the gabled houses have a simple vernacular design with Victorian elements.

Heritage Value

Erected in late 1903 and early 1904, the British Columbia Mills Timber and Trading Company (BCMTT) Houses are valued for their association with the British Columbia Mills Timber and Trading Company as the company's earliest erected examples of 'Ready-Made' houses, some of the last surviving in Vancouver; for representing BCMTT's unique and innovative construction technique and aesthetic; for their historical association with the Edwardian development era in Strathcona; and as working-class, rental homes for most of their existence.

These two houses are the earliest known examples of the 'Ready-Made' house system - designed, patented and produced by BCMTT between 1904 and 1910 and shipped across Western Canada and even to San Fransisco after the 1906 earthquake. They are further important for their one-of-a-kind design, considered a prototype for the 'Ready Made' system and for their location in Strathcona, a quintessential close-by working-class neighbourhood where the company could showcase its models and quickly attainable product. This illustrates a strong connection to the British Columbia Mills Timber and Trading Company's Vancouver Hastings Mill (1889 - late 1920s) on Burrard Inlet. These three surviving examples of the company's Ready-Made system are three of only eight known BCMTT buildings remaining within Vancouver, and the only surviving grouping of BCMTT houses in the city.

The buildings clearly illustrate BCMTT's unique sectional building system, consisting of pre-cut lumber and panels that were labelled, insulated and pre-painted, in their distinctive vertical battens covering the joints between the panels, thus augmenting the grouping's aesthetic and scientific heritage value.

The BCMTT Houses hold historical significance for their association with a period of strong growth in the Strathcona neighbourhood. Following a continent-wide depression that lasted much of the 1890s, the local economy improved after the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush. The first few years of the 20th century saw an influx of people buying up the remaining empty lots. These houses represent an early period in Vancouver's history when families settled close to the lumber mills and other industries sited along Burrard Inlet.

The BCMTT Houses hold cultural significance for their predominant use as rental properties for working-class families. In the early years especially, the majority of the tenancies here lasted only for a year or two and involved residents with working-class occupations such as drivers, labourers, fishermen, and porters. This, as well as the wide range of ethnic backgrounds among the houses' residents, reflects the demographic pattern of the Strathcona neighbourhood.

Character-Defining Elements

The elements that define the heritage character of the BCMTT Houses are their:

- location on Hawks Avenue in the Strathcona neighbourhood
- siting close to the street, inline with each other
- continuous residential use since construction
- the relationship of the site's front yards to the street grade, reflecting the original undulating terrain of Strathcona and the levelling of streets
- gable form, modest massing and setback with modest yards
- one-and-one-half storey height with single storey lean-to shed roof additions at rear
- main floors and entrances at grade
- medium pitch front-gabled roofs
- full-width front porches with slim, square columns: hipped roof at 521 Hawks and shed roof at 515 Hawks
- wide fascia along sides and decorative bargeboards on gables
- tongue-and-groove soffits
- lap siding on all walls and gables with vertical and horizontal battens hiding panel joints
- original window openings
- double-hung wood windows at 521 Hawks and on front porch and north elevation at 515 Hawks
- wood window trim and projecting sills (trim shadows obscured by stucco at 507 Hawks)
- original front door openings with transom light above wood front doors
- internal brick chimneys on south sides