Description of Historic Place

Wilmar Residence and Coach House, located on Southwest Marine Drive in the Kerrisdale neighbourhood of Vancouver British Columbia, is a two-storey Tudor Revival style mansion situated on an estate lot on the Marine Drive escarpment. A one and one-half storey coach house, designed in the same style, is situated on the east side of the property and a backdrop of mature foliage completes the estate setting.

Heritage Value

The Wilmar Residence and Coach House is valued for its historical, social and cultural, and aesthetic significance.

The connection of the Wilmar estate to the family of Willard and Mary Kitchen is significant to its historical value. Willard Kitchen (1860-1937) was the director of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGER), which became B.C. Rail. Trained as an engineer, Kitchen was a prolific contractor for many large scale railway and bridge contracts across Canada, including the 1890 Fredericton Railway and the 1905 Murray Harbour Branch Railway in Prince Edward Island. Settling first in the Shaughnessy neighbourhood, their grand estate was under construction on Marine Drive by 1924. They named their estate "WilMar" using the beginning of each of their first names. Their youngest daughter, Gladys, became one of the first female barristers in the city and was the mother of Judith Jardine, who remained in the house until her death in 2006. Judith Jardine was a well-known member and supporter of the Vancouver arts community. Additionally, this was one of the major residential projects of prominent local architects Benzie and Bow. The partnership between James Anderson Benzie (1881-1930) and William Bow (1882-1956) was formed in 1923. Completed in 1925, Wilmar was similar to many of the other British-inspired homes designed by Benzie and Bow during the 1920s.

The site illustrates the pattern of the development of large estates in Point Grey municipality, prior to its amalgamation with the City of Vancouver, where the wealthy and successful in the burgeoning city chose to retire or to make their family homes. Many of Point Grey's largest early homes were in First Shaughnessy, but after the end of World War One were increasingly located on large lots at the top of the escarpment along South West Marine Drive, with commanding views to the south and west. Wilmar and its coach house anchor in style and setting the character of the estate, and demonstrate the social, cultural, and aesthetic values of local wealthy businessmen and women of the early twentieth century - values such as an appreciation of architectural elegance, leisure and recreation, formal landscaped gardens, and scenic views. The coach house, in particular, illustrates the proliferation of the automobile among the wealthy and improvements to the road network allowed them to live further afield and drive to all their destinations.

Wilmar and its coach house is valued additionally as an excellent example of the Tudor Revival style of architecture, expressed through its use of wood, brick and stucco and a mix of traditional design elements. Inspired by the British Arts and Crafts movement, the Tudor Revival style was popular during the 1920s, a reflection of the British influence on Vancouver architecture and a demonstration of patriotic loyalty. During the years between the two world wars, domestic architecture in North America followed this trend and houses were expected to have an identifiable historical style. Incorporating quality local materials and craftsmanship, WilMar illustrates the pervasive influence of traditional Period Revival styles at this time.

Character-Defining Elements

The elements that define the heritage character of Wilmar are its:

- location on a large lot on Southwest Marine Drive in the Kerrisdale neighbourhood of Vancouver
- setting on the Marine Drive escarpment
- continuous residential use
- main floor set slightly above grade
- residential form, scale and massing, as expressed by its formal, circular drive with landscaped centre; two-storey height plus full attic and basement; complex, steeply pitched bellcast hipped-roof structure with full-height, gabled wall dormer on the front façade and corresponding gabled dormers on the remaining three elevations; and projecting gabled porte-cochere
- wood-frame construction including open soffits with exposed rafter tails, half-timbered detailing, large bargeboards, and wood trim
- Tudor Revival style details such as: half-timbering on white stucco cladding in the gable ends; half-timbering on brick nogging and brick cladding on the ground level; large heavy timber brackets; multi-paned windows; two main entryways, one on the front façade, which features a projecting gabled porte-cochere with heavy timber columns and a closed soffit ceiling with heavy timber beams and an arched, formal front entrance, and one on the rear elevation roofed by a small balcony above, supported by two large heavy timber brackets; the small square balconies of the rear elevation and north elevation; and the large overhanging eaves with open soffits and exposed rafter tails and large, exaggerated bargeboards
- wood sash windows including: double-hung windows with multi-paned upper sashes and wooden horns; multi-paned casement windows; fixed windows; and leaded and stained glass assemblies
- door assemblies including the front door featuring a central panel of leaded stained glass and arched carved elements over the door, including a "1925" emblem with grape and vine details; and other door assemblies on the three remaining elevations
- three elaborate corbelled red brick chimneys featuring square bases with extended fused double stacks
- Tudor Revival style one and one-half storey coach house featuring side-gabled roof with gabled dormer, gabled projected entryway on the rear elevation, half-timbering on white stucco cladding in the gable ends and half-timbering on brick nogging on the ground level, multi-paned windows, pivoting garage doors, interior corbelled brick chimney, and entryway
- associated site features such as gates with brick posts inscribed with the WilMar name, and landscape features such as mature perimeter trees and hedges.