Description of Historic Place

The Crawford Residence at 1895 West 14th Ave was built in 1913-14 in upper Kitsilano, an area of Vancouver, British Columbia. It is a large two and one half storey wood-clad Colonial Revival house with Edwardian influences. It is located on the north-east corner of Cypress and West 14th Ave.

Heritage Value

The Crawford Residence is significant for its distinctive style and its relationship to the development of the adjacent Talton Place subdivision. It is valued for its residential use, its designer and its first owner.

The Crawford Residence is significant for its architectural style which is a blend of the Colonial Revival and Edwardian style. The vertical massing, the bell-cast hipped roof and the wood shingle cladding on only one floor are characteristic of the Colonial Revival style. It has wide overhanging eaves and decorative brackets, distinctive of the Edwardian Builder style. The interior woodwork on the main floor is significant for its design and craftsmanship. Over the years, the house underwent interior alterations and conversions to apartments, which helped to maintain the neighbourhood scale and character while accommodating a greater number of residents.

The early development of Kitsilano was triggered by an increasing demand of new housing. The house, built at the end of a real estate boom in Vancouver, is located across the street from the Talton Place subdivision which included the blocks from West 16th Avenue to West 13th Avenue, Arbutus Street to Cypress Street. Talton Place was the first development to provide planned streetscape, landscaped lots and "ready-made" houses. The subdivision was initiated by Pemberton Realty, in 1910, after purchasing the land from the C.P.R. Large character homes prevailing in Talton Place extend east into the neighbourhood to Burrard Street and beyond, as evidenced by 1895 West 14th Ave.

The Crawford Residence was designed by Octavius Josiah Morling, a carpenter and builder originally from England. Between 1912 and 1914, he designed six residences in Kitsilano and Fairview, all of which were developed by W.J. Read, a local contractor, and nearly all have survived; two of them are recognized as significant by the City of Vancouver. In 1914, O.J. Morling was partner in the firm May & Morling which was the owner and builder of another house on Kitsilano Point. Thomas Crawford, a merchant originally from Robertsville, Ontario, was the first owner of 1895 West 14th Ave. His association is valued as an example of long-term ownership of a house that served one large family. He and his wife Mary had eight children and occupied the house for twenty five years.

Character-Defining Elements

The key elements that define the character of Crawford Residence include:

- Continuous residential use
- Stone veneer foundation walls with beaded joints punctuated by openings framed by arched fenestration
- Hipped roof with projecting bell-cast eaves and decorative brackets, characteristic of the Edwardian style
- Wood shingle and narrow horizontal board cladding, characteristic of the Colonial Revival and Edwardian style
- Three stone veneer piers, stuccoed columns and dentil moulding framing the partially enclosed front porch
- Front gabled porch with projecting eaves and decorative brackets, stairs and stepped stringer walls
- Pedimented dormer with multi paned window and projecting eaves characteristic of the Edwardian style
- Front entrance door and sidelights
- Cypress Street bay window and pedimented canopy roof above
- Casement windows and leaded glass transoms at main floor
- Double hung multi paned attic windows
- Interior main floor woodwork and paneled wainscoting, head molding, exposed ceiling beam casings and trim, sliding doors, window and door surrounds and built-in furniture
- Staircase from main to second with associated wainscoting, railing and landing
- Three brick chimneys
- Four front stone fence piers at sidewalk