Description of Historic Place

The Douglas House, at 913 Tenth Street, is a picturesque one-and-one-half storey late Craftsman Bungalow, with distinctive wide wooden shingle siding. Set back from the street on a well landscaped lot in the Kelvin neighbourhood in New Westminster, this house is associated with 915 Tenth Street, constructed the same year by the same builder.

Heritage Value

Built in 1931 by developer Robert Edgar Douglas, the Douglas House is valued as a representation of the more modest housing built during the time of the Great Depression in New Westminster. Due to the devastating economic impact, many grand earlier homes of more prosperous times were torn down and the land subdivided to build smaller, more modest homes. The developer of this rental property was Robert Edgar Douglas, who also built the adjacent house at 915 Tenth Street to the same plan. Finnish carpenter Theodore Skytte (1897-1960) was hired to construct both small yet thoughtfully detailed ‘Five-room semi-Bungalows’.

The period between the two World Wars was a time of entrenched traditionalism in residential architecture in North America. Houses were expected to display historical motifs as a reflection of the owners’ good taste, harkening back to a romantic representation of traditional domestic values and an idyllic suburban lifestyle. Typical of its era, the Douglas House displays late Craftsman elements, such as its partial-width porch with front-gabled roof with closed cornice return and tapered porch columns.

Source: City of New Westminster Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Douglas House include its:
- location on the east side of Tenth Street in the Kelvin neighbourhood in New Westminster
- set-back from the street and association with 915 Tenth Street residence
- residential form, scale and massing, as expressed by its rectangular plan, one-and-one-half storey height, and front-gabled low-pitched overhanging roof
- wood-frame construction, with unique wide rough-hewn shingles
- modest late Craftsman-era detailing, such as asymmetrical partial-width open verandah with front-gabled roof with closed cornice return, supported by curved frieze, tapered columns and shingled piers, balustrade and latticework below, bargeboards, and exposed rafters
- windows, such as its four- and six-over-one double-hung wooden-sash windows in multiple assembly
- additional exterior features such as original wooden door with multi-paned window and double-hung sidelights
- external patterned red-brick chimney