Description of Historic Place

Tipperary Park is a neighbourhood green space bounded by Third and Fourth Streets, Royal and Queen’s Avenues in New Westminster.

Heritage Value

The 6.38 acre (2 ha.) Tipperary Park is important as valuable green space in the city, and as a record of the development of the city’s parks system from the early city layout.

Tipperary Park is important for its original identification in 1859-63 in the original Royal Engineers’ layout of the city’s roads, squares, reserves and parks. Extending to Sixth Street, the area was called Tipperary Square, originally reserved as land for the provincial legislative buildings when New Westminster was the provincial capital.

The park is significant for its formal addition to the city’s park system in 1908. The portion of the square between Third and Fourth streets to be used for the recreation and enjoyment of the public.

The park is also valued for its association with the long-standing New Westminster Tennis Club, formed in the 1890s and resident in Tipperary Park since 1901, and as a reflection of City policy to provide recreational opportunities for its citizens.

The park is important for its informal layout, a legacy of the picturesque era in landscape design, combined with pathways, picnic tables and benches in a well-treed setting. The layout of the pathways, combined with the residential uses on two sides, make the site reminiscent of a public square, as well as a neighbourhood park.

Additionaly, the park is important for its association with neighbouring Friendship Gardens, which together form an important and pleasant open space for the citizens of New Westminster to enjoy year round.

Source: City of New Westminster Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of Tipperary Park include its:

Siting, Context and Landscape
- mix of mature deciduous and coniferous trees
- open lawn areas
- layout of pathways, particularly the diagonal pathway facilitating pedestrial crossing of the park

Buildings and Structures
- tennis clubhouse sited on axis with the tennis courts
- amenities, including picnic tables and benches