Description of Historic Place

Designed in the British Arts and Crafts style, the Fairacres Chauffeur's Cottage is situated across from the main entrance to the Ceperley mansion, and adjacent to the Garage and Stables. A long, narrow single-storey building, it was constructed by joining together two modest estate cottages.

Heritage Value

The outbuildings at Fairacres are a rare surviving architecturally-designed ensemble of agricultural structures that exist in complementary harmony with the main estate house. Architect R.P.S. Twizell (1875-1964) was retained by the Ceperleys to design several original outbuildings on their estate at the same time as the main house was constructed.

The Chauffeur's Cottage illustrates the increasing importance of the automobile in the lives of the wealthy of the early twentieth century. It also demonstrates Grace and Henry Tracy Ceperley's social aspirations and grand-country-estate pretension in having a chauffeur. The cottage's location - close to the garage and convenient, but not adjacent, to the main house - enhances the grand country house landscape design and contributes to the overall composition of the estate's plan.

The Arts and Crafts-styled Chauffeur's Cottage is important as an indicator of the aesthetic and social sensibilities of the Ceperley family in retaining an architect to design a modest building for staff accommodation.

Source: City of Burnaby Planning and Building Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Fairacres Chauffeur's Cottage include its:
- location, in relation to the main house and in close proximity to the Garage and Stables
- side-gabled roof with cedar shingle cladding
- Arts and Crafts architectural features, such as the jerkin-headed door hood, a reference to the thatched-roofed cottages of southern England, eight-paned wooden-sash casement windows, and cedar-shingled exterior
- two internal brick chimneys
- modest, functional interior, with simple trim and lack of pretension