Description of Historic Place

The Thurston Residence is a large Arts and Crafts-style residence, set back from Moody Street, just south of St. George Street in the Moody Centre neighbourhood of Port Moody, British Columbia. The house features exaggerated and overstated Arts and Crafts details including prominent bargeboards, oversized triangular brackets and a full width verandah with unique honeycomb detailing and massive columns and piers. The house is used as a rectory by the adjacent church.

Heritage Value

Built in 1912, at the height of the economic boom in the Lower Mainland, the Thurston Residence is valued as an impressive example of boom time architecture and of the growth of the Port Moody community. The development boom was centred on St. Johns Street and Clarke Street, near the industrial waterfront, and included successful mills and timber companies. The residence is also valued for its association with its original owner, Ontario-born Robert Jabez Thurston (1867-1929), a partner in the successful Thurston-Flavelle Lumber Company, which was headquartered in Port Moody and was one of the region's largest sawmills. Thurston and his partner, Arid Flavelle, arrived in British Columbia in 1911 and acquired the lease of the Emerson Lumber Company, changing the name to Thurston-Flavelle Mill. Built to showcase some of the finer products of the lumber company, this house was one of the most costly and impressive in town at the time.

The Thurston Residence is significant as a community landmark, and as a record of the early years of the development of Port Moody. Thurston played a pivotal role in the early development of the city, serving for a time as alderman, and his social prominence and aspirations are demonstrated by the size and scale of his residence. At the time of construction, this was one of the grandest, most expensive houses in the city. Both the house and its setting demonstrate the social, cultural, and aesthetic values of a wealthy businessman and his family in the early twentieth century - values such as appreciation of architectural elegance, scenic views, and detailing and finishes of the highest quality.

The Thurston Residence is also valued for its exquisite craftsmanship and detailing, exemplifying fine Arts and Crafts architecture, and regarded as prestige housing in the community. The detailing is precise and exaggerated, showcasing features such as the imposing front gable with its wide overhang and exposed and notched rafters, wide timber bargeboards and modillions, and an elegant full width front verandah with an overhanging shed roof.

Source: City of Port Moody Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Thurston Residence include its:
- location, set back on the east side of Moody Street in the Moody Centre neighbourhood
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its two and one-half-storey height, and front gabled roof with front-gabled dormers on each side of the house
- wood-frame construction with lapped wooden siding on the main level and cedar shingle siding at the gable peaks
- Arts and Crafts features such as wide overhanging eaves with bargeboards, exposed and notched rafters, massive triangular brackets at the overhanging gable peak with modillions below, full width front verandah with heavy timber columns and shingled piers, heavy timber frieze with honeycomb patterning, partial width porch at rear of house, and square bays with windows
- external red brick chimney
- original windows such as 1-over-1 double-hung ribbon windows at gable peak
- mature coniferous and deciduous trees on property