Description of Historic Place

The Arundel Mansions is a six-storey Edwardian-era apartment building with ground floor commercial space, located on Begbie Street between Carnarvon and Columbia Streets in New Westminster's historic downtown core.

Heritage Value

The Arundel Mansions is significant for its contribution to the consistent and distinctive built form of downtown New Westminster, which dates from 1898 to 1913, when the city was the major centre of commercial and industrial output for the booming Fraser Valley area.

Built in 1912, Arundel Mansions is a fine example of a formal Edwardian-era design with notable Arts and Crafts details that respond to its residential use. This symmetrical brick-clad structure has a strong vertical emphasis and retains many of its original architectural features, including its iron fire escapes. The Arts and Crafts elements are most strongly evident in the fine tile and woodwork detailing throughout its interior and the decorative tiles at street level. The ground floor retail space has an asymmetrical and stepped entrance that follows the profile of the hill. Arundel Mansions is significant for its use of modern technology, particularly in the form of the original 'Van-E-Mon' elevator, the first in the city to operate without an attendant. Arundel Mansions was designed by the architectural firm Thornton and Jones, and is one of the primary examples of their work. Walter M. Thornton and William Francis Jones (1881-1947) were in partnership from 1910-1913, during which time the firm produced a number of finely-detailed commercial and apartment blocks.

Source: Heritage Planning Files, City of New Westminster

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Arundel Mansions include its:
- location on Begbie Street, part of a grouping of late Victorian and Edwardian era commercial buildings in historic downtown New Westminster
- tripartite form, six-storey plus lower level height, flat roof and cubic massing
- steel and concrete interior structure
- exterior decorative elements, including elaborate cornice; decorative dentil course; decorative glass tile on the pilasters; ornamental ironwork
- facade articulation, including its strong vertical emphasis; spandrels between windows on bays; high proportion of glass on ground floor
- original iron fire escape
- asymmetrical ground floor retail space with stepped entrance that follows the profile of the hill
- regular fenestration, including: double-hung 1-over-1 wooden-sash windows; a series of bay windows on the front and rear facades; rectangular storefront openings with original wooden profiles and transoms with translucent glass
- interior features that date to the original construction, including: tiled wainscoting in the lobby with copper moulding; original room layouts and configuration; lath-and-plaster walls; wooden floors, door and window trim; beamed ceilings inside suites; original cage elevator; and other details that date to the original construction, including plumbing and lighting fixtures