Description of Historic Place

The Stewart Residence is a one and one-half storey wood-frame Craftsman bungalow, with a jerkin-headed roof and porch. It is situated on a prominent corner lot at Grand Boulevard and 11th Street in the traditional garden suburb development of Grand Boulevard amidst houses of a similar age and scale.

Heritage Value

The Stewart Residence is valued as a part of the Grand Boulevard development, North Vancouver's most prominent garden subdivision, which was designed to attract affluent and prominent families to the North Shore of Burrard Inlet. Planning and development was initiated in 1906 by the North Vancouver Land and Improvement Company, one of the most significant property developers in North Vancouver, responsible for much of its residential character. Following the lessons of the disastrous fires caused by that year's San Francisco earthquake, Grand Boulevard was laid out as a generous fire break. Prestige was guaranteed through construction cost standards and restrictions on buildings and landscaping. Grand Boulevard is now part of a rectilinear system of boulevards and parks known as North Vancouver's "Green Necklace", which also includes Victoria Park, Mahon Park and the garden subdivision of Ottawa Gardens.

This house was built for William Stewart (1893-1992) and his wife, Annie Stewart (1898-1998), and is valued for its association with the Stewart family. Bill Stewart is remembered as a popular teacher at North Vancouver High school, teaching French, Social Studies and Music for thirty-four years. His son, Dr. Gordon Stewart (1929-1967), is remembered in the Dr. Gordon Stewart Memorial Scholarship, administered by the North Vancouver High School Education Foundation.

Built in 1926, the Stewart Residence represents the houses built during the second phase of Grand Boulevard's development, in the period between the two World Wars, when smaller-scale one and one-half storey houses in traditional styles were built on remaining vacant lots. This house displays elements typical of the late Craftsman style, including tapered stone piers and columns supporting the projecting jerkin-headed porch roof. The use of jerkin-headed roofs was common in the 1920s, giving a more cottage-like feel to the house that suited the traditional tastes of the era. The garage at the rear of the property was added in 1939, demonstrating the growing importance of the automobile during that era.

Source: Heritage Planning Files, City of North Vancouver

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Stewart Residence include its:
- prominent corner location on Grand Boulevard
- setback from street, in line with neighbouring residences
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its one and one-half storey plus basement height and regular, rectangular plan
- broad side jerkin-headed roof and prominent jerkin-headed front porch
- wood-frame construction with concrete foundation
- elements of the Craftsman style such as: deep open eaves with exposed purlin ends; bellcast cedar shingle siding above a belt course and lapped siding at the foundation; wide bargeboards; and central front entrance porch with tapered granite piers and square wooden columns
- additional exterior elements such as: original multi-paned front door with multi-paned sidelights; projecting square bay window on the north facade, and two red brick chimneys (one internal and one external)
- regular fenestration including: double-hung wooden-sash windows, with multi-paned upper sashes; small square piano windows on either side of the external chimney; and large fixed plate glass front windows with multi-paned transoms on either side of the central entrance
- free-standing single car garage at the rear of the property with jerkin-headed gabled roof, clad with twin-coursed cedar shingles above lapped siding
- associated landscape features such as mature coniferous trees and hollies