Description of Historic Place

The Samuel Howard Shannon House is a one and one-half storey Craftsman style home, notable for its low pitched roof and manicured and picturesque setting, It is located near the Nicomekl River, in a low density, single family residential context that is a transitional area between rural and suburban zoning. It is visible from Highway 10, but obscured because of its sloping site and surrounding mature trees and planting. The property, which has been subdivided, is now approached from the rear.

Heritage Value

The quality of design, generosity of scale and proportion, and craftsmanship of this house make it an outstanding example of the Craftsman architectural style in Surrey. Built circa 1910 by Samuel Howard Shannon, this house is a substantially intact representation of the most popular housing style of the early twentieth century. Features of the Craftsman style exhibited in the Shannon House include an expansive, low pitched cross gabled roof, stone verandah piers and a rich contrast in the textures of siding and shingles. Built as a farmhouse, it illustrates the rural origins of the area, and there is sufficient open space around the house to recall its original context.

This house is also valued for its associations with the Shannon family, prominent early settlers in the Cloverdale area. The three Shannon brothers, Thomas, William and Joseph, were the first pre-emptors in the Clover Valley area and were instrumental in the founding of Cloverdale. Thomas' sons, including Samuel Howard Shannon (1875-1966), the first owner of this house, became actively involved in the breeding of purebred livestock. Samuel Shannon was a dairy farmer committed to advancements in the field of agriculture, and was a member of the Senate at the University of British Columbia. For his achievements, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1943.

Source: Heritage Planning Files, City of Surrey

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Samuel Howard Shannon House include its:
- setting on a sloping site with mature landscape features evocative of its rural origins
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its one and one-half storey height and regular rectangular plan with rear extension
- broad, low pitched cross-gabled roof, extension at rear with lower, hipped roof, and cedar shingle roof cladding
- wood frame construction with narrow lapped wooden siding, and cedar shingles in the gable ends
- Craftsman style details such as the granite faced front verandah foundation and piers, full width open front verandah, broad overhanging eaves with decorative triangular brackets, exposed rafter tails, decorative projecting joist ends at the front verandah, pointed bargeboards, decorative window boxes supported by exposed beams and wide window surrounds
- additional exterior elements such as the glazed front door, closed balustrades with scuppers, and two corbelled red brick chimneys (one exterior and one interior)
- regular and symmetrical fenestration with single, double and triple-assembly double-hung wooden-sash windows, multi-paned upper-storey windows, large single-pane picture windows with transoms, and small, square basement windows