Description of Historic Place

The Magee House is a two-and-a-half-storey wood frame building located in the Southlands neighbourhood in south-west Vancouver. Constructed in an early Craftsman style, it is situated at the top of a ridge that forms the divide between the urban lots to the north and the agricultural-zoned larger hobby farms and acreages to the south.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Magee House lies in its associative and architectural significance.

The Magee House is one of the earliest houses in this area and associated with the early pioneer farming of Southlands. Built circa 1914, the earliest association is with James Douglas Magee who lived here until his death in 1934. His wife, Edith Clara, lived here until 1937. Magee was classified under various occupations, including timber cruiser, broker, and farmer. The house was once part of a larger site that was subdivided into one or more single family lots.

The house is an early Craftsman style, with a side gabled roof and a centrally-placed front porch. There is a full width porch on the south side with a sleeping porch above. These porches, combined with the location of the house on top of a ridge, look out over the low farmland. The double-hung windows all have a leaded multi-pane upper sash and the shingles on the main body of the house are flared out to form a subtle overhang above the windows. Despite some minor cosmetic alterations over the years, the exterior maintains much of its integrity.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the Magee House’ Craftsman architectural design include:

- residential form expressed by wide, rectangular two-and-a-half-storey massing, including a side-gabled roof with large overhangs
- central front porch with heavy corner brackets and low railing
- secondary side porch spanning the south side, with corner support posts set in groups of three with cross beam connecting the sets and heavy corner brackets
- paired door arrangement, with divided lights leading onto side porch
- sleeping porch on second floor, south side with steep pitch shed roof
- shed roof extension at rear with single windows
- oriels on the front and north side
- shingle cladding on main body, including flared shingle overhangs above all windows on main and upper floors
- wide lap siding on basement
- the fenestration is mostly double hung, all with rectangular vertical leaded glass pattern in the upper sashes
- windows are set in triples on main floor, front and both sides, with sidelight windows on the oriels on main floor and north sides, and are paired on upper floor, singles at rear and basement
- piano windows at rear of main floor on either side of chimney, long transom window at rear of second floor
- decorative knee brackets in side gables and front porch gable
- exposed rafter ends
- decorative front door with vertical bands of bevelled clear glass, adjacent narrow sidelights with leaded bevelled clear glass

Key elements that define the location of the Magee House include:

- its orientation in the Southlands neighbourhood of Vancouver facing the low-lying farmland toward the Fraser River