Description of Historic Place

Set on a lot at the corner of Tenth Street and London Street in the Kelvin neighbourhood of New Westminster, the Douglas House #2 at 915 Tenth Street is a one-and-one-half storey, wood-frame late Craftsman Bungalow with lapped wooden siding and a projecting front-gabled porch with tapered columns. The house is set on a well landscaped lot and is associated with 913 Tenth Street, constructed the same year by the same builder.

Heritage Value

Built in 1931 by developer Robert Edgar Douglas, the Douglas House is valued as a representation of the more modest housing built during the time of the Great Depression in New Westminster. Due to the devastating economic impact, many grand earlier homes of more prosperous times were torn down and the land subdivided to build smaller, more modest homes. The developer of this rental property was Robert Edgar Douglas, who also built the adjacent house at 915 Tenth Street to the same plan. Finnish carpenter Theodore Skytte (1897-1960) was hired to construct both small yet thoughtfully detailed ‘Five-room semi-Bungalows’.

The period between the two World Wars was a time of entrenched traditionalism in residential architecture in North America. Houses were expected to display historical motifs as a reflection of the owners’ good taste, harkening back to a romantic representation of traditional domestic values and an idyllic suburban lifestyle. Typical of its era, the Douglas House displays late Craftsman elements, such as its partial-width porch with front-gabled roof with closed cornice return and tapered porch columns.

Source: City of New Westminster Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Douglas House include its:
- location on a corner lot on Tenth Street at London Street, in the Kelvin neighbourhood of New Westminster, in association with a matching house at 913 Tenth Street
- residential form, scale and massing, as expressed by its rectangular plan, one-and-one-half storey height, and low-pitched front-gabled roof
- wood-frame construction with wide lapped wooden siding
- modest late Craftsman detailing, such as asymmetrical partial-width open verandah with front-gabled roof, tapered columns set on square piers with arched beams above, open balustrades, and exposed rafter ends
- windows, such as its multi-paned double-hung wooden sash windows in multiple assembly
- additional exterior features, such as original wooden door flanked by multi-paned double-hung windows
- external red-brick chimney