Description of Historic Place

The Port Haney Brick Company Office is a one-storey masonry structure situated on the site of the former Port Haney Brick Co. Ltd., in Jim Hadgkiss Park in the community of Port Haney, on the north bank of the Fraser River.

Heritage Value

The Port Haney Brick Company Office is valued for its association with the early industrialization of Port Haney and Maple Ridge and of the success of Port Haney Brick Ltd.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many small brick making businesses were located throughout the Port Haney area, due to its rich clay deposits. During this period, there was an enormous demand for construction materials, due in part to Vancouver's rapid growth and development as the main commercial centre of the Province. Brick was favoured for many commercial applications as it satisfied the requirements of Vancouver's fire limits bylaw, which mandated fire-resistant construction in the downtown area. In the later part of the nineteenth century, the majority of local brick yards were located in the vicinity of Port Haney.

Port Haney Brick Company Ltd. was formed largely to supply the very successful contracting firm of Baynes and Horie, the partnership of pioneer settlers Edgar George Baynes (1870-1956) and William McLeod Horie (c.1858-1940). The firm prospered as the Lower Mainland developed in the boom years prior to the First World War. In order to supply bricks for their many projects, in 1907 Baynes, Horie, and Harold Burnet formed the Port Haney Brick Company, which operated continuously for the next seventy years, providing drain tile and clay partition blocks as well as their trademark bricks. The success of this brick yard and its close proximity to the core of Port Haney contributed greatly to the growth of the area.

The brick yard thrived throughout the 1910s and 1920s and this success was demonstrated in the construction of the Office by 1930. The design of the Office is significant as an early advertisement of the versatility of brick construction. Built in the popular Period Revival style, which re-interpreted past architectural styles in a modern context, the Office exhibited the capacity to incorporate brick and tile into the most modern and fashionable styles of the 1930s. Although modest in scale, the small structure shows an unexpectedly high level of design sophistication.

The early settlement of Port Haney was centred on the Fraser River, which provided the earliest access before the development of roads through the area. Over time, significant commercial and residential activity occurred and Port Haney became a major transportation hub in the region. Decline set in after the Great Depression and a devastating fire in 1932 that destroyed much of the business centre The fire caused commercial activity to relocate to the north along the newly-opened Lougheed Highway, a make-work project that connected the Fraser Valley communities by road. The Port Haney Brick Company, however, remained in the area for many years afterwards, and was a prominent local industry and employer.

Community value also lies in the site, which was named Jim Hadgkiss Park in honour of his work in the community through the Rotary Club and Freemasons, as well as the leadership he demonstrated as Manager of the Haney Brick and Tile Company Ltd.

This was also a significant example of a local heritage conservation initiative, as the House and Office were relocated to ensure their survival when the Haney By-pass was constructed in 1980, and restored and adapted for a new community use. In its current context, the Office is valued as an adjacent facility to the Maple Ridge Museum and Archives.

Source: Planning Department, City of Maple Ridge

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Port Haney Brick Company Office include its:
- location close to Port Haney and the waterfront
- orientation of the Office to the Manager's House and the surrounding yard
- form, scale and massing
- brick construction and masonry detailing manufactured on site, including decorative chimney tops, a wall niche and courses of differently coloured brick
- simple gabled and pantiled roof clad with drainage tiles
- structural openings delineated with high fire brick
- double-hung 3-over-1 wooden-sash windows
- metal fire escape on east side
- original spatial configuration of interior floor plan, and original features including a large walk-in vault and fireplace
- decorative tile floor in interior