Description of Historic Place

The historic place is a two-storey (plus basement) single family residence, located in the Queen's Park neighbourhood of New Westminster, British Columbia. The house has a cross-gable roof, square-cut shingle siding, and a full front porch. The house faces north and is on a nearly flat lot. It was relocated from 508 Sixth Avenue in 2010 as part of a Heritage Revitalization Agreement.

Heritage Value

The Wadsworth House, built in 1913, is valued for its association with the residential development of the relatively affluent Queen's Park neighbourhood. The majority of the houses in Queen's Park were built between the 1860s and the 1920s for business people and professionals who were seeking a quieter setting than the busy downtown. The early residents of the house were local business owners: first the Archibald family, followed by the Wadsworth family. They owned the Wadsworth and Deardon Meats business on Sixth Street.

The house has considerable architectural value as a very early example, for this region, of a Craftsman Bungalow, and as a relatively uncommon architect-designed Craftsman Bungalow house. This style would become commonplace throughout the Lower Mainland as the style became more popular. Architect Edmund John Boughen, who came from England in 1911 and settled in New Westminster, designed the house. He was a leading residential architect of the time. Boughen was the architect as well of the 1912 house that was next door when the house was located on Sixth Avenue. Boughen is known to have designed eleven other houses in New Westminster between 1911 and 1913, at which point he moved to Vancouver. The historic place displays many Craftsman features, in particular its roof, front porch and choice of materials.

The historic place has a high level of integrity, with no apparent major changes made to the exterior prior to its relocation. After being relocated, an addition was made to the rear of the house in a manner that is clearly new while at the same time respecting the original heritage style and materials.

Source: City of New Westminster, City Hall

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Wadsworth House include:

- its location in the historic Queen's Park neighbourhood
- its middle-class residential form, expressed by the moderate scale and two-storey height
- features characteristic of the Craftsman style, which include: the medium-pitch cross-gabled roof with exposed rafters and eave brackets; the symmetrical dormer on the north elevation; and the front porch with two large tapered corner posts, plain plank railing, wood tongue-and-groove ceiling, and wood staircase
- square-cut cedar shingle siding
- central red brick chimney
- wood double-hung windows in various groupings and configurations, many with intact historic glass
- leaded diamond-pattern wood-sash windows on the north side of the second storey
- hipped dormer on the east elevation