Description of Historic Place

The Beeton/Daykin Residence is an early twentieth-century farmhouse located at the northeast corner of York Street and Dewdney Trunk Road, in the Haney neighbourhood of Maple Ridge, B.C. The house, which had been expanded and modified over the years, was originally built as a simple front-gabled structure with enclosed verandahs at the front and rear. it has now been rehabilitated as a multi-unit dwelling.

Heritage Value

The Beeton/Daykin Residence has cultural, aesthetic and historic value as an example of an early twentieth-century farmhouse that has been adapted over time, and as a representation of changing agricultural activities. Joseph Alfred Beeton (1864-1924) owned a 37.5-acre farm fronting Dewdney Trunk Road where he kept poultry and dairy cattle. In 1911, he subdivided the property, but retained a 9.4-acre parcel where he built the original part of this house. In 1914, Beeton married Annie McWhinnie (1870-1950), a widow with many children. In order to enlarge the house for more bedroom and bathroom space required by his growing family, he raised it to add a basement, and added a dormer to open up the attic. Calvert and Annie Daykin purchased the property in 1919, and established a large poultry farm. A second house was built on the west side of the property for Ernest and Vina Daykin in 1919-20 (22007 Dewdney Trunk Road), and the two houses co-existed on the farm until it was subdivided for residential use. York Street provided access to the new lots, and was laid out between the two houses. This expanded house was home to the several generations of the Daykin family over the course of 52 years, from 1919 to 1971. The verandah has been enclosed, an addition was made to the west side, and the house has been turned to face York Street.

The farm, which began with a chicken hatchery, was expanded in 1940 to become a large Leghorn poultry operation as well as a dairy farm. The site is additionally valued as an example of the modernization of the small family farm when, in 1947, the farm replaced its horses with one of the region's first Ford Ferguson Tractors. The large farm plot was subdivided in 1966 to produce twenty-two building lots, representing the suburbanization of Maple Ridge. The evolution of the house over the last century in response to the need for expansion and modernization transformed it from an early Haney farmhouse to a multi-family residence on subdivided land, accommodating the changing needs of its resident families and the community.

SOURCE: Maple Ridge Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Beeton/Daykin Residence include its:
- location at the northeast corner of York Street and Dewdney Trunk Road, in the historic Haney neighbourhood;
- contiguous relationship with the Daykin Residence, 22007 Dewdney Trunk Road;
- continuous residential use; and
- vernacular Edwardian-era design features, such as the medium-pitched front-gabled roof, horizontal wood siding, shingled dormer and basement walls, open plank soffits, and 1-over-1 double-hung wooden-sash windows.