Description of Historic Place

The Woods Farm is located on a 65-hectare rural property located at the south end of 64 Street in Delta, British Columbia, bordering the dyke that runs along Boundary Bay. The house has been modified to a symmetrical plan, while the large barn features an 'L' shaped plan and is located to the rear of the residence.

Heritage Value

Originally owned by Delta pioneers David and Annie Woods, this farm site is valued as an example of a historic Delta farmstead. It is a reminder of Delta's important agricultural past and associated with its early settlement patterns. An early twentieth century house, barn and fenced pastures, illustrate the character of an historic working farm complex.

This farmstead typifies the growth and development of agriculture in Delta. David Woods emigrated from Ireland in 1862 and settled in British Columbia in the mid-1890s. In 1903, he bought this 65-hectare property from the B.C. Land & Investment Company and built the house and a barn two years later. Woods lived here with his wife, Annie, who was born in Ontario, and their two children, Hazel and Fergus. They farmed and raised livestock until 1907, when they moved to Vancouver. David Woods died in 1936; Fergus Woods (1899-1972) moved back to the property and farmed here for the rest of his life. The house was altered by subsequent owners, the Trottman family, in the 1970s, who modified it from its original pioneer form to a symmetrical Foursquare design. The existing barn on the site was dismantled and moved to this location from another property in the 1970s; the original barn was moved to another location in the 1980s.

The Woods Farm remains as an example of an early Delta homestead and the success and importance of the agricultural industry to the development of the Delta community.

SOURCE: Corporation of Delta, Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Woods Farm include its:
- location at the south end of 64 Street, adjacent to the dyke that runs along Boundary Bay
- setting within a rural context, with open vistas across agricultural land
- continuous use as a working farm
- residential form, scale and massing of the Woods Residence as expressed by its: two-storey height; front verandah; projecting semi-octagonal bay window on north side; wood-frame construction with horizontal lapped wooden siding and cornerboards; hipped roof with closed soffits; regular fenestration with double-hung 1-over-1 wooden-sash windows; and open front verandah with square columns and scroll-cut knee brackets
- vernacular, agricultural form, scale and massing of the barn as expressed by its gabled roof, 'L' shaped plan, heavy timber frame structure and vertical plank board-and-batten siding
- associated landscape features such as its mature deciduous and coniferous trees, and surrounding agricultural context