Description of Historic Place

Located in Fort Langley, the Storehouse is a simple, rectangular, one and a half storey building with a hipped roof on a post-on-sill structure. A utilitarian, small post building, its four-bay façade of pièce-sur-pièce timber construction appears more or less symmetrical and its pattern is visible through the plastering and painting. The impression of regularity is highlighted by the paint scheme of white walls and red-ochre trim. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Storehouse is a Classified Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical Value
The Storehouse at Fort Langley is one of the best examples associated with development of early European settlement in western Canada. Along with its sister forts along the coast, Fort Langley helped determine the British desire to permanently settle the coast, and spearheaded the first usable, all-Canadian route from the coast to the interior along the Fraser River. The Storehouse is the only remaining structure of the Hudson’s Bay Company post at Langley and stands out as a touchstone to the area’s period of earliest European settlement.

Architectural Value
The Storehouse is a very good example of modest utilitarian design and a rare surviving example of nineteenth century pièce-sur-pièce construction. Its accurate form and proportions of a small post building, its modest scale and pleasant proportion characterize its structure. The quality of the pièce-sur-pièce construction and its visual texture reflects the original function of the building.

Environmental Value
The Storehouse at Fort Langley establishes the present character of the reconstructed fort setting. It has become the central defining feature of the landscape, having been the basis for siting all other buildings and for the fort itself. In relation to the larger setting of river and countryside, it continues to illustrate the fort’s response to the landscape.

Sources:
Shannon Ricketts, Storehouse, Fort Langley National Historic Site, 22433 Mavis Street, British Columbia, Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Building Report 94-67

Storehouse, 22433 Mavis Street, Fort Langley National historic Site, Langley, British Columbia, Heritage Character Statement 94-67.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character defining elements of the Storehouse should be respected, for example:

Its role as an illustration of early European settlement in western Canada.

Its very good modest utilitarian design, form and proportions of a small post building and pièce-sur-pièce construction technique as manifested in:

-Its modest scale and symmetrical proportions.
-Its pièce-sur-pièce timber construction.
-Its hipped-roof and cladding.
-Its four-bay façade.
-Its visual texture and colour scheme.

The manner in which the Storehouse establishes the present character of the reconstructed fort in relation to the larger setting of river and countryside at Fort Langley.