Description of Historic Place

The Catherine Armstrong House is a large two-storey, shingle-clad wood-frame residence with a central entry and symmetrical front facade, located on Merivale Street near New Westminster's downtown core in the neighbourhood of Albert Crescent.

Heritage Value

The Catherine Armstrong House is associated with the turn-of-the-twentieth-century development of downtown New Westminster, marking a formative period in B.C.'s resource-based economy. Pioneer Joseph Charles Armstrong came to New Westminster in 1858, part of the rush up the Fraser River in search of gold, and settled in New Westminster in 1869. In 1885, he married Catherine Freese of San Francisco. After Joseph's death in 1916, Catherine (1862-1954) built this house to replace an older structure that had been their home since the 1890s.

Additionally, this residence is a significant early residential design by architects Townley and James. Fred Laughton Townley (1887-1966), had a prolific career that spanned many decades; in 1919, he formed a partnership with Robert Matheson and this partnership's best known commission was its design for Vancouver City Hall. The design of this residence reflects the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement in its use of materials, but it is rendered in a severe and functional expression indicative of wartime construction; there would have been little construction undertaken at the time due to the shortage of labour and materials.

Source: Heritage Planning Files, City of New Westminster

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Catherine Armstrong House include its:
- prominent corner location on a steeply sloping site with views to the Fraser River
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its two-storey height (plus full basement) and regular, square plan with central entry and hall
- broad hipped roof with overhanging open eaves and central eyebrow feature above the entry
- exterior elements such as the cedar shingle siding, exposed rafter tails, columned entrance porch, projecting square ground floor bay with stained glass window; two internal brick chimneys, and glazed front door with sidelights
- fenestration, including 8-over-1 double-hung wooden-sash windows, in triple assembly on the ground floor front facade and a multi-paned feature window with wooden-sash casements on the second floor above the entry
- associated landscape features such as the grassed front yard with mature trees and shrubs, and an early hipped roof garage at the rear