Description of Historic Place

The Morrison House is a tall, two and one-half storey plus basement wood-frame Edwardian era residence, with an eclectic combination of Arts and Crafts stylistic elements. It is now located adjacent to a large multi-family residential building in the Vancouver Heights neighbourhood of North Burnaby.

Heritage Value

The Morrison House is valued for its association with the initial speculative development phase of the Vancouver Heights neighbourhood, initiated during the Edwardian era as a high-class residential subdivision. Building contractor Herbert D. Morrison built this house as a rental property in 1912, at the height of the land speculation boom prior to the First World War. Buyers in the neighbourhood were obligated by the developer, G.F. and J. Galt Limited, to build houses worth a minimum of $3,500 at a time when the average house price was $1,000.

Additionally, the Herbert D. Morrison House is a typical example of builders' houses of the time period, distinguished by the unique stacked balconies on the front facade. It was one of the surviving landmark residences built between 1909 and 1914 during the first development boom in Vancouver Heights.

Source: Heritage Site Files, City of Burnaby, Planning and Building Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Morrison House include its:
- location on a south-facing slope in the Vancouver Heights neighbourhood of North Burnaby
- residential form, scale and massing as exemplified by its symmetrical two and one-half storey plus basement height, front gabled roof and rectangular plan
- vernacular Arts and Crafts style elements such as the exposed roof beams and rafter tails, decorative scalloped shingles in the front gable and decorative brackets
- main floor full open front verandah on the front facade with two stacked balconies above, all detailed with square columns, scroll-cut brackets and overhanging roof eaves
- bowed balustrade on main floor verandah
- boxed eaves with scroll-cut brackets
- recessed top floor gable treatment
- cladding, including lapped wooden siding at the main floor and cedar shingles on the second floor and in the gable ends, with decorative diamond-cut shingles in the front gable end
- front entry door with incised design, dentil detail and rectangular glass inset, with glassed sidelights
- irregular fenestration: double-hung 1-over-1 wooden-sash windows; and three part casement window on main floor front facade, with diamond-shaped leaded lights in double transom above
- corbelled red brick internal chimney