Description of Historic Place

Built in two stages at the crest of a steep slope, this two-storey wood-frame hotel displays a consistent use of the Tudor Revival style. It is located in historic downtown Port Moody, across from the original City Hall in a commercial area of St. Johns Street, and is the last remaining early hotel in the city.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Hotel Burrard is associated with the development of downtown Port Moody, the historic area of commercial and institutional buildings located near the conjunction of the railway and the working waterfront. The original hotels in Port Moody were all located on Clarke Street. As the population of the Lower Mainland expanded, and as automobiles were increasingly utilized in the movement of goods and people, a network of roads - many of them undertaken as make-work projects during the Depression - were developed throughout the region. In response to the increasing dominance of automobile traffic, St. Johns Street - one block south of the original commercial core on Clarke Street that had grown up adjacent to the railway - was developed as a throughway that connected Vancouver, Burnaby and Coquitlam to the west and the Fraser Valley to the east. The previous Hotel Burrard had been located on Clarke Street, and the location of this "New" Hotel Burrard on St. Johns Street was a response to the development of this regional road network. Additionally, the form of the hotel reflects the growth of Port Moody. Doubled in size with a matching linear extension in 1964, the addition to the hotel indicates the success of this business and the general prosperity of the postwar era.

Furthermore, the Hotel Burrard is significant for its association with two families of hoteliers, the Lunns and the Alvaroes. Kilburn King Lunn came to Port Moody in 1929, and was the manager of the original Hotel Burrard. Lunn was prominent in the community and served as a city councillor. After his death in 1936 his widow, Hilda Elvira Lunn, took over the operation of the business, and in 1939 she partnered with E.A. Johnston to build this new structure. From 1946 until 1984, the Hotel Burrard was owned and operated by the Alvaro family, well-known for their support of community activities including Christmas dinners for the underprivileged and annual picnics on Indian Arm.

The Hotel Burrard is also significant as a surviving example of a 1930s road house, and was a popular local watering hole and gathering place for those travelling through the region. Provincial liquor regulations granted licenses only to hotels. Road houses therefore provided hotel rooms, and they were sometimes built to resemble traditional inns. The Tudor Revival style of this hotel refers to British antecedents and also reflects the popularity of Period Revival styles during the 1930s. The Tudor style and traditional appearance were considered to be the key aspects of the character of the hotel, and were maintained in the 1964 enlargement.

Dominating its site on the north side of St. Johns Street, the hotel's form and scale compliment the original City Hall located across the street. The last early hotel that has survived in Port Moody, its prominent location and distinctive style have made this a community landmark.

Source: City of Port Moody Heritage Planning Files

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of Hotel Burrard include its:
- continuing use since 1939 as a hotel;
- prominent location within the commercial strip on St. Johns Street;
- minimal setback of the front facade from the street;
- commercial form, scale and massing as exemplified by its two-storey plus basement height, rectangular plan and horizontal proportions;
- high side gabled roof with clipped eaves on the gable ends;
- front gable projections over the pub and hotel entries;
- shed dormer running the length of the building on the front and back, with the front shed dormer punctuated by two gabled wall dormers;
- Tudor Revival features such as the stucco plaster exterior, wooden half-timbering, leaded windows, irregular placement of entries and a recessed arcade;
- secondary entries turned perpendicular to the street;
- three brick chimneys with double flues and one chimney with a single flue;
- fenestration, including banks of ground floor windows fitted with cross-leaded wooden-sash casements with original hardware, double-assembly double-hung 1-over-1 wooden-sash windows on the second floor at front and sides, with segmental arched top panes and some with their original cross-leading, and 4-over-1 double-hung wooden-sash windows at the rear; and
- original room layout on the second floor.