Description of Historic Place

The Miller Residence is a one and one-half storey wood-frame Craftsman bungalow, situated on a south facing slope with a ground level basement. It is located on a corner lot within the residential Pleasantside neighbourhood of Port Moody, on the road to Ioco, the early Imperial Oil company town, and commands a view overlooking Burrard Inlet. This house is one of the earliest surviving houses in Pleasantside.

Heritage Value

The Miller Residence reflects the early residential growth that occurred on the north shore of Burrard Inlet, spurred in the 1920s by the development of the Imperial Oil refinery and its adjacent company town, Ioco. Access was limited until Ioco Road was opened in 1925, after which new residents - many of whom were refinery employees - settled in the Pleasantside neighbourhood. This house was built at a time when the area was subdivided into acreages and its character was still semi-rural. The lot is part of a large farm property that originally extended to Jacobs Road.

The Miller Residence is additionally significant as a fine example of a late Craftsman bungalow that reflects the type of residence built by the working class of the period, and its evolution over time. It was constructed in 1926 for Edgar (Ted) John Miller (1879-1958), a steam engineer employed by Imperial Oil, and his wife Elizabeth Jane (1883-1928), who had previously lived at the Ioco townsite. This charming cottage-style residence is enhanced with mature and picturesque but informal landscaping, which contributes to the property's semi-rural setting. The house was built by local contractor Henry Owens Sparks (1880-1963), who built other houses in the area as well as the Pleasantside Store. A 1962 renovation enclosed the front porch, utilizing cedar from the Flavelle Mill, and a brick fireplace was added to the west facade, made from bricks recycled from McNair's Mill. The house has been painted red continuously since its construction.

Source: City of Port Moody Heritage Planning Files

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Miller Residence include its:
- location on a corner lot on Ioco Road, on a south-facing slope with views to Burrard Inlet;
- residential form, scale and massing as exemplified by its one and one-half storey height, above-ground basement and rectangular plan;
- front gabled roof with cedar shingle cladding;
- Craftsman style design features, such as cedar shingle siding, notched bargeboards and deep open eaves with exposed rafters and purlins;
- continuous belt course between foundation and main floor cladding;
- second floor sleeping porch facing south;
- fishscale shingle detailing in upper portion of sleeping porch gable;
- exterior wall colour, continuously red since its construction;
- double-hung 6-over-1 wooden-sash windows, double assembly on the main floor;
- internal and external brick chimneys;
- interior features dating to the original construction, such as interior doors, wooden window and door trim and kitchen wainscoting;
- complementary shingle-clad garage built in the late 1950s; and
- mature, informal, picturesque landscape with a creek running through the property, surrounded with a manicured laurel hedge (planted in the 1960s) and a Holly and apple tree (pre 1950), nestled within a moderately dense setting of coniferous trees.