Description du lieu patrimonial

The Whitehead Property includes two historic houses and two outbuildings on the northeast corner of the intersection of 205th Street and 114th Avenue in the historic neighbourhood of Hammond, in Maple Ridge, B.C. The Whitehead Residence is a one and one-half storey late Craftsman bungalow with a prominent gabled front porch. The adjacent Whitehouse Cottage is a one-storey front-gabled bungalow located close to the lane, at the north end of the property. A small front-gabled garage faces 205 Street, and a one-storey front-gabled structure sits behind the cottage near the rear property lines.

Valeur patrimoniale

The Whitehead Property has historic, cultural and aesthetic value for its representation of the urban and social development of Hammond in the 1920s, the establishment of the local Scandinavian community drawn to the area by employment offered by the Hammond Cedar Mill, and its representation of vernacular domestic architecture.

Due to the number of Scandinavian immigrants who worked at the Mill, this street became known as 'Swede Row.' Charles G. Dahlberg immigrated from Sweden to Hammond circa 1910 and bought the property (and other lots) in 1919 where he built a two-room cottage. Carl Whitehead purchased the property in 1922, which is still owned by his descendants. Born in 1888 in Kurkijoki, Finland, Whitehead (a literal translation of his original Finnish surname Walkeapaa) was known as C.K. Olson when he first immigrated to Canada at the age of eighteen. He worked in the pulp mill at Powell River before moving to Chase, and then relocated his family to Hammond where he started work at the Hammond Cedar Mill. He expanded the cottage by adding two rooms on the front, then built a larger home on the same property starting in 1923, and also built other rental houses. Typical of the more informal arrangements of the time, the buildings are sited close to the property lines to maximize the usable areas of the site.

These buildings and landscaping on this property have aesthetic value for contributing to the historic character of Hammond. The development of the Whitehead Property also demonstrates the increasing settlement and prosperity of the Hammond community. The Mill was one of the major cedar processing mills on the Fraser River, and the town's major employer, and it prospered in the years following the end of World War One. The modest vernacular cottage is typical of the earliest settlers' homes in Hammond, of wood frame construction with details such as the multi-paned windows that demonstrate pride of ownership. As the community became more established, houses grew larger and more elaborate. The Whitehead House demonstrates this shift and the influence of the late Craftsman style; its design was copied from a house on Dewdney Trunk Road near Webster's Corner, the centre of the Finnish community in Maple Ridge.

The Whitehead Property also demonstrates the evolution over time of the community and generations of its families, with sensitive additions made to meet evolving residential needs over the decades of its existence. The outbuilding facing the lane is additionally significant for being the site of the first recycling depot in Maple Ridge.

SOURCE: Maple Ridge Planning Department

Éléments caractéristiques

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Whitehead Property include its:
- location in the historic Hammond neighbourhood of Maple Ridge, at the intersection of 205 Street and 114 Avenue, with an adjacent lane
- continuous residential use
- two wooden front-gabled outbuildings
- mature landscaped setting including two large Linden trees in the front yard

Whitehead House:
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its: one and one-half storey height plus basement, side-gabled roofline, projecting side bay, and prominent open front porch
- typical wood frame construction materials, as expressed by its: bevelled wooden siding on the main floor; double-coursed cedar shingle cladding on the porch column bases, foundation skirting and gable ends; tongue-and-groove roof and porch soffits; and dimensional door and window trim
- design features of the late Craftsman style such as: tapered square porch piers and columns; frieze of paired dentil blocks; square balusters; triangular eave brackets; open soffits; and pointed vergeboards
- original windows such as three-part casement assemblies with paired art glass transoms, and diamond-shaped feature window above the front entry
- glazed and panelled wooden front door
- original interior detailing, such as wooden wainscoting and brick fireplaces

Whitehead Cottage:
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its: one storey height, low-pitched frontgabled roofline, and offset open front-gabled entry porch
- typical wood frame construction materials, as expressed by its: cedar shingle siding on the main floor; bevelled siding in the front gable ends; tongue-and-groove soffits; and dimensional door and window trim
- design influences of the Craftsman style such as vertical battens in the gable ends, open soffits, and split vergeboards
- original windows such as double-hung, 1-over-1 wooden sash windows with flashed upper sash