Irving House – 1865

Irving House - 1865

Irving House - 1865

302 Royal Avenue, New Westminster, BC.

Description of Historic Area:

Irving Property is a large, just one and one particular-50 percent storey in addition basement wooden-frame home, intended in the Gothic Revival style, found on its first web-site at the corner of Royal Avenue and Merivale Road in the New Westminster neighbourhood of Albert Crescent. Irving Property is extraordinary for the extent to which its initial exterior and interior features have survived. Operated as an historic home museum, it also consists of a collection of numerous first furnishings from the Irving household.

Heritage Worth:

Irving Property is a direct url to the earliest pioneer progress of New Westminster. The city was launched by the Royal Engineers as the colonial money of the Mainland colony of British Columbia in 1859. Soon after the Royal Engineers had been disbanded in 1863, lots of of them stayed to aid build New Westminster as a centre of trade and commerce. Irving Home dates from the time of the initially enhancement of civilian constructions in the new local community. Concluded in April, 1865, it is just one of the oldest extant structures in the province.

Irving Property is valued for its affiliation with Captain William and Elizabeth Jane Irving and their family members. Captain Irving arrived in New Westminster in 1859 and established a productive riverboat buying and selling organization on the Reduced Fraser River where he turned acknowledged as “King of the River.” Irving invested in the B.C. and Victoria Steam Navigation Enterprise, which afterwards turned the Canadian Pacific Navigation Business, and was a top citizen in New Westminster, a Mason, a founding member of the St. Andrew’s Culture, an honorary member of the Hyack Fireplace Firm, a member of the committee to examine the conditions of B.C.’s union with the Dominion of Canada, and a town councillor. Possession passed by 3 generations of the Irving spouse and children just before the home was obtained by the Town of New Westminster in 1950.

This dwelling is of architectural great importance as a fine instance of Gothic Revival architecture and as an instance of Mid-Victorian period domestic style, and reflects the position attained by the Irvings in the early times of the town. It is a testament to the talent of architect James Syme (1832-1881), who seems to have adapted the design and style from a sample ebook, and the skills of its builder, Thomas W. Graham. The interior retains several first functions, together with wallpaper, plasterwork, furnishings and carpets, that are vital as a demonstration of the higher diploma of style and design and craftsmanship that was out there in New Westminster in the 1860s.

The heritage benefit of this house also lies in its interpretive benefit, as the oldest historic home museum in B.C. The museum was proven in 1950 and is an essential cultural attribute for the interpretation of New Westminster’s heritage to the general public. On show in the residence is a assortment of time period furniture, which include a selection of unique parts from the Irving family. The Metropolis of New Westminster proceeds to possess the residence and operates it as portion of the civic museum and archives. It represents an important period in the expansion of the City and demonstrates to readers the way of life, possessions, and aspirations of the pioneers who helped to set up the Town of New Westminster.

Source: Heritage Arranging Documents, Town of New Westminster

Character-Defining Features:

Vital elements that determine the heritage character of the Irving Property contain its:
– place on Royal Avenue at the corner of Merivale Road, on a internet site sloping toward the Fraser River, with the basement exposed at the rear
– type and scale as expressed in the rectangular prepare, a single and 1-half storey in addition basement top and symmetrical massing
– side gable roof with a entrance gable wall dormer about the central door to the 2nd flooring balcony
– wood construction, such as wooden framing, large lapped redwood weatherboard siding and picket trim
– aspects of the Gothic Revival fashion including intensive carpenter ornamentation, attractive scroll-cut bargeboards and balustrades, lathe-turned finials at the roof edges, and trefoil attic windows
– wraparound verandah, incorporating the primary whole open up front verandah with afterwards additions all over the sides of the home, such as square chamfered columns with brackets
– Palladian window and door assembly on the 2nd-floor entrance facade
– fenestration, which include: 2-around-2 double-hung wood-sash home windows with external shutters ground ground French doorways that open onto the verandah from the two entrance rooms and stained glass insets in the side doorway on the north facade
– first entrance door with glass sidelights and transoms
– interior brick chimneys with corbelled tops
– brick basis walls
– inside capabilities that day to the time of construction, such as primary plasterwork (these as ceiling medallions, cornices and rope mouldings), wallpaper (this kind of as the foil wallpaper in the entrance two rooms that dates from 1865), woodwork (such as doorways, floors and trim), fireplaces, staircases and gas lighting fixtures
– other interior characteristics as tailored or added by the Irving relatives, these types of as the bronze newel write-up statue and electric lighting fixtures
– selection of time period furniture, which includes a number of primary parts from the Irving family members
– environment within just a manicured backyard with experienced holly and cedar trees and a replicated wooden fence

A photograph of the dwelling in 1864

A picture of the house in 1964

Canada’s Historic Destinations

Posted by Bob_2006 on 2006-11-15 02:35:25

Tagged: , Irving , property , new westminster , BC , metropolis , outdated , setting up , heritage , geotagged , geo:lat=49.207817 , geo:lon=-122.906294

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