Heritage advocates are encouraging the city to expand the number of houses that will be given top billing in a proposed heritage conservation area.
The City of New Westminster is working to establish a conservation area for the Queen’s Park neighbourhood, which proposes different levels of heritage protection for all single-family houses in the neighbourhood. The draft plan suggests advanced protection would be placed on homes built up until 1929, with homes from 1930 to 1949 having standard protection and houses built after 1950 having limited protection.
“Once approved, we will be the largest conservation area in Western Canada. We will be a destination for many to come and see, and an example for others to follow,” said Maureen Arvanitidis, president of the New Westminster Heritage Preservation Society. “It’s heady times but we can work it out and we can do it, but we need to do it right.”
Under the current proposal, advanced protection would require a heritage alteration permit for major construction activities on the front and sides of the house, subdivisions and demolitions. Standard protection would require a heritage alteration permit for demolitions and subdivisions, while limited protection would require a heritage alteration permit for subdivisions only.
Arvanitidis said advanced protection must be extended to include homes built up to 1940, but would ideally include 1941 to 1959 homes in order to protect the mid-century modern houses. While there’s not a lot of mid-century modern houses in the neighbourhood, she said some of them are “very significant” homes.
“As you can see from these photographic examples, the homes from the 30s, 40s and 50s have significant heritage value. They should fall into the advanced category,” Arvanitidis said as photos of homes flashed on a screen in council chamber. “Many of them are in very original condition and have historical importance.”
Jackie Teed, the city’s acting director of development services, said the draft policy, which includes the three-tiered approach to conservation, is going out for community consultation. Feedback will be used to make revisions to a policy that will be considered by city council this spring.
Nadine ONeill, who has lived in the Queen’s Park neighbourhood for the past 57 years, was one of seven residents in council chambers Monday night to voice support for a conservation area. As a child growing up in the area, there was a mixed bag of houses, including beautiful homes, boarding houses and scary houses.
“Some of those houses that were so scary became the most beautiful houses on the block. And the gardens started to grow. It has just kept improving until recently,” she said. “Now when I walk down the streets, some of the most charming houses are gone.”
ONeill fears her home could be at risk of redevelopment in the future.
“I live in a very small house in Queen’s Park. I am sure people are waiting to buy my house so they can knock it down and build a nice house there - it’s a valuable property, but my house isn’t worth anything. To me it’s worth a lot. It’s over 100 years old,” she said. “It’s got a story to tell and I think it has a place in Queen’s Park.”
