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Online Heritage Inventory

Stilt Piling House #1

General Information
Thumbnail photograph of Stilt Piling House #1
Click to see full image
Type of Resource: Building
Common Name: Stilt House
Address: 12080 7th Avenue
Neighbourhood (Planning Area Name): Steveston
Construction Date: circa 1888-90
Current Owner: Private
Designated: No

Statement of Significance
Description of Site
The Stilt Piling House #1 is located in Steveston near Garry Point. It is a small, rectangular, gable roofed one-storey house of modest proportions, with vertical massing. It is constructed on a foundation of posts or stilts, currently not visible because of infill siding. This house is one of two adjacent dwellings constructed at a similar time and with a similar foundation, currently located within a changing neighbourhood of new housing and commercial developments. A rear addition may have been a separate building joined to the original.

 Statement of Values
The heritage value of this house on stilts lies in its historical and cultural associations with the settlement of the Steveston Townsite, one of the earliest areas of Lulu Island to be developed. It is significant as one of the last of a number of similar houses constructed here, on both sides of the dyke, as accommodation for Steveston’s cannery workers.
Aesthetically, the house has significance for its construction on posts and pilings, a necessity due to the lack of adequate dyke protection on most of Lulu Island during its early development. The house is modest and has a simple style in keeping with its original use. It was also part of a larger pattern of worker’s housing in this area, of which only one other example remains, next door at 12100 Seventh Avenue. The canning and fishing industries in Richmond were flourishing during this period, and many cannery operations were being constructed along the riverfront in Steveston.

 Character Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the site include:
· Its location in the riverfront area of Steveston which was once constantly under threat of flooding before the island-wide dykes were constructed, and which was originally the location of a number of Steveston’s canneries
· The construction of the house on pilings, a response to the flood conditions
· The simple style, rectangular shape, shed roof and wooden windows which express the house’s working class roots.

 History
The Stilt Piling House #1 is located in Steveston near Garry Point. It is a small, rectangular, gable roofed one-storey house of modest proportions, with vertical massing. It is constructed on a foundation of posts or stilts, currently not visible because of infill siding. This house is one of two adjacent dwellings constructed at a similar time and with a similar foundation, currently located within a changing neighbourhood of new housing and commercial developments. A rear addition may have been a separate building joined to the original.

 Architectural Significance
Architectural Style
Stilt.

 Building Type
Domestic.

 Design Features
Stilt house # 1 is presumed to have a foundation of post and pilings. It currently has a low gable roof with a low gable covered porch off-centred on the front facade. Both the house roof and the porch roof have plain white fascias. The roofing material is grey asphalt. The windows on the main portion of the house are wooden, double-hung. The siding is wooden ship-lap with corner boards, painted blue. The area which would show the stilts have been covered with clapboard siding and plain corner boards to match the upper portion of the house.

 Construction Method
Unconfirmed.

 Landscape Significance
(No information available)

 Integrity
Alterations
The lower portion of the house has been covered with siding. The windows in the porch are newer. There seem to be few other alterations. The original context has been lost.

 Original Location
Yes

 Condition
The house is not in good condition as it does not appear to be well- maintained. The grounds are also poorly maintained.

 Lost
No

 Documentation
Evaluated By
Julie MacDonald (Julie MacDonald Heritage Consulting)

 Date
Tuesday, February 15, 2000

 Documentation
“Heritage Inventory, Phase II” by Foundation Group Designs, May 1989. Inventory Sheets by Diana Bodnar (Foundation Group), January 1989.

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