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Online Heritage Inventory

Terra Nova View Corridor

General Information
Thumbnail photograph of Terra Nova View Corridor
Click to see full image
Type of Resource: Landscape
Common Name: Terra Nova View Corridor
Address:
Neighbourhood (Planning Area Name): Thompson
Construction Date: pre 1900
Current Owner:
Designated: No

Statement of Significance
Description of Site
Located in the northwest corner of Lulu Island, the Terra Nova Viewscape is a vista which encompasses a panorama of 270 degrees across a wide variety of landscapes. The view stretches across the Gulf of Georgia to Vancouver Island, north to Howe Sound and the city of Vancouver, the Coast Mountains, and the Vancouver International Airport. More immediately, it stretches along the shoreline south from Steveston and east to Bridgeport, as well as taking in the foreshore and the Middle Arm of the river.

 Statement of Values
The heritage values of the Terra Nova View Corridor are historic, symbolic, scientific, contextual and social. The view from Terra Nova has been a presence in this landscape through all of its historical changes, from pre-contact to the present day.
Historically, the view is an important part of the changing meanings and associations that this landscape feature has had with different people, groups and historical time periods. The view has an association with the historical events that have shaped Terra Nova, including early use by the Musqueam, historical settlement and farming, canning and fishing, and recreation.
The symbolic importance of the view lies in its perception by different people over time. An early fishing and berry picking area for the Musqueam, this area was also given the name Terra Nova, or New Land, by early European settlers. Farmers and developers of the canning and fishing industry here lend yet another perception of the view, as do current recreational users of this area.
Scientifically, the view is significant because of the range of features and landscapes it encompasses, and the way in which it enhances our understanding of the physical and geographical processes that have formed the landscape, such as such as the Fraser delta, the river channels, the flat topography, vegetation, and nearby mountains and islands. Within this dynamic landscape, these processes continue to be visible as part of the viewscape.
Contextually, the nature of the landscape promotes an understanding of where one is situated in place and time: the single flat plan of the view, the horizon, the sense of space and the contrast of land, water and sky. The viewscape has a particular association with Richmond because of this unique mix of physical elements.
The view has social and community value as part of an important recreational and contemplative experience for Richmond’s citizens.

 Character Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the site include:
· The ability to see a vista of 270 degrees
· The accessibility of the view from a number of vantage points around Terra Nova, which contributes to a varied experience in different places and at different times
· Its components of foreground, middle ground and background: the foreground which speaks to the immediate physical landscape elements and historical features in Terra Nova; middleground which takes in the city of Richmond and the river; and the background, consisting of Georgia Strait, Vancouver and the north shore mountains which provides a view of the larger regional context
· The intangible and transitory nature of the view, which alters its aspect as one moves through the landscape, giving the viewer a different and constantly changing perspective
· The intactness of the dyke and the clear separation of foreshore marshland and upland, along with the contrast of sky, horizon, water and land

 History
Located in the northwest corner of Lulu Island, the Terra Nova Viewscape is a vista which encompasses a panorama of 270 degrees across a wide variety of landscapes. The view stretches across the Gulf of Georgia to Vancouver Island, north to Howe Sound and the city of Vancouver, the Coast Mountains, and the Vancouver International Airport. More immediately, it stretches along the shoreline south from Steveston and east to Bridgeport, as well as taking in the foreshore and the Middle Arm of the river.

 Architectural Significance
(No information available)

 Landscape Significance
Design Attributes
An historic view such as the one from Terra Nova is an intangible landscape feature. It cannot objectively be directly connected to the development of Richmond as a city, like other heritage landscape resources, and so we need a wider concept of landscape that includes the physical setting with the activities and meanings that are attached to them in order to determine its significance.
The Terra Nova view has a particular association with the city of Richmond. It could not occur anywhere else, because the physical processes that have created Richmond are unique to this place. With the flat topography of the delta this peninsula of land has a view in almost all directions. The view is also affected by the motion of the observer as he or she walks along the dyke in either direction; it is a dynamic view, the environment appears to change as the observer moves through it and dramatically different aspects come in to view.
It is important also that there are several layers to the view. At certain times the foreground holds the attention: the foreshore environment with grasses, sedges, driftwood and seabirds. Other times the eye is caught by motion on the river or in the sky, by the rough landscape of Swishwash Island, by the low green mass of Point Grey, or the activity or the architecture at the airport. This is the middleground. Then we look to background: to the northeast and the Coast Mountain range than includes the familiar North Shore Mountains, or north up Howe Sound to Bowen and Gambier Islands and the Tantalus Range that fades into the distance. Looking out to the open ocean the Vancouver Island Range is visible behind the Gulf Islands and to the south it may be possible to glimpse the San Juan Islands. Each of these aspects, foreground, middleground and background, combine to create a vista that is truly memorable and that creates the place that is Terra Nova.
The view is also significant in the meaning that it has had for people over time. We can only experience it ourselves in the present, and must ask questions: What did it represent for people at different times in history? A sense of freedom, limitless possibility, the boundaries of their home? This view lets us use our imaginations as to what people saw in the past and allows us to put our own interpretation on it. Some of the elements are unchanged such as the mountains and the river. There may have been only subtle or surface changes to the view since the last major geological impacts, but many changes in human history and attitudes have been played out against the backdrop of this vista.
The other senses that accompany the visual must also be taken into consideration: the feel of the breeze off of the ocean, the salty vegetation smell of the foreshore, the cries of shorebirds and the sound of float planes, the smells of fuel and burning wood and fish.
Heritage views are valuable landscape resources because, although a place is necessarily anchored to a specific location, a sense of place gradually results from the meanings which people assign to the landscape from the process of living in it. The experience of this view helps create the sense of place that is unique to Terra Nova.

 Integrity
Alterations
The landscape has changed and it has not changed. There have been many changes since the geological formation of the Terra Nova area, but when assessing a landscape of this scale, they begin to seem insignificant. The original location, setting, feeling and association with the continuum of history that has passed before this landscape are all intact.

 Original Location
Yes

 Lost
No

 Documentation
Evaluated By
Denise Cook BLA PBD

 Date
Wednesday, January 31, 2001

 Documentation
“Terra Nova Sub-Area: An Official Community Plan”, Bylaw #7100, Thompson Area Plan. Richmond Planning Department, 1999, Richmond Public Library.
Blunden, Roy H. “The Urban Geology of Richmond: Interpreting a Delta Landscape”, 1975, UBC Library.
Lynch, Kevin. “What Time is This Place?”, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass., 1972.
Meinig, D.W., ed. “The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes”, Oxford University Press, New York, 1979.
Paterson, Douglas and Colby, Lisa. “Heritage Landscapes in British Columbia: A Guide to their Identification, Documentation and Preservation”, Landscape Architecture Program, University of British Columbia, 1989.
Richmond Lumber Co. Ltd. Fire Insurance Appraisal, 1941. Richmond Lumber Co. collection, Richmond Archives, Location #7118.
Ross, Leslie J. “Richmond, Child of the Fraser”, Richmond Centennial Society, Richmond, B.C., 1979.
Ryden, Kent C. “Mapping the Invisible Landscape”, University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, 1993.
Historical Photographs: Photograph No. 1985 166 05, dated 1929. Richmond Archives Collection, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1985 166 11, dated 1930. Richmond Archives Collection, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1985 166 12, dated 1930. Richmond Archives Collection, Richmond Archives.
Airphoto Mosaic dated 1930, Geographical Information Centre, UBC.
Photograph No. 1985 166 07, dated 1931. Richmond Archives Collection, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1985 166 18, dated 1931. Richmond Archives Collection, Richmond Archives Photograph No. 1985 166 22, dated 1931. Richmond Archives Collection, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 99-2515, dated 1931, City of Vancouver Archives.
Photograph No. 99-2517, dated 1931, City of Vancouver Archives.
Photograph No. 1985 166 04, dated 1946. Richmond Archives Collection, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1992 16 01, dated 195-. Richmond Archives Collection, Richmond Archives.
Airphoto Mosaic dated 1963, Geographical Information Centre, UBC.
Photograph No. BC5063:223, dated 1963, Geographical Information Centre, UBC.
Airphoto Mosaic dated 1963, Geographical Information Centre, UBC.
Photograph No. 1988 37 35, dated 1970. Richmond Archives Collection, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1988 10 138, dated 1976. George S. McNutt fonds, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1988 10 139, dated 1976. George S. McNutt fonds, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1988 10 140, dated 1976. George S. McNutt fonds, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1988 10 165, dated 1976. George S. McNutt fonds, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1988 10 168, dated 1976. George S. McNutt fonds, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1988 10 630, dated 1978. George S. McNutt fonds, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1988 10 647, dated 1979. George S. McNutt fonds, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1988 10 730, dated 1980. George S. McNutt fonds, Richmond Archives.
Photograph No. 1988 10 791, dated 1982. George S. McNutt fonds, Richmond Archives.
Location and Type of Plans Found: Chas. E. Goad Fire Insurance Plan, 1897, University of British Columbia Special Collections.
Waterworks Atlas Map of Terra Nova area at the northwest corner of Lulu Island, 1936. Item #1991 40 10, Location # Maps 19, Richmond Archives.
Waterworks Atlas Map of middle arm waterfront and areas of southwest Sea Island, 1936. Items #1991 40 2, #1991 40 2, Location # Maps 19, Richmond Archives.
Vancouver and Coast Mountains. Wittenburg Publications, Geographical Information Centre, UBC, nd.
Natural Resources Canada, maps 92G and 92B, Geographical Information Centre, UBC, nd.

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