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Online Heritage Inventory

Steveston Townsite Heritage Area

General Information
Thumbnail photograph of Steveston Townsite Heritage Area
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Type of Resource: Heritage Area
Common Name: Steveston Townsite Heritage Area
Address:
Neighbourhood (Planning Area Name): Steveston
Construction Date: 1880’s-1920’s
Current Owner:
Designated: No

Statement of Significance
Description of Site
Established in 1880, the Steveston Townsite heritage area consists of the residential component of the townsite with its street grid, and the commercial core, including Moncton Street, with its strong relationship to the Fraser River.

 Statement of Values
The heritage value of the Steveston Townsite lies primarily in its historical development as it relates to the farming, canning and fishing industries along the Fraser River in the late 1800s. The Steves family established the existing grid pattern, with the north section becoming residential lots and the south developing in concert with the canning industry, becoming the commercial area of the settlement.
The Townsite is an example of community which grew in direct response to the historic uses of the land for farming, fishing and salmon canning, and the need for services and housing to support these industries and accompanying migrant work force. The layout, streetscapes and many of the buildings remain intact to the present day. There is no similar community in the City of Richmond.
Social and cultural values reside in the associations and stories which connect the Townsite the history of the fishing and canning industries. It offers an opportunity to understand the way in which many people of different nationalities came together to take advantage of the fishery resource and the resulting creation a vital, vibrant, and sometimes unruly community.

 Character Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the site include:
· Visually distinguishable elements in residential Steveston, including narrow street widths and regular grid layout, residential ditches and lack of curbs.
· Moncton Street’s ‘main street’ feel, direct connection to the riverfront, and its unifying façade of small commercial buildings, many rectangular wood frame and exhibiting a false front style with cornices and brackets.
· The sense of cohesiveness along both Moncton Street and the residential area of Steveston through the massing, scale and height of the buildings, and by their siting, with consistent setbacks and direct orientation to the street
· The variety of buildings in the commercial centre of Steveston including retail buildings of different ages, functions, and historic importance, as well as residences, mainly related to housing for cannery workers or managers
· Utilitarian back lanes, and land uses related to the fishing industry which give the commercial area a diverse character.
· Mature trees in the residential area which differentiate it from the commercial area south of Chatham Street
· Both small residential ditches and larger scale industrial ditches associated with the dyking and drainage system.
· The overall orientation of the settlement to the river, the most important natural feature in the heritage area
· Small-scale elements such as pilings and wharves, riprap river edges, and industrial traces suggesting a rough working landscape, as well as the fishing fleet on the river with its various equipment
· Major historic landmarks including the Gulf of Georgia Cannery as it terminates Moncton Street, and the Steveston Hotel, the only early hotel to survive fire and flood.

 History
Established in 1880, the Steveston Townsite heritage area consists of the residential component of the townsite with its street grid, and the commercial core, including Moncton Street, with its strong relationship to the Fraser River.

 Architectural Significance
Design Features
Significant buildings:
There are 17 buildings considered to be of historic importance in Steveston contained on the current inventory. They consist of five residences, 10 commercial buildings, one courthouse, one cannery and one church. While styles vary, the common vocabulary of buildings in the commercial area are false fronted boomtown style buildings, and the brick Hepworth Block and Telephone Exchange. Residential buildings include middle class Edwardian Crafstman and Queen Anne styles; with vernacular stilt houses for cannery workers. There is also the Gulf of Georgia cannery, which is of heavy timber construction. The diversity of this collection of existing historic structures is significant in illustrating the various aspects of Steveston’s development and history.
Overall built form:
Although the buildings in Steveston can be roughly grouped into commercial and residential areas, there is a great deal of overlap. The commercial centre of Steveston includes buildings of different ages, functions, and historic importance, but also includes residences - a 1923 plan shows clusters of small buildings in the vicinity of the remaining stilt houses indicating a worker’s enclave. The relatively uniform scale of all of the commercial buildings lends a unifying character to the Moncton streetscape and adjacent commercial streets. The utilitarian back lanes, and land uses related to the fishing industry give the commercial area a diverse character.
Although there are only two significant extant structures in the residential area north of Chatham Street, the scale and massing of the infill buildings do not greatly affect the original character of this section of Steveston, with its narrower roads, square blocks, lanes and residential ditches.
Most of the buildings in the area are of wood frame construction. The major historic landmarks are the Gulf of Georgia Cannery as it terminates Moncton Street, and the Steveston (Sockeye) Hotel, the only early hotel to survive fire and flood.
Aesthetic qualities:
Moncton Street and the residential area of Steveston both convey a sense of cohesiveness through the massing, scale and height of the buildings, and by their siting, with consistent setbacks, orientation to the street, and landscape elements such as the residential ditches. Many of the buildings on Moncton street exhibit a false front style with cornices and brackets as a unifying element.

 Landscape Significance
Design Attributes
Natural features:
Steveston’s development began because of the soils suitable for farming, and easy access by water, and continued because of its proximity to the river and the canning and fishing industries.
Cultural traditions:
Because of the diversity of people in Steveston, and the diversity of their occupations, there is no overriding cultural tradition that informs its character. Written documents indicate the presence of Chinatown along parts of Moncton and the west side of No. 1 Road, but most of this area was destroyed by fire in 1904 and 1918.
Circulation and open space:
The overall circulation pattern in Steveston is formed by the grid layout of streets and the river edge. Historically, the interurban railway would have provided another circulation corridor. The major open space is defined by the streets, notably Chatham Street with its greater width. Other open space is defined by the front yards with their road/ditch/garden relationship seen in the residential area. There are two major parks adjacent to the heritage area – Garry Point Park and Steveston Park – and although they are not part of the heritage area, they do provide context.
Early photographs of Moncton Street show a continuous façade of simple, wood frame, false front style commercial buildings. This is part of the archetypal ‘main street’ pattern of commercial development that characterized Steveston in the early part of the twentieth century, and provides evidence of the rebuilding in the area after the waterfront fire of 1918.
Vegetation:
The most significant vegetation occurs in the residential area north of Chatham Street. Mature trees give the area a residential character which differentiates it from the commercial area south of Chatham Street. The growth of the vegetation gives the area a different quality than it would have had historically, but does not detract from its character. There are also domestic gardens, vegetation associated with the residential ditches, and modified natural vegetation on the riverfront. A significant number of trees in Steveston are contained in the landscape inventory. There is little, if any, indication of early farming or market gardening in the area.
Views, vistas, perceptual qualities:
From Steveston, there are views of mountains to the north, and water views to the south that encompass the fishing fleet and Steveston Island beyond. These important views into the middle distance helped to define the edges of the community, as historical photographs show a vista to the end of the development, then stretching off into the distance.
Water bodies or features:
The area contains both small residential ditches and larger scale ditches associated with the dyking and drainage system. The settlement has oriented its form of development to the river, the most important natural feature in the heritage area.
Small-scale elements:
Small-scale elements are important in defining Steveston. Pilings and wharves, riprap river edges, and industrial traces suggest a rough working landscape. The pumphouse at the foot of Fourth Avenue and its associated ditches recalls the early days of hand-dug ditches and dykes, and the fear of flooding. The fishing fleet on the river with its various equipment is a very significant character defining element in Steveston.

 Integrity
Alterations
Location:
This is the location of the Steveston Townsite developed from WH Steves’ original Crown Grants in 1880.
Design:
Integrity of design is compromised. While the spatial organization of the Townsite retains integrity, the overall historic character and form has been compromised by subsequent development, in particular on the riverfront and along Chatham Street, as well as in other areas.
Setting:
The Townsite retains its historic relationship to its geographical setting of the river and flat delta landscape and therefore maintains an integrity of setting.
Materials:
Integrity of materials is somewhat compromised. Most of the structures are built of wood or brick, and most retain their integrity of material as do materials associated with fishing activities. Paved areas such as roadways and parking lots affect the integrity of the site which used wood and gravel or earth as paving material. Newer development tends to use unsympathetic building materials.
Workmanship:
Integrity of workmanship is also somewhat compromised. The quality of workmanship in the built environment varies from the extant historic structures to speculative development. There is a high integrity of workmanship exhibited in the working waterfront.
Feeling:
Integrity of feeling is somewhat compromised. The scale, spatial qualities, extant structures and the layout of Steveston still convey an historic place and time. Infill development has tended to affect this. However, the river with its rough edges, the fishing fleet and associated equipment views of Steveston Island counteract this to give Steveston an overall heritage character and strong sense of place.
Association:
Steveston Townsite maintains a significant association with the history, events and people that have shaped it.

 Lost
No

 Documentation
Evaluated By
Denise Cook BLA, PBD (Public History)

 Date
Friday, August 10, 2001

 Documentation
Kidd, Thomas. History of Lulu Island and Occasional Poems, Wrigley Printing Company Ltd., 1927. University of British Columbia Special Collections.
Lyons, Cicely. Salmon, Our Heritage, B.C. Packers Ltd./Mitchell Press, Vancouver, 1969.
National Park Service. “Defining Boundaries for National Register Properties”, US Department of the Interior, 1999.
Norman Hotson Associates Ltd. Steveston Waterfront Conservation, 1985. Location #6159, Richmond Archives.
“Public fury over Steveston’s soul”. Province Sunday September 18, 1988.
Reid, David J. The Development of the Fraser River Salmon Canning Industry, 1885 to 1913, Federal Department of the Environment, 1973. Location #6159, Richmond Archives.
Richmond Heritage Inventory Phase I, 1984.
Ross, Leslie J. Richmond, Child of the Fraser, Richmond Centennial Society, Richmond, B.C., 1979.
Stacey, Duncan and Stacey, S. Salmonopolis – The Steveston Story, Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 1994.
Steveston Area Plan: Heritage Studies of Steveston. Township of Richmond Planning Department, 1984.
Historical Photographs:
Location and Type of Plans Found:
Canada Department of Mines/Geological Survey of Canada. Fraser River Investigation: Topographical Maps, 1923, UBC Special Collections.
Fraser River Canneries, British Columbia. Chas. E. Goad, Civil Engineer, July 1897. UBC Special Collections.
Map of Municipality of Richmond, 1909. Misc. Planning Department Maps, #1985-153-1, Richmond Archives.
Municipality Sheets of Richmond 1925. Misc. Planning Department Maps, Richmond Archives.
Steveston B.C. c.1895-1911. Richmond Archives Map Collection #1985-132-1.
The Township of Richmond 1962-1965. Misc. Planning Department Maps, #1985-183-3, Richmond Archives.
Waterworks Atlas Map, 1936. Municipal Records, Item #1991 40 41, Location # Maps 20, Richmond Archives

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