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Online Heritage Inventory

Watsida Building

General Information
Thumbnail photograph of Watsida Building
Click to see full image
Type of Resource: Building
Common Name: Steveston Bookstore
Address: 3480 Moncton Street
Neighbourhood (Planning Area Name): Steveston
Construction Date: 1927
Current Owner: Private
Designated: No

Statement of Significance
Description of Site
The Watsida Building is part of a row of commercial building along Moncton Street in downtown Steveston. All of the buildings are of a similar age and scale, and present a continuous façade of small retail shops flush to the sidewalk.

 Statement of Values
The Watsida Building is part of an almost-continuous façade of simple, wood frame, false front style commercial buildings along Moncton Street. The building is of a similar scale to the majority of the buildings, oriented and built flush to the street, emphasizing the flow of pedestrian traffic which would have occurred early in the century along Steveston’s main street.
This pattern of commercial development characterized Steveston in the early part of the twentieth century, as the area boomed in population and economic wealth from farming and fishing. The Watsida Building is significant as part of this early and continuing historic pattern, a rare one in the city of Richmond. It is a good example of a false-fronted commercial structure.

 Character Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the site include:
· Design details typical of early commercial buildings including a front gable roof, square false front with a decorative cornice and brackets, typical rectangular building behind, and horizontal wood clapboard cladding
· The height, scale, colour and massing of the building typical of the streetscape
· Its orientation and relationship to Moncton Street
· Its presence as part of the historical development form of the street which creates a diverse, articulated edge and a sense of enclosure, and its contribution to the liveliness and diversity of the area.

 History
The Watsida Building is part of a row of commercial building along Moncton Street in downtown Steveston. All of the buildings are of a similar age and scale, and present a continuous façade of small retail shops flush to the sidewalk.

 Architectural Significance
Architectural Style
Commercial Building or Boomtown

 Building Type
Commercial - Retail

 Design Features
The main building form is rectangular with a front gable roof, a false front, and a shed style addition at the back. A second associated building to the rear is T-shaped in plan with a cross gable roof. Roof coverings are asphalt shingle. The windows are multi-paned wooden sash casement in the main building, and wooden double hung at the rear. They have plain painted wood trim and sills. The building cladding is horizontal wood clapboard except for the stucco on the east elevation. The false front has a decorative cornice and brackets, lending the building an air of elegance, and along the front of the building there is a shingle skirt roof, the latter being a more recent addition to the facade.

 Construction Method
Wood frame construction

 Landscape Significance
(No information available)

 Integrity
Alterations
There are few alterations to the building. These include the addition of the skirt roof over the storefront on the street façade, and the construction of the small rectangular frame structure with cross-gable addition to the rear with its associated inset entry.

 Original Location
Yes

 Condition
The building seems to be in very good condition.

 Lost
No

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

 Date
Sunday, September 24, 2000

 Documentation
Inventory Sheets by Foundation Group Designs, January 1989
“Heritage Inventory Phase II” by Foundation Group Designs May 1989

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