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Online Heritage Inventory

Britannia Shipyard - Murakami Boatworks

General Information
Thumbnail photograph of Britannia Shipyard - Murakami Boatworks
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Type of Resource: Building
Common Name: Britannia Shipyard - Murakami Boatworks
Address: 12451 Trites Road
Neighbourhood (Planning Area Name): Steveston
Construction Date: 1928
Current Owner: Municipal Government
Designated: Yes

Statement of Significance
Description of Site
The Murakami Boatworks is a very simple, rectangular one-storey wooden building with a gable roof and large front door, sited at right angles to a boardwalk that runs along the original dyke on the Britannia Shipyard site. It is located on the foreshore of Steveston Channel, adjacent to the associated Murakami residence.

 Statement of Values
The heritage significance of the Murakami Boatworks lies in its historical connection to the development of Richmond’s boatbuilding industry, and to the role played by Japanese immigrants in the history of the boatbuilding, canning, and fishing industries in the evolution of Steveston. The Murakami Boatworks was built by Mr. Murakami on property rented from the Phoenix Cannery; it was originally constructed for and used as a boat building operation.
While the building has been rehabilitated, it structural style and design reflect its use as an early boatworks. It holds symbolic significance as representative of the Japanese workers’ experience in Richmond and of the everyday lives of the people who worked in and around Steveston’s canneries in the early nineteenth century.

 Character Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the site include:
· The location of the boatworks as part of the Britannia Shipyard cluster of structures around and along the historic boardwalk
· The physical design and details of the building which accommodated an early boatworks operation, including its rectangular form with undifferentiated open space inside, a large double door at the south end of the building, above which is a hinged portion used to enlarge the door for the passage of boats, and weathered vertical board and batten siding on the exterior
· The re-created interior space based on the oral histories and including workbenches, drying racks and storage bins.

 History
The Murakami Boatworks is a very simple, rectangular one-storey wooden building with a gable roof and large front door, sited at right angles to a boardwalk that runs along the original dyke on the Britannia Shipyard site. It is located on the foreshore of Steveston Channel, adjacent to the associated Murakami residence.

 Architectural Significance
Architectural Style
Working Industrial

 Building Type
Boat Construction

 Name of Architect or Builder
Otokichi Murakami and Family

 Design Features
The reconstructed Murakami Boatworks building is rectangular in plan, originally with a post foundation. It has a gable roof covered in wood shingles, and with exposed rafter ends. The building is clad in vertical board and batten siding. Its windows are multi-paned wooden single sash. There is a large double door at the south end of the building, above which is a hinged portion originally used to enlarge the door for the passage of boats. There is a small man door on the east side. The interior has been recreated from the oral history of Mr. Murakami’s son George, with workbenches, drying racks and storage bins. The rear portion of the building is now used as office space.

 Construction Method
Wood frame construction

 Landscape Significance
Landscape Element
Cultural landscape/Natural Environment

 Design Attributes
The Britannia site was originally part of the Fraser River marsh estuary, and has gone through extensive cultural modifications over the life of the Britannia Cannery and Shipyard. The site is an example of an evolved cultural landscape shaped through use by activity or occupancy, in this case, the fishing and boatbuilding industries. Natural landscape components include marshes, fish habitat areas, and areas with natural shrubs and mature trees. The buildings and the boardwalk were originally constructed on piles above the marsh. The boardwalk served as the ‘main street’ for the Steveston riverfront. Much of the site today sits on land reclaimed through dredging operations in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, and there is evidence that a slough once cut through the site.

 Integrity
Alterations
The Murakami Boatworks building has been reconstructed on a new slab foundation as part of the development of the Britannia site. Some of the exterior material has been re-used from the original building. The structure has been modernized for use as a public assembly building.

 Original Location
Yes; rebuilt in the original footprint

 Condition
The building is in excellent condition

 Lost
No

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

 Date
Friday, November 3, 2000

 Documentation
Inventory Sheets by Foundation Group Designs, January 1990
“Heritage Inventory Phase II” by Foundation Group Designs May 1989
“Britannia Heritage Shipyard Park Concept Plan” Christopher Phillips and Associates 1992
Marilyn Clayton, personal communication, November 2000
Britannia Heritage Shipyard documents (various dates)

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