Description du lieu patrimonial

The house at 4220 St. Catherines Street is a one storey (plus basement) hip roofed, wood-frame vernacular cottage located close to the corner of East 26th Avenue in the Kensington neighbourhood of Vancouver British Columbia.

Valeur patrimoniale

This site is significant socially, culturally, historically, and aesthetically for its connection to the early development of South Vancouver, illustrating the working-class character of South Vancouver, for its association with Progress Theatre manager W.A. Moore, and for its vernacular cottage design with Craftsman elements.

Built in 1910, the subject house is valued for its connection to South Vancouver's rapid growth and urban development from 1910-1912 sparked by the extension of the Fraser Street streetcar line from Kingsway to 49th Avenue in 1909 and the general building boom of the era.

In its modest scale and simple design the house represents the early working-class homes that lined the streets in the Kensington neighbourhood and generally characterized South Vancouver in the first half of the 20th century. The occupations of the majority of the home's owners and tenants over the years are indicative of typical layman occupations (drivers, sheet metals workers, cabinet makers etc…). This house is now important as the last example of its generation to survive on this block of St. Catherines Street and the adjacent blocks, which developed originally in two waves 1910-1912 and 1920s, but today are characterized mostly by homes built in the 1980s and later.

The house gains further value from its association with historic local venue manager - William A. Moore, who was the subject house's owner and resident from 1921 to 1923. During those years, Moore managed the close-by Progress Theatre located on Kingsway at Fraser - a silent movie theatre from 1914 -1929 which went on to become a long-running movie theatre known as the Music Box and then the Kingcrest - local Kensington venues which also hosted theatre performances, parties, community meetings and political gatherings.

The dwelling's simple and modest design combines the form of a vernacular pioneer cottage with Craftsman details of its era such as shingle cladding, rustic front porch braces and divided light windows. Typical of residences built in Vancouver in the first half of the 20th century, it features wood-frame construction and finishings.

Éléments caractéristiques

The elements that define the character of this historic site include its:

- Original location on St. Catherines Street in the Kensington neighbourhood
- Continuous residential use since 1910
- Residential setback in line with other houses with a modest front yard
- Residential form and massing as expressed by its one and one-half storey height with hip roof and cutaway front porch
- Main floor nearly one storey above grade
- Hip roof with deep overhang, tongue & groove soffits and exposed rafter tails
- Small, corner front porch with square column and angled braces; capped, square railings and single newel post
- Double-hung wood windows with divided light upper sashes, in original openings and locations
- Shingle-clad exterior throughout with square-edge wood door and window trim - head casing capped with moulding and filet
- Internal brick chimney