Description du lieu patrimonial

The Tudor Inn is a two-storey, Streamline Moderne roadhouse, situated just 100 metres north of the Douglas Border Crossing in South Surrey, B.C. The design is characterized by a flat roof, stucco cladding, horizontal and curved detailing, rounded front two-storey bay, rounded one-storey side extension, and original Men's and Ladies & Escorts entries with projecting semicircular canopies.

Valeur patrimoniale

Constructed in 1938, the Tudor Inn is significant as a rare surviving example of a 1930s beer parlour and as an early example of a 'roadhouse', catering to automobile travellers. The building, designed for hotelier Leo Palitti by architects Watson & Blackadder, is also valued for its Streamline Moderne architecture.

Prohibition had ended in British Columbia in 1921, but the liquor licensing laws remained a patchwork with inconsistent enforcement. The hotel industry had a stranglehold on licenses, and the provincial government controlled sales. By April 1925, the first beer parlour licenses were issued and from 1927 to 1964, beer parlours in British Columbia were required by law to provide a separate entrance for men and another for women with escorts. Surrey had opposed the granting of liquor licenses in the mid-1930s, and when the Tudor Inn opened in 1938 it was the only licensed establishment in the municipality.

Its intact form, built with hotel accommodations upstairs, and double entries, represent this unique period in time when traditional conventions, upended by the turmoil and aftermath of the First World War, were in a state of flux and were responding to changing social, technological and economic conditions. Built to service travellers, the Tudor Inn appealed to those from neighbouring municipalities who arrived to visit South Surrey's beaches; its position just north of the international border crossing also attracted visiting Americans. During the interwar era, a new highway network was being developed that connected the United States and Canada, with the opening of the Pacific Highway in 1922 that provided a direct link to the United States, the completion of the Patullo Bridge in 1937, and arterial roads through the Fraser Valley that were being built as make-work projects during the Depression years. Privately-owned automobiles became much more prevalent, and the idea of recreational road trips caught the imagination of the public. Tourists were looking to 'hit the road,' and required services and refreshments along the way, leading to the development of roadside facilities such as the Tudor Inn.

The Tudor Inn was designed by architects Watson & Blackadder for noted hotelier Leo Palitti, and operated by his son Victor. The building is a superior and somewhat rare example of the Streamline Moderne style, billed as an 'ultra-modern refreshment Parlour' when it opened on November 19, 1938. There is a striking simplicity evident in the smooth modernistic planes, with streamlined banding panels between upper floor window openings, rounded end bays and semicircular entry canopies that convey an exciting sense of modernity. The Streamline Moderne style was closely related to the concept of technological progress, especially as it applied to industry and commerce, and was widely adopted as a favoured style for commercial and industrial buildings. The massing was generally symmetrical, and employed smooth rounded surfaces and minimal horizontal detailing. The commercial expression of Streamline Moderne culminated in the buildings of the 1939 New York World's Fair, but the hiatus in building activity during the Second World War effectively ended the influence of the style, although it paved the way for the wide-spread acceptance of Modernism during the postwar era. Architects Watson & Blackadder were briefly in business with one another but also had significant careers in their own practices; the Tudor Inn remains an excellent surviving example of the work produced during their partnership.

Éléments caractéristiques

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

- location, just west of Pacific Highway, in close proximity to Douglas Border Crossing in South Surrey;
- continuing commercial use as a roadhouse;
- commercial form, scale and massing, as exemplified by its two-storey height, flat roof, generally rectangular massing with asymmetrical curved extensions, and two ground floor entries;
- construction materials, including stucco cladding and wood trim;
- elements of the Streamline Moderne style, including: emphasis on volume, cubic massing and planar expression; smooth stucco cladding, including original texture at two main entries; overall horizontal detailing including wooden trim and panels; rounded one-storey bay to south; rounded two-storey corner bay on northeast corner; inset entries with curved fin walls and semicircular projecting metal-edged canopies;
- original fenestration, including inset panels of 15 centimeter-square ribbed glass blocks and original window openings;
- original wooden entry doors with glazed insets at north entry; and
- original ceiling light at north entry.