History & Heritage
History
Kensington-Cedar Cottage combines two historic neighbourhoods: Cedar
Cottage, located north of Kingsway to Broadway, between Clark and Knight
Streets and Nanaimo Street; and Kensington, located south of Kingsway
to 41st Avenue, between Fraser and Nanaimo Streets.
The area remained unsettled until 1888 when Arthur Wilson bought 16 hectares
(43 acres) of land that cornered on Knight and Westminster Highway (Kingsway)
and began the Cedar Cottage Nursery. Within a few years, others bought
large tracts of land around Trout Lake for farming. The interurban line
built to link Vancouver with New Westminster in 1891 opened up the Kensington-Cedar
Cottage area, drawing merchants who opened shops around the tram stop
at 18th and Commercial, and more farmers.
In 1894, a bank and a two-room schoolhouse opened on 20th Avenue between
Clark Drive and Inverness Street. By 1910, a small but independent village
with a post office, 40 stores and a two-storey school (Lord Selkirk which
still stands today) had sprung up around the 3500-3600 blocks of Commercial
Drive. However, as the automobile became more popular during the 1910s
and 20s, Kingsway became a major thoroughfare drawing the businesses south,
away from the old village centre.
By the beginning of World War 1, Cedar Cottage was no longer rural. Small
wooden and stucco houses lined the streets. Workers spent ten hours a
day in the factories, either riding the tram to the mills that lined False
Creek or walking to one of Cedar Cottage's growing number of industries:
Nanaimo Foundry, Bader's Biscuits, Marston's Sash and Door, Tait Pipe
and Fletcher's Meats, to name a few.
After World War II, Gladstone High School was built on what once had
been a dairy farm. The community was also the beneficiary of over $4 million
through the federal government's Neighbourhood Improvement Program in
the late 1970s. Local citizens working with City staff brought about a
wide range of improvements to the neighbourhood including: the city's
first storefront library near Kingsway and Knight, the Trout Lake Community
Centre, Brewers, Clark and Cedar Cottage Parks, and beautification of
Commercial Street.
Heritage
 
Lord Selkirk School, East 22nd Ave,
and the Wayside Inn, Dumfries Street
Rapid growth and significant neighbourhood change in the past few decades
have left Kensington-Cedar Cottage with few notable heritage buildings.
Exceptions include Sir Alexander Mackenzie School and Lord Selkirk School.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie School, at 960 East 39th Avenue, was completed
in 1930. The school is one of the earliest surviving examples of the cast-in-place
concrete construction method pioneered by architects Townley and Matheson.
Lord Selkirk School, at 1750 East 22nd Avenue, was designed by W.T. Whiteway
and built in 1908. The building is characterized by a high bellcast hipped
roof, extensive use of tall windows, and a round-headed entry arch.
The house at 3845 Dumfries is reputed to have been the Wayside Inn, and
is a reminder of a time when travelers followed Westminster Road (now
Kingsway), from Vancouver to New Westminster. Its simple detailing is
indicative of an early, functional building style that did not involve
elaborate decoration.
Detailed information on the city's heritage and a complete list of heritage
buildings is available at City
of Vancouver Heritage.
Additional information is available through the City
of Vancouver Archives.
|
