A charming cottage and a stately Victorian mansion are among the 11 homes featured on the 2023 New Westminster Heritage Homes Tour.
This year’s tour gives folks a chance to tour the interiors of 11 houses – including many that have never been part of the tour. They’ll also be able to visit the city-owned Irving House, a perennial favorite of tour-goers.
“Venues include a grand Moody Park Edwardian home once home to a longtime city councillor, a stately Victorian-era Queen Anne styled mansion in Queen’s Park, a fascinating Brow of the Hill home whose first owner is referenced in a Wikipedia entry, a charming cottage awarded the Heritage Shield in 2011 for its exterior restoration work, two orphaned cottages rescued and relocated to a new home safe from demolition under the watchful eyes of the Davidson House (218 Queens Ave.) and an amazing uptown transformation of a 1902 home,” states a news release about this year’s event. “There’s also a beautifully renovated Queens Avenue house designed by G.W. Grant, a Hamilton Street favourite extensively restored and repaired, and an updated iconic St. Patrick house.”
Catherine Hutson, a director with Heritage New West, said the group started the year uncertain if it would be hosting a tour in 2023.
“Our search for homes began a little later than usual, but once we started we were pleasantly surprised by the positive response,” she said in an email to the Record. “What was going to be a smaller, boutique tour has become a 12-venue event.”
The New Westminster Heritage Preservation Society, which is currently transitioning to become Heritage New West, organizes the popular tour.
With homes large and small participating in this year’s event, organizers are confident the group's 41st New Westminster Heritage Homes Tour will have something for everyone. This year’s tour is on Sunday, May 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“This tour is a charmingly eclectic event, with many next-generation heritage enthusiasts eager to share their love of home,” sad a Heritage New West press release. “This tour also highlights the positive outcomes of HRAs, where heritage and density can mesh to save houses and promote more affordable housing options.”
The 1892 Thomas and Rosalind Figg-Hoblyn House on Oxford Street in the Brow of the Hill neighbourhood was part of a heritage revitalization agreement. The formally protected heritage home was retained on the rear section of the lot near Oxford Street and townhomes were built on the part of the property near Third Avenue.
A Queen’s Park home that was part of a heritage revitalization agreement is also featured on this year’s tour.
Through an HRA, the owner of the 1910 Herbert Davidson home on Queens Avenue was able to relocate two other homes to the Manitoba Street-facing part of his 22,617-square-foot property. The 1909 John and Eleanor Sandick House (previously located at 217 St. Patrick St.) and the 1911 John and Ruth Herbert House (previously located in Vancouver) were relocated to the property and restored.
Tickets for this year’s homes tour are $45 and are available online at newwestheritage.org or in person at Royal City Colours (700 12th St. – cash only). If you buy your ticket online, you can bring a digital or print receipt of your ticket purchase to Royal City Colours to pick up your ticket guidebook – it’s your map and passport to all the homes on tour.
Theresa McManus
