Work that’s underway at Irving House will go a long way toward making it a one-of-a-kind home in British Columbia.
Irving House is closed until April 27 so its entrance and upper hall can be restored to the late Victorian period – revealing papers not seen since the mid-20th century. The home, located at 302 Royal Ave., will reopen at noon on April 28.
Rob McCullough, the city’s manager of museums and heritage services, said Irving House is the city’s first protected building and the oldest intact home in mainland B.C.
“This alone is noteworthy as not many buildings exist from our province’s earliest days. Notwithstanding, it is extremely rare, if not unheard of, to find the original finishes intact in a home of this age,” he said. “For nearly 100 years, the same family lived in the house, and these finishes offer a window into their lives as well as the lives of the city’s first residents.”
While working with conservator Simone Vogel-Horridge in 2008, museum staff found original papers from 1897 to 1903 in the entrance and upper hallway of the house. These included a three-piece set consisting of a wallpaper, an 18-inch frieze (a sheet of paper that lies horizontally at the top of the wall and acts as a transition between the wallpaper and the ceiling) and a ceiling paper.
Last year, the city had these “stunning papers” meticulously redrawn and colour-matched to the home’s original palette. They were then printed in England and shipped to New Westminster for installation at Irving House.
As a complement to the papers, the hallway cornice work and entrance ceiling medallion will also be painted to match the original colour scheme.
According to the city, the work is part of an ongoing multi-year project to stabilize and restore Irving House to its original appearance at the turn of the 20th century. Since 2011, Irving House has received a new fire and electrical system and a state-of-the-art geothermal heating and cooling system. The exterior of the house has also been repaired and repainted to match the original circa-1900 colour scheme.
Vogel-Horridge returned to Irving House last fall to clean and restore the rare and original gilded 1887 wallpapers in the house’s small parlour and is returning this month to do similar conservation work in the large parlour. All work will be completed in time for the annual Mother’s Day teas and heritage homes tour at the end of May.
McCullough said Irving House has undergone many changes through its history, with each one representing the social status of the family and the products available to them.
“The physical stature of the house also offers us an enhanced understanding of the broader socioeconomic trends at play in New Westminster during the late 19th and early 20th century. This is apparent in its original Gothic Revival architecture as well as the introduction of rich French-style finishes when New Westminster was experiencing rapid expansion and economic growth following the arrival of the CPR,” he said. “When the restoration work of Irving House is complete, there will be no other example like it in British Columbia.”
