2010 AWARD OF HONOUR
The Boiler House
Victoria Hill, New Westminster
The Onni Group of Companies
Robert Lemon Architect Inc.
Douglas R. Johnson Architect Ltd.
Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architecture Inc.
The Boiler House, located at Victoria Hill in New Westminster, was constructed in 1930 by the provincial Department of Public Works under the supervision of its chief architect, Henry Whittaker, and chief engineer A.L. Swanson.
The Woodlands site represents the long-term evolution of provincial mental health care. Opening in 1878, it operated until 1982. This building was one of five identified for conservation in the 2002 Rezoning Plan that will see the entire site turned into a high density complete community by the Onni Group of Companies.
The original intention of the Boiler House was to provide a reliable source of heat to all the buildings on the site, using what was then an advanced technology. Today it is an amenity space with a fitness centre and a variety of purpose-built rooms that can accommodate everything from quiet study to an animated game of billiards.
The Boiler House was designed in the Art Deco style and consists of cast-in-place reinforced concrete, a circular smokestack with decorative banding, and gothic-inspired quatrefoil inset panels in the centre window bay. The building has a striking fenestration pattern of high vertical punched steel frame windows and a corresponding set of shorter clerestory windows on the main block. The interior featured a large open-span space with concrete and steel supporting elements and exposed concrete walls.
The building was vacant for years and in complete disrepair. Heritage conservation architect Robert Lemon was retained to complete a Heritage Conservation Plan. The distinctive board-formed concrete was repaired where necessary, windows were repaired, and unsympathetic additions were removed. The west elevation was sensitively altered to allow for a new entrance. A garage door on the south was converted to a window opening that replicates the muntin pattern of other windows on the building. The north is mostly covered by a new residential building that takes its design cues from the Boiler House. The interior keeps its industrial feel while at the same time providing spaces that are comfortable and modern.
The fitness room retains the original soaring two-storey height, steel and concrete structural elements, and exposed concrete walls. New elements, including seismic bracing, were left exposed in a manner that clearly distinguishes between old and new.
The remainder of the Boiler House consists of smaller-scaled rooms for friendly gatherings, a theatre with raked seating, a meeting room, and reading room complete with overstuffed chairs and a gas fireplace. The washroom facilities are completely accessible. Every room is filled with luxurious fixtures and furniture that recall the elegance of the Art Deco period. The heritage tree near the building was retained and plants that were fashionable during the Art Deco period were used.
Inside and out, the Boiler House has been rehabilitated into a pleasant and functional space that honours the past and looks forward to the future.
