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Holbrook
Block
660
Columbia Street, New Westminster, British Columbia
Other
Name(s)
Windjammer Hotel
Statement
of Significance
Description
of Historic Place
The
Holbrook Block is a three-storey masonry hotel, with arched
window hoods and a projecting cornice. The upper floors retain
their late Victorian-era appearance, while the ground level
storefront has been restored to its 1940 Streamline Moderne
appearance. It is located on the south side of Columbia Street,
the main commercial street in New Westminster's historic downtown
core.
Heritage
Value
The
Holbrook Block is valued for its continued use as a saloon and
hotel since 1899. Additionally, the Holbrook Block is significant
for its contribution to the consistent and distinctive built
form of Columbia Street, which dates from 1898 to 1913, when
New Westminster was the major centre of commerce and industry
for the booming Fraser Valley area. In the 1880s, Henry Holbrook
constructed a brick and stone block facing Columbia Street and
the wooden Holbrook Hotel facing Front Street. Both structures
were destroyed by the Great Fire in 1898. The following year
the Holbrook Estate, managed by local businessman and then Mayor
Thomas Ovens, financed this $20,000 brick replacement, dubbed
the Holbrook House.
The Holbrook Block is also significant for its late Victorian-era
architecture, and displays modest Victorian Italianate styling
on the upper floors, reflected in its segmented arch window
hoods, connected by a continuous horizontal band. The storefront
was renovated in 1939-1940, and its Streamline Moderne appearance
was recently restored including replica neon signage.
The Holbrook Block is valued for its architectural associations.
George William Grant (1852-1925), the original architect, designed
many of the buildings in downtown New Westminster before and
after the Great Fire. Gardiner and Mercer, one of the more enduring
and prolific architectural partnerships in the province, were
responsible for the 1913 renovation that added a third storey
to the structure. Architects Watson and Blackadder designed
the storefront renovation in 1939-1940.
Source: Heritage Planning Files, City of New Westminster
Character-Defining Elements
Key
elements that define the heritage character of the Holbrook
Block include its:
- continuous use as a hotel and saloon since its time of construction
- mid-block location on Columbia Street, part of a grouping
of late Victorian and Edwardian era commercial buildings in
historic downtown New Westminster
- siting on the property lines, with no setbacks
- boxy, symmetrical form, three-storey plus lower level height,
flat roof and cubic massing.
- front facade elements, such as: segmented arch window hoods
connected by a wide, horizontal band at the second and third
stories; continuous horizontal window sills; continuous vertical
pilaster on second and third stories on the western side; discontinuous
vertical pilaster on the eastern side, cribbed to party wall
with the Paramount Theatre;
- masonry construction, including brick cladding and segmental
arched openings on the front and rear facades, and common red
brick side walls
- fenestration, including double-hung 1-over-1 wooden-sash windows
on the front and rear facades
- reconstructed Streamline Moderne storefront with arched window
openings and neon signage
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