Although traditionally in Queen’s Park many corner lots housed grand residences, this is not the case with this New Westminster home. The character of this corner of Oak and Fifth and its immediate streetscape is of one-and-a-half storey cottages of various styles and eras, all of modest size. This presented a significant challenge – how do we build to the allowable square footage while respecting the relatively low-height, modest scale character of the block. The English Cottage style was chosen to solve this challenge. It is a style that has historic precedence in Queen’s Park from the 1920s to the 1940s. Careful consideration was made when considering the shape and massing of this building. Researching the surrounding areas, there were both grand and modest scaled homes, but the homes in the immediate surrounding
were modest story and a half homes. The proposed building is a contemporary take on the English Cottage style in that its windows are simpler than the historic version which were often arched windows and incorporated leaded glass and divided lights.
