Introduction to Kensington-Cedar Cottage

Kensington-Cedar Cottage extends from Fraser to Nanaimo Streets and from Broadway to 41st Avenue. The community is a mixture of two historic neighbourhoods, Cedar Cottage to the south of Trout Lake, and Kensington Heights, to the south of Kingsway.
The area is very special because its residents are a rich variety of nationalities and cultures. They enjoy outstanding city and mountain view, many parks and schools and access to the city's only lake, Trout Lake.

History & Heritage

Kensington-Cedar Cottage combines two historic neighbourhoods: Cedar Cottage, located north of Kingsway to Broadway, between Clark and Knight Streets and Nanaimo Street; and Kensington, located south of Kingsway to 41st Avenue, between Fraser Street and Nanaimo Streets.

The area remained unsettled until 1888 when Arthur Wilson bought 16 hectares of land that cornered on Knight and Westminster Highway (Kingsway) and began the Cedar Cottage Nursery. Within a few years, others bought large plots of land around Trout Lake for farming. The interurban line built to link Vancouver with New Westminster in 1891 opened up the Kensington-Cedar Cottage area, drawing in merchants who opened shops around the tram stop at 18th and Commercial.

In 1894, a bank and two-room schoolhouse opened on 20th Avenue. By 1910, a small but independent village with a post office, 40 stores and a two-storey school, Lord Selkirk had sprung up around the 3500-3600 blocks of Commercial Drive. As the automobile became more popular during the 1910's and 1920's, Kingsway became a major thoroughfare drawing business south and away from the old village centre.

By the beginning of World War 1, Cedar Cottage was no longer rural. Small wooden and stucco houses lined the streets. Workers spent ten hours a day in the factories, either riding the tram to the mills that lined False Creek or walking to one of Cedar Cottage's growing number of industries: Nanaimo Foundry, Bader's Biscuits, Marston's Sash and Door, Tait Pipe and Fletcher's meat, to name a few.

After World War 2, Gladstone High School was built on what was once a dairy farm. The community was also the beneficiary of over $4 million through the federal government's Neighbourhood Improvement Program in the late 1970's. Local citizens working with the City staff brought about a wide variety of improvements to the neighbourhood. This included the city's first storefront library near Kingsway and Knight, the Trout Lake Community Centre, Brewers, Clark and Cedar Cottage Parks and beautification of Commercial Street.

Rapid growth and significant neighbourhood change in the past few decades have left Kensington-Cedar Cottage with a few significant heritage buildings. Exceptions include Sir Alexander Mackenzie School and Lord Selkirk School

Sir Alexander Mackenzie School, at 960 East 39th Avenue, was completed in 1930. The school is one of the earliest surviving examples of the cast-in-place concrete construction method pioneered by architects Townley and Matheson. Lord Selkirk School, at 1750 East 22nd Avenue, was designed by W.T. Whiteway and built in 1908. The building is characterized by a high bellcast hipped roof, extensive use of tall windows, and a round-headed entry arch.

The house at 3845 Dumfries is presumed to have been the Wayside Inn, and is reminder of a time when travelers followed Westminster Road, now Kingsway, from Vancouver to New Westminster. Its simple detailing indicates early, functional building style that did not involve elaborate decoration.