Heritage Inventory:  No.
Heritage Designation:  No.
Why Endangered:  Lack of awareness.  Undesignated.  Alterations to property.

The unknown, unlisted, and undesignated.  There are a number of buildings in New Westminster that would make good candidates for heritage status – if only that was known about them.  124 McInnes is listed in the Canadian Inventory of Historic Buildings compiled in the 1970s, but not in the New Westminster Heritage Inventory. 

Houses like that at 1906 River Drive (built 1908) are begging to be well researched and entered onto the inventory, as are others off the heritage mainstream – in this case, being a stone’s throw from that other stream, the Fraser River. The Smither House is a prime candidate for demonstrating the need for improved assessment of the heritage resources on the West side of the city, and for demonstrating that not all important heritage resources have been officially recognized. 

Arriving in BC in 1877, Alfred Smither built his house at the crest of the hill, a prime spot, near the New Westminster Gas Company, where he was Secretary-Treasurer.  He was elected to represent Ward 1 in the ward system of the day in 1890 and 1891 and later served as the Clerk for the Municipality of Burnaby. 

The grand Victorian home has been dramatically altered into apartments.  Split sash windows and chimneys have been removed, and vinyl cladding and other alterations have been made.  Some original plasterwork remains in the interior, along with the striking views from the hilltop property. 

This house was built circa 1886, making it one of the oldest in the city, and among the very oldest homes surviving on the west side.