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Online Heritage Inventory

Wakita Grocery

General Information
Thumbnail photograph of Wakita Grocery
Click to see full image
Type of Resource: Building
Common Name: Marine Grocery
Address: 3680 Moncton Street
Neighbourhood (Planning Area Name): Steveston
Construction Date: 1927
Current Owner: Private
Designated: No

Statement of Significance
Description of Site
The Wakita Grocery store is part of a row of commercial buildings along Moncton Street in downtown Steveston. All of the buildings are of a similar age and scale, and present a continuous façade of small retail shops flush to the sidewalk.

 Statement of Values
Moncton Street is an almost-continuous façade of simple, wood frame, false front style commercial buildings. The Wakita Grocery is part of this façade, and is of a similar scale, oriented and built flush to the street, emphasizing the flow of pedestrian traffic which would have occurred early in the century along Steveston’s main street. This pattern of commercial development characterized Steveston in the early part of the twentieth century, as the area boomed in population and economic wealth from farming and fishing. The Wakita Grocery is significant as part of this early and continuing historic pattern, a rare one in the city of Richmond and as a symbol of the efforts to rebuild Steveston after the waterfront fire of 1918.

 Character Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the site include:
· The building’s front gable roof and the false front typical of many of Steveston’s commercial buildings constructed early in the century, and its typical rectangular building from behind
· The height, scale and massing of the building typical of the streetscape
· Its orientation and relationship to Moncton Street
· Its presence as part of the historical development form of the street which creates a diverse, articulated edge and a sense of enclosure, and its contribution to the liveliness and diversity of the area.

 History
The Wakita Grocery store is part of a row of commercial buildings along Moncton Street in downtown Steveston. All of the buildings are of a similar age and scale, and present a continuous façade of small retail shops flush to the sidewalk.

 Architectural Significance
Architectural Style
Commercial Building or Boomtown

 Building Type
Commercial - Retail

 Design Features
This building is rectangular in plan with a front gable roof and the false front typical of many of Steveston’s commercial buildings. The building foundation is post and partial concrete. The roof is asphalt shingle, which looks quite new. Earlier documentation describes the cladding as asphalt over drop siding; the front façade still has this brick patterned asphalt, but the sides of the exterior and the false front are now vinyl siding. Some of the windows are wooden sash; those at the front are aluminum plate glass, obviously new. The skirt roof across the front façade is a recent addition, and consists of corrugated sheet metal. A backlit sign has replaced the old wooden Marine Grocery sign on the false front.

 Construction Method
Wood frame construction.

 Landscape Significance
(No information available)

 Integrity
Alterations
The cladding on the building is now a mix of materials: There is tile on the front façade, horizontal wood clapboard on the east side, and asphalt shingle on the west side. The storefront windows have possibly been changed. The alterations to this building are considered recognizable and therefore reversible.

 Original Location
Yes

 Condition
The building appears to be in relatively good condition

 Lost
No

 Documentation
Evaluated By
Denise Cook BLA, PBD (Public History)

 Date
Sunday, September 24, 2000

 Documentation
Inventory Sheets by Foundation Group Designs, January 1990
“Heritage Inventory Phase II” by Foundation Group Designs May 1989

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