ABSTRACT
In 1871, British Columbia became part of the Dominion of Canada (founded in 1867) as its sixth province. There was plenty of opportunity to build on large areas of vacant land, and it was colonized by two groups. The first was those directly connected to the British Crown and had wealth and power and were mostly seeking opportunities to extend that wealth and power. They were affiliated with the Hudson Bay Company (HBC), Canada’s oldest corporation, or the Canadian Pacific Railway Corporation (CPR). These two companies played a leading role in the formation of BC and initiated the province’s first permanent buildings. Many splendid houses were built for the companies’ businessmen and executives. The names of BC’s most important cities, Victoria and Vancouver, are reflections of the importance of these two companies: chief factor and colonial governor James Douglas (1803–77) named Victoria after the British queen; general manager of the CPR William van Horne (1843–1915) named Vancouver in 1886 after Captain George Vancouver, the explorer who entered the strait between Vancouver Island and the coast of British Columbia in 1792 as the first representative of the British Crown. 1 The second group of settlers were working-class immigrants, who could not afford to own land in England and therefore migrated to the New World, including Canada. For them Canada, especially its westernmost province, British Columbia, offered the opportunity to settle and start a new life. The two groups were diametrically opposed in terms of class and economics. British Columbia’s early dwelling architecture reflects the vast opportunities given these two groups of settlers.
