Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1895–1896Armoury530 Queen / 6th Street
Photo: Dennis Sylvester Hurd · CC02historic places on the registers
History of New Westminster · Canada’s heritage registers
The registers record 2 historic places in New Westminster
The record has a Recognized Federal Heritage Building and a provincial or municipal listing. The earliest construction date, 1895, belongs to Armoury. Wikidata dates the municipality to 1865, which may be its founding, its incorporation or a later merger. New Westminster has 0.2 for every 10,000 people, a higher rate than 71% of Canadian towns.
Historic places
2
0.2 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
0
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Other federal designations
1
Recognized buildings, railway stations, lighthouses
Provincial and local listings
1
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1895
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
19%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Heritage New Westminster
The photo shows Holy Trinity Cathedral, one of New Westminster’s designated places.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Through time
New Westminster, 1859 to 1940
Here in time order: 10 old photographs of the town. A tap on any picture opens it with its credit.
1859
c. 1885
1898
c. 1905
c. 1906
c. 1910
1913
c. 1925
c. 1937
1940sPublic domain or CC0, made before 1950, from Wikimedia Commons; old views of places can be drawings, prints or maps of their time. Each credit opens the image’s page.
The map
Where New Westminster’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Provincial and local listings
Each dot is a place: point at it for the name, tap it for its page.
The 2, by tier
1 Other federal designations1 Provincial and local listings
Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists the places the Government of Canada has recognized; outside Québec, provincial and municipal listings come only through Wikidata, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there. One place, placed by its register’s municipality, has no point and isn’t on the map.
Other federal designations
One other place Canada recognizes in New Westminster
Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Each one opens its own page.
Provincial and local listings
One local listing in New Westminster
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Each one opens its own page.
LocalListed in a community heritage register · 1902Holy Trinity CathedralPhoto: sageb1 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Around the town
New Westminster’s area holds 15 top-tier places within 25 km
They stand in 14 towns, Yaletown, Granville Entertainment District and Strathcona among them. The earliest date is Vancouver's Chinatown’s, 1880, 15 km away. Hastings Park in Hastings-Sunrise is the nearest, 12 km away.
The 12 nearest, within 25 km
| Hastings ParkProvincially Recognized Heritage Site · 1888 · 12 km away, in Hastings-Sunrise |
| Bloedel ConservatoryListed in a community heritage register · 1969 · 15 km away, in Riley Park |
| Canadian National Railways / VIA Rail Station, Vancouver, British ColumbiaHeritage Railway Station · 1917–1918 · 15 km away, in Strathcona |
| Kuomintang BuildingHeritage designation · 15 km away, in Strathcona |
| Vancouver Japanese Language SchoolNational Historic Site · 1928–1929 · 15 km away, in Strathcona |
| Vancouver's ChinatownNational Historic Site · 1880–2003 · 15 km away, in Strathcona |
| Ovaltine CafeListed in a community heritage register · 1912 · 15 km away, in Strathcona |
| Carnegie Community CentreHeritage designation · 15 km away, in Yaletown |
| Pantages TheatreListed in a community heritage register · 1907 · 16 km away, in Yaletown |
| Sam Kee BuildingHeritage designation · 1913 · 16 km away, in Yaletown |
| Hotel EuropeHeritage designation · 1909 · 16 km away, in Yaletown |
| Sun TowerHeritage designation · 1912 · 16 km away, in Yaletown |
Homes by age
A growing town: 11% of New Westminster’s homes went up from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
The busiest building years in New Westminster were from 1981 to 2000, which account for 27% of today’s homes. 21% of New Westminster’s homes date from 2001 to 2015, well above the typical 15%. Before 1961: 19% of New Westminster’s homes, near the usual 18%.
19%
Before 1961
22%
1961–80
27%
1981–2000
21%
2001–15
11%
2016–21
New WestminsterTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Born here
14 people born in New Westminster before 1914
6 Wikipedias cover Josephine Crease, the most of anyone here. The federal list of national historic persons names Richard McBride. Longest lived was Dudley C. Carter, 101 years in all (1992). It starts with Josephine Crease, born in 1864.
Josephine Crease
Ernest Miller
Owen Forrester Browne
Richard McBride
Joseph Douglas Hunter
Marie Victoria Williams
Dudley C. Carter
Frederick Hume
George Leonard Trapp
A. R. McCabe
William J. Bain
William Kaye Lamb
Sheila Watson
John Keefer Mahony
18501875190019251950
Josephine Crease1864–1947 · Canadian painter
RM
Richard McBride1870–1917 · National historic person, 1938 · Canadian politician
WB
William J. Bain1896–1985 · American architect
SW
Sheila Watson1909–1998 · Canadian writer
Ernest Miller1869–1924 · Canadian politician
DC
Dudley C. Carter1891–1992 · Artist and woodcarver in the Pacific Northwest
GT
George Leonard Trapp1894–1917 · Canadian flying ace
AM
A. R. McCabe1896–1985 · American politician
Everyone born in New Westminster → Born before 1914. Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against Wikipedia; national historic persons from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, matched by name and life years.
Neighbours
New Westminster and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Westminster | 92,124 | 2 | 0 | 1895 |
| East Burnaby | 17,233 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Edmonds | 34,805 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Bridgeview | 3,511 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Buckingham Heights | 8,794 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Brownsville | 23,515 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Royal Oak | 18,364 | 0 | 0 | — |
In brief
New Westminster in brief
Housing in New Westminster includes 19% built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. The count is 2 historic places. Its people of the past include Josephine Crease (1864), Richard McBride (1870) and William J. Bain (1896). Otherwise the figures are ordinary: 2 historic places is about usual for its size (the median is 3); and its designation dates from 1987.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Protection. Federal recognition isn’t a planning control: buildings the federal government owns follow its heritage policy, while others are protected only by a provincial or municipal designation.
- The tiers. Three tiers: the top for National Historic Sites, classified federal buildings and Québec’s classements, a second for the other federal designations, a third for provincial and municipal listings.
- Provincial and municipal lists. Only Wikidata gives open access to listings on provincial and municipal registers outside Québec; without an article such a place is counted but not paged.
- The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
- People and events. Parks Canada’s open file gives its national historic persons no place. A town’s page names one only when the person was born there (matched by name and both life years) or one of its own historic places carries the name and its record speaks of them; national historic events stay off.
- Map points. Where a federal place sits on the map is Wikidata’s placing; the directory itself has no coordinates.
- The federal register. Every federal designation is in Parks Canada’s directory, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places gives most of them a bilingual statement of significance.
Questions about New Westminster’s history
How many historic places does New Westminster have on the registers?
The registers list 2 historic places inside New Westminster.
What is the oldest building in New Westminster?
Armoury — its record dates it to 1895 (Recognized Federal Heritage Building).
Why might a heritage building in New Westminster be missing here?
Provincial and municipal registers outside Québec aren’t open data. Wikidata knows 20 more listings in New Westminster, but without an open description or an encyclopedia article they get no page.
How old are the homes in New Westminster?
Before 1961: 19% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).