Curtis-Armstrong Block

The Curtis-Armstrong Block is significant for its contribution to the consistent and distinctive built form of Columbia Street, which dates from 1898 to 1913, when New Westminster was the major centre of commerce and industry for the booming Fraser Valley area. The Curtis-Armstrong Block was originally part of a larger structure of three stores that was built after the Great Fire of 1898 for David S. Curtis and Joseph Charles Armstrong. The Knights of Pythias Hall occupied the top floor until 1908, when it was replaced by the New Westminster Conservative Club. The eastern half of the building was destroyed by fire in 1968, and the remaining section was modernized with a stucco cladding that conceals the original second floor facade. The brick-clad rear facade of the building retains its original appearance, including a corbelled cornice and arched doorway.

The Curtis-Armstrong Block is valued for its association with its architect George William Grant (1852-1925), a prolific architect, who designed many of the buildings in downtown New Westminster before and after the Great Fire. He redesigned and restored buildings that survived, and designed replacement blocks for those that were destroyed, much reduced in scale and opulence from the pre-fire buildings.