No. 1 Road Pumpstation

The No. 1 Road Pumpstation is significant because it is representative of Richmond's historic drainage system, it is symbolic of the City's relationship to the Fraser River, and it is a visual demonstration of the evolution of the technology employed to drain the land.

The building reflects the necessity, since the first settlers arrived on Lulu Island, to dyke and drain the land to make it suitable for habitation and cultivation. Historically, drainage channels were directed to the edges of the islands where floodboxes were installed to regulate water flow. These floodboxes were located at regular intervals at the ends of channels which followed the original survey grid, and later, the pattern of roads. The pumpstations that dot Richmond's landscape are a visual and technological reminder of the historic efforts taken to systematically dyke and drain the land, first individually and by hand in the late nineteenth century, and then in a more controlled fashion by Richmond's two dyking commissions using motorized dredges after 1905.

The pumpstations show patterns of human interaction with the land and act as familiar visual beacons. They also demonstrate the engineering aspects of the system by making the pumps, pipes and other equipment visible.