Stephens Residence

The Stephens Residence is valued as a part of the Ottawa Gardens subdivision, designed to attract affluent and prominent families to the North Shore of Burrard Inlet. Planning and development was initiated in 1906 by the North Vancouver Land and Improvement Company. Prestige was guaranteed through minimum construction cost standards and restrictions on buildings and landscaping. Ottawa Gardens is now part of a rectilinear system of boulevards and parks known as North Vancouver's "Green Necklace," which also includes Grand Boulevard, Victoria Park and Mahon Park.

This residence is valued for is association with its architects Alexander S.W. MacKay and John W. MacKay. This was one of the first known local commissions for A.S.W. MacKay (born 1878), who is best known for his later partnership with Henry Blackadder (partnership active 1912-1927). This house was designed for Thomas J. Stephens, at the time an employee at the Leckie Shoe Company.

The Stephens Residence is valued for its unusual use of concrete block as both structural and cladding material. These blocks had just become commercially available and were rarely seen in residential applications, although their advantage as a fireproof material was well recognized. The house is also valued architecturally, as an Edwardian home built on a grand scale. Set close to the front of its lot amid other prominent homes in Ottawa Gardens, the house was built on an elevated base supported by a concrete block retaining wall.