BCER LANGLEY SUBSTATION
NAME/ADDRESS: BCER Langley Substation, 6835 256 Street, Langley
HISTORIC NAME: Coghlan Substation
NEIGHBOURHOOD: Northeast Langley
ORIGINAL OWNER: British Columbia Electric Railway
ARCHITECT: Henry Barton Watson
BUILDER: T.R. Nickson & Company
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1910
Description of the Historic Place
The British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) Langley Substation is a landmark four-storey industrial building located along the former BCER tracks in Northeast Langley. Designed in an imposing, symmetrical Classical Revival style, the building is characterized by its flat roofs, triangular front pediment and circular paired windows below a projecting cornice.
Heritage Value of the Historic Place
The BCER Langley Substation is significant for its association with the early development of Langley, which developed as a cohesive community due to the establishment of the BCER railway lines that serviced the Fraser Valley and connected the municipalities of the Lower Mainland. The arrival of the BCER had a significant impact on the growth and development of Langley, previously a quiet, agricultural area with sporadic settlements. The BCER facilitated the movement of people and freight, allowing settlement of previously remote land and connections to the important markets of New Westminster and Vancouver. The announcement of the impending construction of the BCER resulted in a land rush, in anticipation of where train stops would be built. The BCER Langley Substation was originally known as Coghlan Station, named after two BCER employees, brothers Henry and Nathaniel Coghlan. They cut over 20,000 ties for the company during is construction through the Fraser Valley, and their name was adopted for the railway stop adjacent to this landmark Substation, as well as for the settlement that subsequently grew up nearby. This is one of the last structures that marks the location of Coghlan.
The BCER Langley Substation retains its relationship to the former BCER tracks that served the Interurban line between New Westminster and Chilliwack. This monumental power station was built to boost the power to the interurban trains at the halfway point on the long stretch between Cloverdale and Clayburn; it supplied 600 volts of direct current to the trains via a system of poles and wires strung along the line. It was one of five similar substations, which served Cloverdale, Langley, Clayburn, Sumas and Chilliwack. Each substation included living quarters for two operators and their families, which were located in the wings to each side. These substations were also part of the BCER’s plans to market electricity to the surrounding areas; beginning in 1910, this particular station supplied power to Langley, Milner and Fort Langley.
The BCER Langley Substation is additionally valued for Classical Revival architecture. The use of such an imposing design for an otherwise utilitarian industrial structure was highly unusual. During the Edwardian era, the Classical Revival was favoured for public and institutional buildings, and its use on these industrial landmarks illustrates the BCER’s pride in the monumental achievement of this major transportation artery. Designed to exude a sense of grandeur, the Substation recalls the massing of a Renaissance palazzi, and features details such as circular windows, projecting cornices and a triangular pediment. This unique building also illustrates an imposing and progressive response to the introduction of new technology, and is a very early local use of reinforced concrete as both a structural and cladding material. The architect of the five substations was English-born Henry Barton Watson (1869-1946) who achieved prominence in British Columbia during the great Edwardian-era boom years. Some of Watson’s other extant works in Vancouver include the Banff Apartments (1909) on West Georgia Street and the Queen Alexandra School (1908) on East Broadway, which are also large-scale masonry structures.
Character-Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the BCER Langley Substation are its:
• location adjacent to the historic BCER tracks in Northeast Langley;
• industrial form, scale, and massing as expressed by its four storey symmetrical plan with flat roofs, and flanking two storey wings with closed concrete balustrades;
• masonry construction, including concrete structural frame and walls, parged surfaces and brick rear wall;
• Classical Revival details such as: flat roof with projecting cornice and central triangular pediment; tripartite front façade with projecting central bay with name block reading “LANGLEY SUBSTATION” and engaged square columns and capitals, which project above the roofline; its inscribed name below the roofline reading “BRITISH COLUMBIA ELECTRIC RAILWAY COY”; and projecting, horizontal sills and cornices; and
• original rectangular window openings on the main facades, recessed arched window openings on the rear façade, and original circular six-paned wooden-sash windows.
RESEARCH SUMMARY SHEET: BCER LANGLEY SUBSTATION
CIVIC ADDRESS: 6835 256 Street
LEGAL ADDRESS: Plan 1440 Lot 11 NE ¼ Sec 14 TWP 11
HISTORIC NAME: BCER Langley Substation
ORIGINAL OWNER: British Columbia Electric Railway
CONSTRUCTION DATE: 1910
ARCHITECT: Henry Barton Watson
BUILDER: T.R. Nickson & Company