Statement of Significance for Miyazaki Heritage House, Lillooet, B.C. orginally published on January 26, 2011, for the District of Lillooet.
Description of Historic Place
The Miyazaki Heritage House is located at 643 Russell Lane, Lillooet, B.C. This piece of property
measures 224’ x 132’ and was donated to the Village of Lillooet effective January 1, 1984.
Miyazaki House was originally named Longford House and built by William Duguid for merchant and civil servant Caspar Phair and family. The date of its construction has not been verified but estimates range between 1878 and 1890.
Longford House was designed in the Second Empire, Mansard style, and said to have been influenced by Eyrecourt Castle in Ireland, the ancestral home of Caspar Phair’s wife, Cerise.
In 1947, Longford House was sold to Dr. Masajiro Miyazaki who originally came to Lillooet as the result of the Japanese Internment during WWII. It became known as Dr. Miyazaki’s House and since its donation to the Village of Lillooet, simply as Miyazaki House.
The Heritage Value of Miyazaki House
Miyazaki House has occupied a prominent place in the center of the town of Lillooet for approximately 125 of the town’s 150-year history.
During the gold rush era, Lillooet was the largest settlement north of San Francisco but by 1877, when Irish immigrant Caspar Phair hiked overland from Yale to accept the position of school teacher, the non-native population of the Lillooet-Clinton area had diminished to just over 400. That same year, Cerise Armit Eyre arrived with her sister to join their mother who was living with her husband at nearby Pavillion.
In 1879, Caspar and Cerise were married and their first son was born one year later. By this time, Caspar Phair was not only the schoolteacher but the Government Agent, Registrar of Marriages, Births and Deaths, Land Registration Officer, Polling Officer, Assessor and Gold Commissioner. Later he took on the positions of Chief Constable, Coroner, Fire Chief, Game Warden, Sherrif, and Stipendiary Magistrate for the Judicial District of Clinton.
At some point in the 1880s, Caspar built a fine home for Cerise and their children modeled after Cerise’s ancestral home in Ireland. They named it Longford House and lived here until their deaths, three months apart, in 1933.
In 1887, Cerise Phair bought a store on Main Street that was the hub of the community and, at any given time, they owned approximately half the townsite.
As Lillooet’s most prominent citizens, the Phairs introduced an element of class and refined living to a wild, pioneer community. They often opened their house to weekend guests, committee meetings, and public functions. Community teas and socials were held on the front lawn along with wedding receptions and birthday parties.
The Phairs also devoted much time and energy to their gardens which consisted of lawns, fruit and nut trees, flower beds, and a huge vegetable patch that extended down to Main Street. In 1935, a root house that is the subject of a community restoration project was built at the west edge of the property.
There were also several other outbuildings on the property but only one of them, a log house that dates prior to 1891, is still standing.
The Phairs’ oldest son, Arthur “Artie” Phair, took over the management of the family store in 1902. Artie continued the family tradition of public service and served as Magistrate and Coroner for the area. He was the Lillooet correspondent for the Vancouver Province and the organist for the Anglican Church but above all, Artie was a prolific photographer who is considered to be one of the seminal landscape photographers of British Columbia. Reproductions of many of his vintage photographs are on permanent display at Miyazaki House.
With the coming of WWII, a new era began for the town of Lillooet and Longford House.
Along with 250 other Japanese Canadian internees from the coast, Dr. Masajiro Miyazaki was sent to Bridge River (now South Shalalth) where, in addition to providing for the medical needs of the evacuees, he was also consulted by members of the local Indian band and B.C. Electric employees.
In 1944, the Lillooet’s only doctor died and the town was left without medical care. Artie Phair met Dr. Miyazaki while at Bridge River taking photographs and he drafted a petition which was sent by the community to the B.C. Security Commission requesting that Dr. Miyazaki be allowed to move to Lillooet and take the position. The application was granted and Artie Phair, who was living at Longford House by himself at this time, invited Dr. Miyazaki and his family to move into the ground floor of the house and set up an office while he moved upstairs.
When the war ended, Dr. Miyazaki and several other Japanese families chose to stay in Lillooet. Artie Phair moved to quarters behind the family store to make more room for the Miyazakis and in 1947, Dr. Miyazaki became the legal owner of Longford House.
Like the Phairs, Dr. Miyazaki was very active in the community. In 1950, he became the first Japanese Canadian to hold public office when he was elected to the Lillooet town council.
In 1951, he formed a committee to raise money to buy the town an ambulance which was later housed in his garage. Dr. Miyazaki served as its dispatcher and often drove it. He also formed the committee to establish the Volunteer Fire Department and was active in the United Church, with the Boy Scouts and kept weather records for the Department of Transport.
Dr. Miyazaki also opened his house and gardens to the community. It was used for church teas, strawberry socials, and for the sale of Boy Scout Christmas trees. He had a constant stream of boarders including many school teachers.
Over the years, Dr. Miyazaki became a much-loved member of the community and was the recipient of many honours. In 1969, he was awarded the Governor General’s Medal of Merit for his work with the Boy Scouts and in 1977, he was presented with the Order of Canada. In turn, Dr. Miyazaki’s affection for the town of Lillooet was evident in his parting gift of his house and property.
In 2005, in recognition of its superior heritage qualities, the newly created Heritage Legacy Fund of British Columbia awarded Miyazaki Heritage House its first grant.
Today, Miyazaki Heritage House and its wonderful story of how goodwill and fellowship overcame injustice and prejudice remains at the heart of Lillooet. It is open to the public during the summer months and the site of Music at Miyazaki, a popular Friday night concert series in the garden gazebo which was added by the District of Lillooet in the early 1990s. The public are also welcome to harvest from its fruit trees and otherwise enjoy its beautifully landscaped setting.
Character Defining Elements of the Miyazaki Heritage House
- Massing and Style
a. Built in the Second Empire Style which was popular for finer homes across Canada
during the 1880s.
b. Prevalent features of this style are evident in the mansard roof articulated by dormers,
also with mansard roofs, a feature that the B.C. Heritage Conservation Branch describes
as “possibly unique.”
c. Attached porch is the focus of ornamental attention – scrolled brackets at the post
supports, shaped fascia beams, and a pierced balustrade.
d. Mansard roof maximizes the second-floor space which tends to present the house as
two stories rather than a story-and-a-half which it really is.
e. The two rear additions to the house are discernable as different and later constructions
to the main house but do not detract from its heritage qualities. - Façade Elements
a. The house’s most striking feature is its Mansard Roof form with bell-cast eaves and four
mansard-roofed dormers.
b. Etched glass panes survive in the muntined upper light, which are similar in character to
the original etched glass panes in the front door sidelights.
c. Exterior window casings with scrolled aprons are original and in good condition.
d. Shutters appear to be reconstructions but do impart the character of the originals.
e. Shutters were not originally installed on the upper story windows but added at a later
date.
f. Although subject to insensitive alteration to create a storm entry, the original front
entry door and sidelights of etched glass in an abstract geometric flower motif also used
in the transom glass have been restored.
g. Attention to decorative art features is typical of higher-quality Victorian homes.
h. The rear door is fitted with an ‘Eastlake Style’ latch similar in character to interior door
hinges. A number of small panes of etched glass also survive in the muntined upper light
in this door. - Cladding/Trim
a. Frieze board below the eaves characteristic of this era and style is intact as are the
original drop siding and corner boards. - Interior Features
a. Original interior trim of house has survived and is characteristic of this style and period.
This includes robust moulded interior window casing with pronounced ear blocks and a
large moulded apron.
b. Original interior door casings are similar to the window casings and have a high moulded
base block.
c. Original main floor rooms have generously proportioned picture moulding and a high
base board with a moulded upper edge.
d. Wood interior panel doors have retained their attractive Eastlake-style hinges.
e. Principle interior feature is central open stair with large turned fir newel post, turned
balusters, and large moulded hand rail.
f. Entry hall is panelled on the wall and ceiling with four-inch cedar tongue and groove
boarding.
g. House has original fir wood flooring throughout.
h. Dr. Miyazaki’s office has been left intact as he left it with the exception of removal of
medical records and is one of the house’s prime heritage resources.
i. Notable features of the second floor include the glazed transom over the two doors
opening into the central stair hall and the wood tongue & groove V groove ceiling
panelling throughout. Walls are constructed of rough-sawn boards covered with a
number of layers of wall paper. - Root House
a. One of the principle heritage structures on the site is a root house, located on the west
edge of the site and constructed into the rear slope.
b. Rear and side walls are constructed from rubble masonry, apparently utilizing placer
mining tailing stones similar to the ones that remain in a large pile at the upper rear of
the site.
c. Front wall, roof ridge beam and roof construction is of hewn logs.
d. Front wall is notable for its insulating window, an interior single glazed muntined
window set three feet behind the exterior window providing for an insulating dead air
space.
e. Entry is sloped down to an interior door in the same plane as the interior window.
f. Shallow gable roof form is carried on an 8” x 8” hewn log ridge beam, which is blocked
up on the rear masonry wall and supported on timber wall framing at the front of the
root house.
g. A central 8” x 8” post was added subsequent to the original construction to help support
the roof, possibly quite early judging from the rudimentary nailed post-to-beam
construction.
h. Subsequent to a restoration engineer’s report in 2003, the roof of the root cellar has
now collapsed and the structure is the subject of an active community restoration
project. - Log Cabin
a. A one room log cabin evidently dating prior to 1861 and likely the original building on
the property exists to the rear of the site close to the east lot boundary.
b. A shed addition of an obviously later date has been removed and replaced with an
exposed wood frame porch roof and open porch.
c. Door and window frames appear to be original.
d. Some remaining evidence of blue-green lime paint on the interior of the cabin surface.
e. Due to inappropriate public use of this structure, the windows and doorway have been
fitted with bars. - Trees
a. Significant trees on the site include a large mature Siberian Elm on the west side of the
yard, a walnut near to the log cabin and remnant orchard trees at the east edge of the
property and to the rear and west of the house.
b. A mature vine is located at the east side of the front porch. - Rock Work
a. A large placer tailing pile to the upper rear of the property side of generally round river
stone has apparently been the source of much of the retaining wall, stone masonry and
planter edging on the site.
b. Extensive use of this material lends a sense of cohesion to the landscaping of this
property.
c. The tailing pile has much site presence in itself and serves to blend the history and
rugged physical geography of the area into an otherwise conventional English country
garden setting.
Additional Information: In accordance with the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Registry Evaluation Methodology, the ranking for Miyazaki Heritage House is A.
Note: photos have been added that were not in the original document.