An old house, that has significant heritage value in Delta, is on the move, but only next door.
Following a public hearing on Jan. 24, council granted preliminary approval for a Heritage Revitalization Agreement and development permit involving the Olaf Stokkeland Residence in 11000-block of River Road.
The rezoning and subdivision application would see the 17,644-square-foot lot in North Delta, which contains the heritage house and a shed, split into two.
A new house would be constructed on one lot and the heritage house would be relocated from its current location to the new second lot, with a new in-ground basement and a secondary suite added to the structure.
The shed would be retained in its current location.
Constructed in 1913, the Olaf Stakkeland Residence is listed on both the Delta Rural Heritage Inventory and the Delta Heritage Register.
The one-and-a-half storey, wood-frame house facing River Road was originally owned by Olaf Pedersen Stokkeland (1883 to 1957).
The Norwegian-born Stakkeland immigrated to British Columbia in 1907, where he took up employment as a shipwright. The following year, he married Serianna Larsen (1883 to 1951) and they lived in the house for the remainder of their lives.
A report to council states the house is a significant heritage resource in the historic settlement of Annieville. The house is an excellent example of a wood-frame arts and crafts style residence, built at a time when Scandinavian immigrants settled in certain communities of Delta as a result of the booming agricultural and fishing industries in early 1900s.
Delta at the time was home to a leading salmon fishing community that was second only to Steveston for local canning capacity.
“There were two local settlements in the North Delta area, both started by Scandinavian fishing families. The community of Annieville was a small settlement that sprang up around the original Brownsville cannery. Sunbury was originally used by as an aboriginal summer camp. It was later called Little Norway after the turn-of-the-century settlers, and prior to the First World War a large group of Japanese fishers also settled here,” the report explains.
The application to move and restore the old house still requires final council approval.
