Viewing Object

Object Description

Object ID

2019.015.006

Title

Lamb/Stirling House in Murrayville during renovations.

Date

26 Apr. 1997.

Description

Colour slide of the Lamb/Stirling house in Murrayville, as it was undergoing renovations in 1997. The house is a small white building with a covered front porch. There are wooden boards leaning against the inside of the porch on the right. There is one window at the top of the building, a front door below it, and two windows on each side of the door; the window on the right of the door is a bay window. There is a field behind the house, with houses beyond the field in the background. There is a small wooden shed to the right of the house, and some shrubs in front of the house. There is a yellow sign in front of the house just to the left that reads "Building Restoration Project/ Murrayville Park" and includes artistic renderings of the Lamb-Stirling House and the Harrower House (which was also being restored and sits across from the Lamb/Stirling house).

People/Subject

Lamb/Stirling House

The Lamb/Stirling residence is located at 21864 Old Yale Road, but was originally on 48th Avenue before being relocated and restored by the Langley Heritage Society. This house was built for David Lamb between 1908 and 1910. Lamb had lived in Vancouver before the fire of 1886 and was one of the first people to vote in Vancouver's elections. In 1889 he moved to a farm in Murrayville, and later had this house built. In 1922 the property was sold to the Stirling family. The family operated a cattle farm here until 1960, but owned the house until 1990. The house became a Municipally Designated Heritage Site in the mid 1990s.
Term Source: Langley's Heritage, p.69

Murrayville (B.C.)

Paul Murray was born in Ireland in 1811 and immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of eighteen. the Murray family settled in Oxford County, Ontario, and ten years later Paul married Lucy Bruce. They bought land in Zorra and had seven children together. In May 1874, after his children were grown, Paul left Ontario and relocated in B.C., accompanied by three of his sons. Their first home in Langley was a roughly built shelter they made for themselves from a gigantic fir tree, and after his wife and two of hisdaughters arrived, they all lived there together. After these humble beginnings, Murray opened a hotel on Old Yale Road to service travelers making their way into the interior, building up a reputation as one of the finest carpenters in the area. The corner where the hotel was eventually came to be known as Murray's Corners, as the family had 160 acres of land on each corner. Murray's Corners eventually came to be known as Murrayville, and all of Paul's sons worked on Old Yale Road, building more hotels and other businesses to increase commerce. Paul was an ordained church elder, dring a time when there were no official churches and services were held in a small schoolhouse on the corner of Glover Road and Old Yale Road. Holding the title of founder of Murrayville, Paul Murray died in 1903. Murray's Corners did not officially become Murrayville until 1911, when the local post office changed its name to Murrayville Post Office.

Argus v4.3.6.40 - Langley Centennial Museum