The heritage value of the BC Electic building is associated with the development of regional commuter and freight transportation, and the increasing importance of New Westminster as a transportation and distribution hub in the Lower Mainland. It was built at the time that the BC Electric Railway Company was extending its interurban system east to Chilliwack, to serve the fledgling agricultural communities and forest industries of the Fraser Valley. The "Market", "Milk", "Mail" and "Owl" trains provided rail links between the metropolitan areas and the upper valley, facilitating rapid development in the sparsely settled lands to the east. The Fraser Valley line opened on 6 Nov 1910, and established patterns of settlement that, despite the line's closure in 1950, are still evident today. This landmark building was designed in 1909, and constructed in 1910-1911, including offices and the dispatch centre for the interurban system. The design allowed interurban cars to pass through the building diagonally to connect the Front Street and Columbia Street rail tracks though a large opening on Eighth Street. Its location opposite the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) station integrated local, regional, and national transportation systems. Additionally, the BCER Company building is significant for its contribution to the consistent and distinctive form of Columbia and Front Street buildings, which dates from 1898 to 1913, when New Westminster was the major centre of commerce and industry for the booming Fraser Valley area. Further heritage value lies in the building's architecture, designed by the prominent Vancouver-based architectural firm Maclure and Fox, the partnership of Samuel Maclure (1860-1929) and Cecil Croker Fox (1879-1916) who were best known for their numerous prestigious residential projects. It is a rare example of one of their commercial commissions, designed at the height of their success and influence. The long, horizontal massing, emphasized by banks of windows and stone banding, was a successful resolution of a challenging program that integrated different uses, retail, commercial, and industrial, within one structure - Date? Photographers?  * See this news story.