Burnaby Art Gallery

Burnaby Art Gallery sits inside Ceperley House, a grand Edwardian mansion tucked into the gardens on the north shore of Deer Lake. The building shares the same leafy grounds as Burnaby Village Museum and the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, making this corner of Burnaby one of the city’s most concentrated pockets of culture and green space.

Unlike a purpose built museum, the gallery occupies a genuine century old home, so wandering through its rooms means taking in original woodwork, tile work, and architectural details alongside the artwork on the walls. It is a rare combination of heritage architecture and contemporary curation in one stop.

The mansion was built in 1911 for Henry and Grace Ceperley, who named their new home Fairacres. Designed by architect R.P.S. Twizell in the Edwardian Arts and Crafts style, the house featured handcrafted woodwork, tile fireplaces, and river rock detailing that were considered exceptional for the era.

After passing through several owners, including a period as a monastery and later a university fraternity house, the City of Burnaby purchased the property in the 1960s. The Burnaby Art Society began exhibiting work there in 1967, and the City formally took over management of the gallery, its collection, and its programming in 1998. A restoration project brought the building back to its original 1911 appearance, and it remains one of the finest surviving examples of Edwardian architecture in the region.