Uncovering Burnaby: The sushi restaurant in a heritage home on Kingsway

If you’ve driven down Kingsway, you’ve most definitely spotted the sushi restaurant located in a larger 1900s-style home.

So what’s the story behind the heritage house?

The building has a long-standing history in Burnaby and is known as the Andy Johnson House.

It was built in 1912 by early Vancouver pioneer, Andrew M Johnson and his wife Margaret, who lived there with their family.

Johnson was born in Norway and arrived in Vancouver in 1886 and became a partner in the Mainland Transfer Company, which quickly grew to become the biggest transportation company in the city. As Johnson’s success grew, he began expanding his business ventures.

In 1910, he bought the Royal Oak Hotel in Burnaby located at Kingsway and Royal Oak. He went on to purchase the property sitting at the opposite corner of the hotel, and that would be the lot where he would build his extravagant family home, which was referred to as ‘Glenedward.’

At the time, the home cost over $35,000 to build (equivalent to almost $900,000 today) and with all that money spent on construction costs, Glenedward was one of the grandest homes in the city.

It was an Arts and Crafts design, which was a popular architectural style during the early 1900s. Arts and Crafts were usually constructed from real wood, stone and brick and had several key design features including exposed beams, prominent posts, and low-pitched roofs.

Glenedward was impeccably constructed with detail and care. According to Heritage Burnaby, the granite blocks used for the home were sourced from two boulders found on the property that derived from glacial activity. There were beautiful accents of stained glass windows, and oak and walnut finishes added warm touches that were true to the Arts and Crafts construction style.

Johnson died in the home in 1934 and Margaret lived there until 1943. A man named Charles Aitchison bought the Glenedward and remodelled it into the Royal Oak Funeral Home, which remained in operation until 1981.

That year, the City of Burnaby approved a heritage land title for the property and the home was relocated closer to the corner of Royal Oak and Kingsway to make room for a new development. A city council report from 1980 noted that it cost about $40,000 to move the building and its address was changed to 5152 Kingsway.

According to Heritage Burnaby, the funeral home was then converted into the Johnson House Korean Restuarant. It is now home to Oyama Sushi Restaurant.

There have been some comments on online forums that paranormal occurrences occur in the building due to its funeral home past, but no spooky events appear to be widely documented.

However, if you’re looking for another story about a haunted mansion in Burnaby, we recommend you check out the history of the Fairacres Mansion.

Have you visited the heritage-home-turned-restaurant? Want us to dig into the history of other Burnaby landmarks or buildings? Let us know here.