Heritage Interpretation Plaques & Signs

Interpreting Burnaby's history on the spot

Burnaby's Community Heritage Commission introduced interpretive signs and plaques on the sites of historic buildings and structures to provide on-site information to visitors who are looking at the historic feature.

Plaque and sign project

The program began in 1993 when a series of traditional bronze plaques and cairns were installed along the route of Burnaby's historic 1891 Central Park interurban tramline–now the SkyTrain Expo Line.

Just before 2000, the program switched to full graphic and colour interpretive panels to better tell the story.

In 2002, the Heritage on the Heights project saw the addition of seven heritage interpretive signs celebrating the history of Hastings St.

Since then the commission has partnered with local groups like the Heights Trail Partnership to interpret the history along the Trans Canada Trail and the Burnaby Historical Society to provide interpretive plaques to the designated heritage buildings of Deer Lake Park.

See for yourself

In order to make heritage information more widely accessible, the interpretation plaques and signs have been reproduced here on Burnaby's website. To fully appreciate these historic sites and heritage buildings though, we recommend you visit Burnaby's trails, parks and neighbourhoods. They're organized in groups according to zones around the City:

Click on the link to see the images and/or write-ups for each sign or plaque.

Contact us

Planning General Inquiries

Related links

Burnaby Village Museum

Spread across 4 hectares (10 acres) in Deer Lake Park, Burnaby Village Museum is where history comes to life–with exhibits and programs representing Burnaby, with emphasis on the 1920s.

Heritage Planning Program

The Heritage Planning Program is guided by the Community Heritage Commission, whose mandate includes administration and stewardship of civic-owned heritage sites, and initiating civic programs and projects that support heritage conservation as approved by council.

Heritage Burnaby

Heritage Burnaby is an online collaboration, spearheaded by the Community Heritage Commission that represents all of the community assets, heritage services and historic collections managed by the City of Burnaby.

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