PORT MOODY — Under the cloak of darkness as most Port Moody residents are sleeping, a move is being planned for Saturday morning.

And when people wake up that morning, they’ll likely notice something fairly large missing from the property on 2714 Clarke St.

The city is moving the old Centennial/Appleyard House to its new location at 126 Kyle St.

Though moving an entire house isn’t exactly a groundbreaking feat, it still does require a fair amount of planning and proper execution.

Prepping for the move will begin at 7 p.m. Friday night, with the actual move starting at midnight.

It’s expected to take about six hours to move the house less than a kilometre down the street to its new location.

For anyone who wants to witness the witching hour shift, the route will see the house move south down Moody Street, west along St. Johns Street, then left up Kyle Street.

James Chandler, the project’s manager, noted the city is moving the house at night to minimize traffic impacts.

The house is rigged to move in one section with the help of specialized lifting equipment and trucks to facilitate the move.

The city noted some structural supporting might be required inside and out to ensure stability during the move, adding utility companies will be on site to temporarily relocate or move service lines.

If power needs to be temporarily disconnected, affected households should expect to receive a notice from B.C. Hydro 24 hours prior to the outage, while residents can also expect a minor amount of noise.

“I don’t think it’s anything out of the ordinary,” Chandler said of the effort to move the heritage home.

The move also involves five different companies and more than 20 people, including city staff, Shaw, Telus, B.C. Hydro, Cobra and Pridy Brothers, the company with the contract to move the house.

The move is expected to cost $41,000.

The house won’t be in its permanent foundation, as the city is just beginning the process to determine the eventual final plan for the house.

The short-term plan for the house is for it to be used as a second building for the Port Moody Arts Centre Society.

Crews will also be at the old property Saturday tidying up the site for its new tenants.

In May, the provincial government agreed to give the heritage house back to the City of Port Moody, which in turn agreed to move the house to make way for the construction of the Evergreen Line.

Centennial House is an Edwardian-style building dating back to 1910 and was formerly known as the Appleyard Residence. The house is also valued for its association with Frederick Appleyard, who later acquired it. Appleyard worked in the lumber industry and served on Port Moody city council in 1917.