Description of Historic Place

Mount Assiniboine Lodge is a collection of log-constructed buildings set in the spectacular wilderness of Mount Assiniboine Park in the Rocky Mountains in the southeastern part of British Columbia. The historic place includes the Lodge, six Naiset cabins (named after adjacent Naiset Peak), and the local trail system.

Heritage Value

Mount Assiniboine Lodge is valued for its historical, recreational and aesthetic values as a rustic Canadian Pacific-built Lodge located amidst spectacular wilderness.

The Lodge is historically important for its connection to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. After completing the rail line that linked British Columbia to eastern Canada in 1885, the company actively promoted scenic tourism to Western Canada and developed rustic bungalow camps to provide more affordable accommodation to an expanded audience of tourists.

The Lodge has recreational value as the first backcountry ski lodge in the Canadian Rockies, built at a time when wilderness areas were being opened up for backcountry and wilderness recreation. From its earliest times the Lodge has had an association with the Alpine Club of Canada and the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides and with mountaineering pioneers such as A. O. Wheeler, Erling Strom and Hans Gmoser.

The Lodge is valued for its remoteness and limited access due to the mountain terrain. Its remote location allows it to retain its original character, and reflects the historical and current challenges of early skiers, hikers and mountaineers in their search for alpine adventure. The Lodge and its unique group of associated heritage structures have continued in their traditional use and configuration since the late 1920s.

As a centre of backcountry recreation in the Rockies, the Lodge is valued for the casual social life and loyalty of its guests throughout its history. It is highly valued by first-time and repeat visitors as a place of meaning, beauty and as a nostalgic representation of a particular way of life in the mountains. The Lodge is used to its maximum capacity and easily sustains its level of use, evoking the long and passionate history of skiing and mountaineering in British Columbia.

The Lodge, cabins and natural surroundings have great aesthetic value. Similar to other Canadian Pacific wilderness hotels, the Lodge is built in the rustic style in a prominent, picturesque location. It stands on a bench overlooking Lake Magog, with a full view of Mount Assiniboine. The simple massing, log construction, gable roof and rustic interior put the Lodge in harmony with its history and its surroundings, as do the Naiset huts, simple log cabins designed to a 1918 BC Parks standard plan and located along the footpath leading down to the lake.

Source: Ministry of Environment, BC Parks

Character-Defining Elements

Key character-defining elements of Mount Assiniboine Lodge include:

Site:
-prominent location of the Lodge and cabins
-trail networks connecting the Lodge, cabins, Lake Magog, alpine and other areas of the park
-cabins with design based on a BC Parks standard plan
-physical relationship of Lodge, cabins, trails and lake
-view of Lake Magog, Mount Assiniboine and glacier

Buildings:
-original 1928 Lodge structure and 1950s addition
-log columns and cross-beam on the original portion of the Lodge
-peeled-log saddle-notched construction
-gable roof with overhangs
-horizontal log structure
-wood-framed windows
-Naiset huts located along an adjacent pathway
-log interior walls and wood ceiling with massive beams
-wood floors
-arrangement of rooms that reflect a purpose-built lodge
-rustic details such as the stone corner fireplace
-memorabilia and equipment related to famous mountaineers
-idiosyncratic details such as the paintings on the interior doors dating from the 1960s