Cuthead Warden Cabin

Sitting within the landscape in a small open glade surrounded by dense spruce forest, the Cuthead Warden Cabin is a small, simple, gable-roofed, one-room log structure. It is painted red-brown with white windows and trim. The off-centre main entrance door is tucked away under the gabled porch roof and has a verandah. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

The Cuthead Warden Cabin is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value

The Cuthead Warden Cabin is a useful example of the transportation and communications network within park boundaries. The cabin is one of a network of cabins built to house wardens patrolling the park on horseback in the summer or on snowshoes or skis in the winter.

Architectural Value

The Cuthead Warden Cabin is a very good example of a standard Number 3-Type one-room overnight patrol cabin that is simple in design and rustic in character, with picturesque qualities. This type, reflects the aesthetic favored by National Parks in the west during the early mid-20th century. Its value also resides in the textures of its locally gathered construction materials. At the time of its construction, it was felt to set a new standard to which all other warden cabins should be built.

The Environmental Value

With its shed and corral, Cuthead Warden Cabin is an important and distinctive local landmark within a sparsely populated locality. The historic relationship of the Cabin to its surrounding landscape has remained unchanged and the cabin integrates harmoniously into, and reinforces the park’s wilderness character in its mountain park setting.

Source: Cuthead Warden Cabin , Banff National Park, Banff, Alberta, Heritage Character Statement, 96-025.

The following character-defining elements of Cuthead Warden Cabin should be respected.

Its standard Number 3-Type design with rustic character, quality craftsmanship and materials such as:

- its simple rectangular plan and massing, with a low-pitched roof, gabled ends and a sheltered off-centered entrance porch with verandah;

- its round log wood construction with saddle-notched corners and rough rubble-stone walls;

- its finial detail at the apex of the entrance gable roof;

- its six-lite windows and the wood plank door;

- its paint scheme of dark brown and white, which is a traditional feature of warden cabins.

The manner in which Cuthead Warden Cabin reinforces the present character of its mountain park setting in Banff National Park.