Booth House

Booth House is a single storey wood frame house built in 1939 located on a large parcel of land on the east side of North Fraser Drive in West Quesnel, BC. The historic place includes the building and the parcel of land it occupies.

Booth House has historic value for its association with the people who shaped the development Quesnel. The house was built in 1939 and is located in West Quesnel which developed as a rural community with small houses and family farms. West and North Quesnel were linked by a single-lane bridge across the Fraser River since 1929 that led to the amalgamation of the communities into one city in 1958.

The house is named for Ralph and Joan Booth. Ralph owned and operated Booth Brothers Sawmill with his brother Payton. They lived in this house for many years.

The house was also owned by William Couldwell Jr. who arrived in Quesnel with his pioneering parents in 1912. Since William had previously completed his schooling in England, he went to work for J. A. Fraser's General Store on Front Street at the age of thirteen until his father got a job in Fort George, BC where they relocated to. When the Couldwell family later returned to Quesnel, William went to work at Marion's Store performing general duties such as baling furs for shipment. In 1915 William worked at Northern Crown Bank which was located in a lean-to at Marion's Store. When the bank merged with the Royal Bank in 1918, William was transferred to other branches in the province. He returned to Quesnel in 1933. The Couldwell family is recognized for their contribution to the development of the community with streets named in their honour.

The character-defining elements of Booth House include its:

- siting on a large lot along the Fraser River in a clearing at the forest edge;

- single storey wood frame dwelling typical in the size of the houses built in Quesnel in the 1930s;

- gable roof with a cross gable, two entrances on the south elevation, one of which is a portico, and a sense of warmth and tranquility on this busy street.