Knoll House

The Knoll House is a weathered, hand-hewn square-timbered structure located on Chilanko Creek near Chilanko Forks in the Cariboo Region of British Columbia. The building consists of a single-storey sod-roofed section with a two-storey gambrel-roofed (barn-style) addition, connected by a covered walkway. The historic place consists of the building on its footprint only.

The Knoll House is valued as a rare example of early Norwegian settlement in the Chilcotin. Norwegian settlement helped establish rural ranching in the region; today rural ranching is a vital part of the economy. Built entirely from locally obtained materials, this historic ranch house is valued as an example of the independent, resourceful rural character of early settlers in the central Chilcotin plateau. The Knoll House is valued for its use for many years as the home and ranch headquarters of the prominent ranching Knoll family.

The hand-hewn timbers and locking dovetailed corner construction are valued as examples of skilled turn-of-the-century European craftsmanship. The adze-hewn beams and the Norwegian saddle-notched corners in the original section are valued as rare examples of early Norwegian craftsmanship.

The Knoll House is also valued as one of the last remaining structures built by the first non-aboriginal settlers in the Chilcotin in the late nineteenth century. The original single-storey section was built by Mr. and Mrs. Ole Nygard. They arrived with a group of Norwegians who settled in Hagensborg in 1894, fleeing the recession in the eastern United States. The Nygards raised cattle at Chilanko Forks, but went back to the Bella Coola valley in 1914 after selling to Arthur Knoll.

The addition, built by the Knoll family, is valued for its evidence of the evolution of the building footprint in response to the needs of the growing family.

Source: Cariboo Regional District

Key character-defining elements of Knoll House include:

- original sod roof on the single-storey section

- hand-hewn squared timbers and locking dovetail corners

- original section, hand-crafted by adze, (evident from the perfectly square smooth timbers)

- two-storey standing cement chimney

- hand-crafted staircase

- cedar-shaked gambrel roof on the addition

- Norwegian saddle-notched corners