Photo: City of Courtenay, 2009
- Construction
- 1938
- Reconnaissance
- 2009
- Par
- Administrations locales (C.-B.)
Le texte du répertoire, mot pour mot
Description
The Old House Restaurant is an eclectic wooden-clad, two-storey gabled-roof building situated on its original lot at 1760 Riverside Lane. The house overlooks the Courtenay River and includes landscaping, which features gardens, mature trees, shrubbery, and a gazebo.
Valeur patrimoniale
The significance of the Old House Restaurant lies in its aesthetic and historical values, particularly for its architecture, setting, landscaping, and its association with the Kirk Family.
The Old House Restaurant is valued as an eclectic example of Arts and Crafts architecture in Courtenay built during the city’s first post-war expansion. The house features locally-produced wood construction with masonry detailing. Constructed in 1938 as a residence for the Kirk family and converted to a restaurant in 1975, the restaurant is built in an attractive cottage style, and is prominently situated overlooking the Courtenay River.
Additionally, the Old House Restaurant is valued for its magnificent setting overlooking the Courtenay River and its outstanding landscaping which features several gardens, species of mature trees including weeping willow, spruce and oak, shrubbery, and a decorative cedar-shingled gazebo that is sympathetically designed to match the architectural character of the restaurant.
The historic value of the Old House Restaurant lies in its association with the Kirk Family, the original occupants of the building and prominent members of the community. Geoff Kirk operated a highly successful oil business from the dock of his riverfront property, while Kath Kirk initiated the ‘Mile of Flowers’ campaign in 1969, now a renowned annual event in Courtenay, which draws over a thousand volunteers to plant flowers along the mile-long Cliffe Avenue corridor.
SourceCity of Courtenay Planning Department
Éléments caractéristiques
Key elements which define the heritage character of Old House Restaurant include its:
Site and Setting
- prominent setting adjacent to the Courtenay River
Architectural Features
- residential form, scale and massing, expressed by its two-storey plus basement height, and rectangular plan
- medium-pitched gable ends with central front dormer
- substantial exposed interior timber frame
- paired projecting bays on the front façade
- elements that reflect the buildings Arts and Crafts style, including wood-shingle siding and roof, projecting eaves with exposed rafters, grouped windows, and shed roofs over windows on the rear façade
- evidence of masonry influences, including: multiple brick internal and external chimneys, brick facing at the rear facade, and brick walkway
Landscape Features
- extensive gardens, featuring several mature species of trees, including oak, spruce and willow, shrubbery and a wood-shingled gazebo
- evidence of pilings in the Courtenay River that reflect the historic uses of the property
Fin du texte du répertoire
Emplacement
49.68437° N, 124.98807° W
Itinéraire (s’ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)L’inscription au répertoire ne rend pas un lieu accessible au public. Beaucoup sont des résidences ou des commerces privés; admirez-les depuis la rue.
Chargement de la carte…
À proximité
Les 22 lieux de Courtenay
Lieux semblables
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Tiré du Répertoire canadien des lieux patrimoniaux, dans sa dernière mise à jour du 12 décembre 2025. Le texte du répertoire est reproduit mot pour mot.