Building, Rebuilding and Re-using – Fernie’s Commercial Buildings

Fernie has seen many fires, however the two that have had the most impact are the April 29th, 1904 fire which consumed six blocks of the commercial district on Victoria Avenue and resulted in the incorporation of the then Company Town into a full fledged self governing city and the Great Fire of August 1st 1908 in which small bush fire south of Fernie whipped up by, cyclone force winds in the span of 90 minutes almost completely destroyed all but a few buildings in Fernie

The fall of 1908 was a period of intense activity with relief kitchens and tent cities to feed and shelter our citizens. Within hours businesses began setting up tents and erecting temporary wooden structures in order to get back into business. The August 14th edition of the Fernie Free Press stated that the shoe dealer “W.F. Muirhead is the first business to open a stock after the fire.” He was followed shortly thereafter by many more. After everyone was safely housed in their temporary quarters construction on permanent buildings began in earnest. Some were completed before the end of 1908, but most were completed in 1909 and in some cases 1910.

The design of Fernie’s new commercial buildings reflected the needs of the businesses that were to occupy them. Eleven hotels were constructed in the years after 1908 and of those that have survived to this day all but one – the Waldorf Hotel - still function in this roll. As the Waldorf Hotel (today’s Morgan Manor), it provided dining, drinking and accommodations to more “respectable” travellers. The hotel endured hard economic times until it finally closed in 1959. Ten years later, a furniture and appliance store moved into the first floor of the neglected and vacant building. The first floor has since been divided into three retail properties, while the upper floors have been renovated into upscale condominiums.

On the other end of the scale Fernie had four buildings purpose built as banks of which three are still standing and none of them are banks. The Brick House Bar and Grill now occupies the Imperial Bank of Canada building constructed in 1909. It operated as a bank for 54 years until 1963 after a merger with the Canadian Bank of Commerce. The Brick House Today The Toronto Dominion Bank briefly established a branch in this building and successive law practices used the building until recently after extensive renovations the Brick House moved in. On the other end of the scale is the Bank of Hamilton building. The Bank of Hamilton opened a branch in Fernie in May, 1905, capitalizing on the rapid growth of the city at the time. In September, 1908, the Bank of Hamilton paid $7000 to A.C. Liphardt & Co. for the lot on the corner of Cox St. and Victoria Ave., with plans to erect a new building. Construction began in 1909, and the bank opened in its new quarters in late January, 1910. Articles in the District Ledger indicate that the Bank moved out in August of 1913. As an aside after a merger with the Canadian Bank of Commerce by the end of 1923, the Bank of Hamilton ceased to exist. Today the Fernie Tea and Coffee House are located in the building. The original Commerce Bank was replaced in 1972 and the soon to be new home of the Museum – the BC Hydro building was originally the Home Bank of Canada’s building. The bank failed in 1923.

The buildings erected in the years after the Great Fire of 1908 that stand today do so for a reason ; either they can still effectively function for the purposes they were built or they can be adapted to new uses. It is these buildings that make Fernie the special place it is today.