Description of Historic Place

The Lillian Hoffar Western Red Cedar is a mature multi-stemmed cedar tree located within Lillian Hoffar Park, a 1.61 hectare municipal waterfront park situated on Tsehum Harbour in North Saanich. Affixed to the tree trunk are commemorative plaques dedicated to the former property owners.

Heritage Value

The Western Red Cedar at Lillian Hoffar Park is valued for its association with and commemoration of the Hoffar family, who willed the surrounding land to the District of North Saanich in 1978. Henry Stonestreet Hoffar, a well-known boat builder, inventor, and engineer, retired to the site in 1943 with his wife Lillian Alice Hoffar, a naturalist who cared for the birds in the surrounding Shoal Harbour Bird Sanctuary. After Lillian’s death in 1971, Henry willed part of his property to the District of North Saanich, with a life tenancy to his daughter, celebrated Vancouver artist Irene Hoffar Reid, whose works are featured in the collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. After Henry's death, Irene moved to the property with her daughter, Catherine Campbell, and her son-in-law, Hugh Campbell. Hugh operated Henry’s boatbuilding shop (‘Winard Wood’) on the property, which was deeded to the District of North Saanich after Irene’s death in 1994. Commemorative plaques attached to the tree trunk are tangible reminders of the Hoffar family's association with the place. The tree was designated as a heritage site by the District of North Saanich in 2005.

The Western Red Cedar at Lillian Hoffar Park is further valued as a good example of the type of tree that dominated the peninsula's natural landscape in pre-European times, and is significant as part of a cultural landscape.

Source: District of North Saanich, Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Western Red Cedar at Lillian Hoffar Park include its:
- location at the north end of Lillian Hoffar Park, on the shore of Tsehum Harbour, overlooking the harbour and Haro Strait
- association with surrounding mature coniferous and deciduous trees
- association with nearby remains of the Hoffar residency, including shoreline concrete retaining wall, breakwater, boat house foundation, remnant garden beds and rough-cut rock wall surrounds, extant introduced fruit tree and perennial plants, and boat launch/marine ways
- commemorative plaques mounted on the tree trunk