Description of Historic Place

The Fintry Octagonal Dairy Barn is a distinctive barn of octagonal shape set amidst a collection of conventionally gable-roofed barns and farm outbuildings near the point where Shorts Creek emerges from the hillside in Fintry Provincial Park near Kelowna, British Columbia. It is part of a complex of related buildings and structures known locally as the Fintry Estate.

Heritage Value

The Fintry Octagonal Dairy Barn is culturally and aesthetically significant as a uniquely-designed farm structure. It is also important for its close association with James Cameron Dun-Waters, who developed the farm on the Fintry Estate between 1909 and 1939 and built this barn to house his prize herd of Ayrshire cows.

The barn is important because it exemplifies the singular nature of the Fintry Estate in its isolated location, and helps convey the idiosyncratic character of the estate as a whole. Along with the stone Manor House, the complicated and expensive Octagonal Dairy Barn structure is a key remaining example of the considerable financial resources that Dun-Waters directed to the development of the isolated farm estate in the service of his vision, which combined practical requirements, farm industrial theory and aesthetics. The barn, the Manor House, and Burnside (a second substantial house built by Dun-Waters at the mouth of Shorts Creek to house the estate manager) were all designed by Dun-Waters' university friend, fellow immigrant to Canada, and architect John James Honeyman, who was a partner in the early provincial architectural firm Honeyman and Curtis.

The dairy barn, including its south extension, is significant for its form, unusual in the Canadian West but specified by Dun-Waters for the efficient milking and penning of cows, and for the efficient collection of animal waste. It is also important for its practical siting near road and water, and for its powerful presence at the prominent apex of the Shorts Creek delta.

The Octagonal Dairy Barn is important for its very good physical condition, and for its continued care and promotion through the efforts of the Friends of Fintry Provincial Park Society with the help of provincial government funding. Its recreational value lies primarily in its historical interpretation and as a stop on the site's self-guided tour.

Source: Ministry of Environment, BC Parks

Character-Defining Elements

Key character-defining elements of the Fintry Octagonal Dairy Barn include:

Site:
-location at the apex of the Shorts Creek delta
-backdrop of forested hillside
-foreground of open pasture land
-situation amongst a cluster of other traditionally-roofed farm structures

Building:
-octagonal plan and roof structure
-octagonal monitor with vents
-gabled subordinate south extension with open walls
-centrally-located milking stations
-red and white colour scheme
-board and batten siding
-wood windows
-wood lattice vents