Description of Historic Place

Wolverine Cabin is a rustic style, simple, one-room cabin with a gabled roof extending over the entrance on log purlins to shelter the wooden porch. Centered on the front gabled-end is the entrance door. It is located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, adjacent to a glacier fed mountain stream and surrounded by a forest filled with spruce and white bark pine at an elevation of 7,100 feet in a clearing on the Banks of Little Pipestone Creek at Skoki Lodge in Banff National Park. It was constructed during the management tenure of well known Banff artists and philanthropists who sponsored the 1932 expansion, Peter and Catherine Whyte, and was one of the earlier two structures built to provide additional accommodation very shortly after construction of the main building. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

Wolverine Cabin is a Classified Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical Value
Wolverine Cabin is a very good illustration of the national theme of recreation and tourism and its development in Canada's National Parks. As a component of the first such facility to operate on a commercial basis in Canada, Wolverine Cabin, as part of the facility, was built specifically to cater to the growing number of ski-tourists shortly after the construction of the main lodge in Banff National Park and represents the pioneering phase of skiing as a major recreational activity in North America. The lodge remains a major destination point within the park and Wolverine Cabin continues to accommodate park visitors from all over the world.

Architectural Value
Wolverine Cabin is a very good example of the rustic design tradition in Canadian National Parks and winter resort construction. It serves as an example of an original traditional log design and construction using local materials and workmanship long associated with the Banff region.

Environmental Value
Wolverine Cabin's picturesque mountain setting, layout of the buildings and their relationship to each other, historic trails, footpaths and unspoiled setting reinforce its historical relationship to the site. It remains on its original site directly east of the main building along with four other guest cabins arranged in a semi-circle around the centrally placed main building. It maintains its original physical and functional relationship to the other buildings, the site and its natural surroundings. Wolverine Cabin along with the other buildings acts as a visual landmark for tourists in the park and is a well known skiing and hiking destination for travelers. Access to the site is restricted to traditional methods of transportation thus maintaining its original remote wilderness quality.

Sources:
Kate Macfarlane, Skoki Ski Lodge, Banff National Park, Alberta. Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Building Report 96-105.

Wolverine Cabin, Skoki Ski Lodge, Banff National Park, Alberta. Heritage Character Statement 96-105.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character defining elements of Wolverine Cabin should be respected:

Its rustic aesthetic and traditional log design construction as manifested in:
- Its simple and plain massing as a single-room gable-roofed cabin.
- The roof extended on log purlins over the entrance sheltering the wooden porch.
- Wood as the predominant construction material with locally hewn spruce logs as the bulk of construction material.
- The walls of unscribed horizontal log construction with saddle-notched corners.
- The patina of weathered wood.
- Its wood shingles cladding the roof.
- Entrance door centered on the front gabled end.
- A single multi-paned window centered on both sides and back elevation.
- Multi-paned windows, the plank door and the tongue-and-groove floorboards constructed of milled lumber components.
- Its simple interior layout.
- Its wooden porch and rustic porch swing.

The manner in which the Wolverine Cabin reinforces the picturesque character of the mountain park setting.