Description of Historic Place

The Bodega Hotel is located on the eastern side of the first block of Washington Street, north of the intersection with Columbia Avenue, in Rossland, British Columbia. It is a two-storey wooden building constructed prior to 1898 in a false-front style common to that era. It has a narrow frontage and extends deep into the lot with a 15' by 60' footprint.

Heritage Value

Originally used as a hotel and saloon, the Bodega Hotel has historical and architectural value.

Washington and Columbia Streets define Rossland's historic and current downtown core, and the first block of Washington Street containing the Bogeda Hotel is the densest block of turn-of-the century commercial buildings remaining in Rossland, due to the huge fires of 1927 and 1929 that destroyed many buildings along Columbia Avenue. With its wood construction and Western style of architecture, the Bodega Hotel is representative of the smaller hotels that were abundant in the downtown area of Rossland during the gold mining boom town days of the late 1890s and very early 1900s. According to an 1898 Licence Inspector's Report to the City, it contained the prerequisite bar room, "nicely fixed up," 31 bedrooms and one water closet, "dirty."

After the gold mining days ended, the Bodega Hotel was used for a variety of business enterprises such as a restaurant, an ice cream parlor and a public library. Since 1983, the building has been the home of the Rossland Light Opera Players. A plaque identifies it as one of Rossland's significant historic buildings.

Source: City of Rossland, Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key character-defining elements of the Bodega Hotel include:

- Location on Washington Street in downtown Rossland
- Western false-front style of architecture
- Wood construction
- Original exterior features such as Western-style false front, set-back doorway entrance, transom windows above entrance door, cargo doors, large display window, roofline, cornice trim, and lower wall cladding
- Original interior features such as remaining elements of original floor plan, mouldings, tin bar-room ceiling, original staircase to second floor, beadboard wainscoting, transom windows above second-floor doors, original support beams in basement, and coal chute