Description of Historic Place

The Lightning Hotel is an 1870s style road house, built with "Butt and Pass" log construction. The historic place includes the building and its lot. It is located in the old gold mining community of Stanley, 2km off Highway 26, "The Barkerville Highway", 70 km East of Quesnel, B.C.

Heritage Value

The Lightning Hotel, also known as the Stanley Hotel, has historic and aesthetic value for its connection to the gold rush era and its road-house style design.

The building has historic value for its connection to the Cariboo Gold Rush and Cariboo Waggon Road. The history of the Lightning Hotel goes back to the original Cariboo Gold Rush when in 1873, the first proprietor William Houseman, known as the Duke of York, renamed his Yorkville Saloon "The Lightning Hotel". It is the last building standing in what was the gold rush town of Stanley. The present Lightning Hotel dates back to the era of stage coach service (pre-automobile) and is the last remaining building from the La Fontaine/Eleven of England Mine. It is also valued for its location on the original Cariboo Waggon Road.

The Lightning Hotel has aesthetic value for its road-house style design and "butt and pass" log construction. The road-house style design is significant for being reminiscent of the Cariboo Waggon Road and gold rush era. It is also valued for being built with logs squared on three sides as it is the only known building in the area that was built with logs milled in this fashion.

SOURCE: Cariboo Regional District- Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

The elements that define the character of the Lightning Hotel include its:

-"Butt and Pass" log construction, which is entirely pinned together with wood dowels
-logs squared on three sides
-Road-house style of structure complete with "coach door", above front door
-Original interior wall cladding
-Original stair case
-Remaining original flooring