Description of Historic Place

The Warden’s Cabin is a simple, well-proportioned, rectangular log structure with a medium-pitch gable roof, a deep porch overhang supported on log posts, an asymmetrically placed entrance door, and twelve-light windows located on all four elevations. Stained brown with white window and doors surrounds, the building is typical of warden cabin designs, and is located in the midst of a popular recreational destination in Yoho National Park. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Warden’s Cabin is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values:

Historical value:
The Warden’s Cabin is associated with the National Park Warden Service and the enforcement of wildlife and forest protection, as well as the development of tourism in Canada’s National Parks. Designed to provide overnight accommodation for the warden and his horse, The Warden’s Cabin was built along one of the patrol trails, which formed part of the back-country transportation and communication network established by the National Park Warden Service to enforce fish and game regulations, and fight forest fires within the park’s boundaries. The Warden’s Cabin was constructed in response to the increased tourist excursions and mountaineering expeditions up the Yoho Valley which necessitated increased warden surveillance patrols in the area, and served as a year-round warden’s residence for a number of years due to the extensive recreational activities associated with the Yoho Valley Bungalow Camp operation.

Architectural value:
The Warden’s Cabin is a good example of a standard warden patrol cabin as designed by James T. Childe in 1918, and of rustic style architecture. The cabin is a well-crafted, horizontal log building with saddle-notched corners that is constructed of natural, local materials, and is characterized by a medium-pitch gable roof with cedar shingles and a deep porch overhang supported on peeled log posts.

Environmental value:
The Warden’s Cabin is set in the picturesque and popular recreational area centered around the Takakkaw Falls. Despite the fact that the cabin was relocated a short distance to its current site in 1977, this rustic log cabin continues to reinforce the natural beauty of the area.

Sources:
Edward Mills, Warden's Cabin, Yoho National Park, British Columbia. Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Building Report 00-001.

Warden's Cabin, Yoho National Park, British Columbia. Heritage Character Statement 00-001.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Takakkaw Falls Warden Patrol Cabin should be respected, for exemple:

Its role as an illustration of the National Park Warden Service and the enforcement of wildlife and forest protection in an era of patrols made on horseback, as well as the development of tourism in Canada's National Parks is reflected in:
-the building's rustic aesthetic and form which was part of the architectural character of Canada's national park facilities from the 1880s until the end of the Second World War.

Its rustic style, indigenous building methods and local materials as manifested in:
-the simple, well-proportioned rectangular cabin which features a medium-pitch gable roof, a deep overhang supported on log posts above the cabin entrance, horizontal log construction and a formal arrangement of openings consisting of an asymmetrically placed door, and a twelve-light, horizontal sliding window on each elevation;
-the use of natural, local materials consistent with the principles of rustic architecture such as the horizontally laid, peeled logs of common dimension and the traditional sawn wood shingle roof; and,
-the well-executed rustic detailing such as the saddle-notched corners and the tight carefully scribed connections which produce straight, smooth, even-size log walls.

The manner in which the building reinforces the picturesque character of the setting as evidenced in:
-the compatibility of the building's rustic form, natural materials and rustic detailing with the picturesque setting consisting of trees, a sub-alpine meadow and the nearby Takakkaw Falls.