Davies Orchard Cottages Nearing Completion
Restoration is almost complete on six original turn-of-the-century cottages that were part of a 19th-century steamship resort, once the largest in Western North America.
From the 2023 Conservation Review by Donald Luxton and Associates Inc.:
The Davies Orchard is a 2.3 acre portion of the original 33 acres of land preempted by Mr. William Davies in 1887 and contains 12 of the 20 USC cottages originally built in the Davies Orchard area. The boundaries of the Orchard meet the Snug Cove shoreline/Lady Alexandra Promenade to the east, Davies Creek to the south, Snug Cove Baseball Field to the west, and Bowen Island Trunk Road/Snug Cove Village to the north. The grassy, partially treed site slopes gently downhill to the Promenade and to Davies Creek.
The cottages were built by the Union Steamship Company as rental units in 1928. They were all essentially identical: 722 square feet with a living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom, as well as a large verandah across the front façade. A few cottages have partial verandahs, either as a variation of the original floor plans, or from later infill. Ten of the remaining cottages lie within Crippen Regional Park. Cottage no. 20 functions as the Bowen Island Heritage Preservation Association’s information office and heritage centre. Cottage no. 10, open as a museum, has been restored to its original appearance and furnished with artifacts to reflect a short-term rental unit of 1930. Cottages no. 18 and no. 19 are habitable and under lease to the Union SteamShip Company which rents them as holiday cottages. Some stabilization work (new foundations, temporary wood-shingle roofing) has been done on six of the ten publicly owned cottages in the Orchard, including cottages 10, 18, 19 and 20, but most are in serious need of repair. In addition to the ten cottages owned by Metro Vancouver, two other Orchard Cottages are privately owned by the Union SteamShip Company and are used for short-term tenancy.
The interiors of the cottages have been painted white to improve daylighting and allow them to feel light and airy.
In addition to the restoration work done in the cottages, new appliances and lighting fixtures have been added to create a clear distinction between old and new.
