Historic Cumberland Hotel to be replaced with condos, commercial space

The village of Cumberland, B.C., is about to lose one of its iconic landmarks to redevelopment. But the company behind the project is vowing the spirit of the building will live on.

Coastwest Development of Vancouver is building a 15-condo, three-commercial-unit building on Dunsmuir Avenue at the site currently occupied by the Cumberland Hotel.

The company’s president Becki Allen says she knew there would be some initial resistance to the project.

“We knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge, maybe face more backlash from the community than what we had originally anticipated,” she said.

But Allen says her company will use building methods she believes will be beneficial to the area.

“It was important for us and also really important for the community to see that this gets dealt with in a way that I think is going to have the least environmental impact,” Allen says.

Allen says a deconstruction company out of Parksville, B.C., will dismantle the hotel, saving the materials so they can be utilized in the construction of the new building, as well as selling some items to members of the public.

“There are components that we want to keep to re-use in the building, like some of the hardwood floors that are in there," Allen says. "They are in pretty good condition and they’re awfully cool so we want to do things like use those in the elevator lobbies."

Even the hotel’s fireplace will be reused.

“There was some talk of deconstructing that brick fireplace and maybe repurposing the bricks as some sort of a feature somewhere just to sort of preserve some of the heritage from the old building into the new building,” Allen says.

Although deconstructing the building will take longer than a simple demolition, Allen says it will be more affordable and will protect the environment.

“How can you not choose this path because it just makes sense from both an environmental standpoint, a community standpoint and it makes financial sense,” she says.

The Cumberland Hotel is actually the second version of the guest accommodations to appear on the corner of Dunsmuir Ave and Second Street.

Rosslyn Shipp, executive director of the Cumberland Museum and Archives, says the original structure was built in 1898 to welcome coal miners.

“People were coming to this area, usually for employment purposes, and they needed somewhere to stay, so the Cumberland Hotel in its early rendition had about 10 rooms in it and they would rent out the rooms," Shipp says. "It was also a place of social gathering, as well."

Shipp recently walked through the building to see what items should be saved because of their historical significance.

“I think what’s really interesting is in the construction. What’s left in the building, you can actually see the different stages of renovation and refurbishment and some of the more unique things are the staircases and some of the brackets and the finishing on the doors and the hardware,” Shipp says.

Allen says customer demand for the new development is already proving strong.

"We’re up to 300 inquiries for 15 units so our realtor is champing at the bit: 'When are we going to hit presales with this?'” she says.