HERITAGE FEATURE
EDWARDIAN FERNIE
Fernie is an Edwardian town . And even more astoundingly it is a fairly intact Edwardian town . Though founded when Victoria was queen , the Fernie of today was with few exceptions laid out , built , or influenced by the planning and construction that was put in place after the Great Fire of 1908 .
The vernacular of the old town and much of the inspiration for new parts of the town come directly from the planning and building that started immediately , indeed a day or two after the 1908 fire , during the reign of King Edward VII , after whom the Edwardian era is named , and continued until the start of the First World War . Very little changed after the First World War because from that time onward until the 1970 ’ s Fernie did not experience waves of construction that came from boom and bust , rather Fernie lingered and loitered and tried to survive , in the process losing a few old buildings and adding a very few new . This allowed many of the very best buildings to remain intact and we might say that the old town of Fernie is a living time capsule of the Edwardian era .
Among the many pristine or almost pristine Edwardian style buildings in Fernie are the award-winning Courthouse , the City Hall , the Catholic Church , Knox United Church , the Anglican and Lutheran Churches , many of the commercial buildings on the main street , now known as 2nd Avenue but originally Victoria Avenue . Amongst some of the more notable ones are the buildings of the Fernie Museum , IGS , The Brick House and Northern Hotel , and many more . Some of the most notable houses are on the west side of old town , but there are also some wonderful examples of intact Edwardian houses including several pre-fab houses of the period in the mid and eastern parts of old town with more examples to be found in the Annex and West Fernie . Take a stroll and see what you can discover !
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