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Fintry Octagonal Dairy Barn

near Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1995/04/30

Fintry Octagonal Dairy Barn; Ministry of Environment, BC Parks, 2010
front view
Fintry Octagonal Dairy Barn; Ministry of Environment, BC Parks, 2010
building in context
Fintry Octagonal Dairy Barn; Ministry of Environment, BC Parks, 2010
side view

Other Name(s)

n/a

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1924/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2011/02/24

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Fintry Octagonal Dairy Barn is a distinctive barn of octagonal shape set amidst a collection of conventionally gable-roofed barns and farm outbuildings near the point where Shorts Creek emerges from the hillside in Fintry Provincial Park near Kelowna, British Columbia. It is part of a complex of related buildings and structures known locally as the Fintry Estate.

Heritage Value

The Fintry Octagonal Dairy Barn is culturally and aesthetically significant as a uniquely-designed farm structure. It is also important for its close association with James Cameron Dun-Waters, who developed the farm on the Fintry Estate between 1909 and 1939 and built this barn to house his prize herd of Ayrshire cows.

The barn is important because it exemplifies the singular nature of the Fintry Estate in its isolated location, and helps convey the idiosyncratic character of the estate as a whole. Along with the stone Manor House, the complicated and expensive Octagonal Dairy Barn structure is a key remaining example of the considerable financial resources that Dun-Waters directed to the development of the isolated farm estate in the service of his vision, which combined practical requirements, farm industrial theory and aesthetics. The barn, the Manor House, and Burnside (a second substantial house built by Dun-Waters at the mouth of Shorts Creek to house the estate manager) were all designed by Dun-Waters' university friend, fellow immigrant to Canada, and architect John James Honeyman, who was a partner in the early provincial architectural firm Honeyman and Curtis.

The dairy barn, including its south extension, is significant for its form, unusual in the Canadian West but specified by Dun-Waters for the efficient milking and penning of cows, and for the efficient collection of animal waste. It is also important for its practical siting near road and water, and for its powerful presence at the prominent apex of the Shorts Creek delta.

The Octagonal Dairy Barn is important for its very good physical condition, and for its continued care and promotion through the efforts of the Friends of Fintry Provincial Park Society with the help of provincial government funding. Its recreational value lies primarily in its historical interpretation and as a stop on the site's self-guided tour.

Source: Ministry of Environment, BC Parks

Character-Defining Elements

Key character-defining elements of the Fintry Octagonal Dairy Barn include:

Site:
-location at the apex of the Shorts Creek delta
-backdrop of forested hillside
-foreground of open pasture land
-situation amongst a cluster of other traditionally-roofed farm structures

Building:
-octagonal plan and roof structure
-octagonal monitor with vents
-gabled subordinate south extension with open walls
-centrally-located milking stations
-red and white colour scheme
-board and batten siding
-wood windows
-wood lattice vents

Recognition

Jurisdiction

British Columbia

Recognition Authority

Province of British Columbia

Recognition Statute

Park Act, s.5

Recognition Type

Provincial Park (Establishment)

Recognition Date

1995/04/30

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Developing Economies
Extraction and Production

Function - Category and Type

Current

Leisure
Historic or Interpretive Site

Historic

Food Supply
Barn, Stable or Other Animal Housing

Architect / Designer

John James Honeyman

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

Ministry of Environment, BC Parks

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

EaQv-22

Status

Published

Related Places

oblique view

Fintry Haybarn-Granary

The Fintry Haybarn-Granary is a gambrel-roofed structure situated immediately to the west of the Octagonal Dairy Barn in Fintry Provincial Park near Kelowna, British Columbia. It…

front view

Fintry Manor House

The Fintry Manor House is the one-and-a-half storey building with a prominent stone foundation set in a garden landscape near the shore of Okanagan Lake in Fintry Provincial Park…

brick half of building, oblique view

Fintry Packinghouse

The Fintry Packinghouse comprises a long gable-roofed structure and associated remnants of a wharf, located on the shore of Okanagan Lake in Fintry Provincial Park near Kelowna,…

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