Description of Historic Place

Lillian Hoffar Park is a 1.61 hectare municipal waterfront park located on Tsehum Harbour in North Saanich. Situated at the end of a tree-lined lane off McDonald Park Road, the park is comprised of an open grassy expanse with a beach, concrete retaining wall and breakwater, mature indigenous and introduced perimeter trees and shrubs, and a large multi-stemmed Western Red Cedar with commemorative plaques.

Heritage Value

Lillian Hoffar Park is valued for its association with the Hoffar family, who willed the land to the District of North Saanich in 1978. Henry Stonestreet Hoffar, a well-known Vancouver boat builder, inventor, and engineer and his wife Lillian Alice Hoffar, purchased a retirement property on Tsehum Harbour in 1943, naming it ‘Windward'. Over the years, Henry constructed a garage, a house, a cottage, a boat shop, marine ways, a dock and two boathouses on the property. It was here that he built the locally famous vessels ‘Antic’ and ‘Louward’. Lillian was a naturalist who cared for the birds in the surrounding Shoal Harbour Bird Sanctuary. After Lillian’s death in 1971, Henry willed part of his property to the District of North Saanich, with a life tenancy to his daughter, celebrated Vancouver artist Irene Hoffar Reid, whose works are featured in the collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. After Henry's death, Irene moved to the site with her daughter, Catherine Campbell, and son-in-law, Hugh Campbell. Hugh operated Henry’s boatbuilding shop (‘Winard Wood’) on the property. The land was deeded to the District of North Saanich after Irene’s death in 1994. Although all of the buildings have since been removed, remains of the boat ramp, garden beds, a shoreline concrete retaining wall and concrete breakwater are still visible. Commemorative plaques attached to the mature Western Red Cedar tree at the north end of the park are tangible reminders of the Hoffar family's association with the place. The tree was designated as a heritage site by the District of North Saanich in 2005.

Lillian Hoffar Park is also valued for its association with the Tsyecum First Nation. Traditionally, the Tseycum people travelled to various resource-gathering sites throughout the year, settling in permanent homes in the Tsehum Harbour area for the winter months. A portion of Sai’klam (DeRu-1), the ancestral winter village of the Tsyecum people, is located on the property.

Source: District of North Saanich Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of Lillian Hoffar Park include its:
- location on the shore of Tsehum Harbour, with views of the harbour, Haro Strait and Shoal Harbour Bird Sanctuary
- picturesque setting amongst mature coniferous and deciduous trees
- remaining evidence of the Hoffar family's residency, including shoreline concrete retaining wall and breakwater, boat house foundation, remnant garden beds and rough cut rock wall surrounds, extant introduced fruit trees and perennial plants, and boat launch/marine ways
- archaeological remains of Tsyecum First Nation site DeRu-1
- associated landscape features, such as mature deciduous and coniferous trees and a mature Western Red Cedar with commemorative plaques