Description of Historic Place

The Gazebo is the hexagonal open single-storey pavilion set in an intensely planted area in the East Lawn of Peace Arch Provincial Park, in Surrey, British Columbia.

Heritage Value

The Gazebo is of scientific, historical, social, and cultural importance, and is particularly notable for its pedagogical nature: plaques commemorating the dedication of the park are sheltered under a timber structure that showcases lumber and logs of the native woods of British Columbia.

The Gazebo is valued for its historical and social significance, having been constructed in the early years of the Second World War by a camp of unemployed relief workers and Youth Forestry Training boys. It is valued as the culmination of the general grading and finishing of the six-hectare Canadian portion of Peace Arch Park, originally set aside for park use in 1931.

The Gazebo and its surrounding garden are valued as a key part of the overall cross-border park plan designed by John Booth, who worked as a gardener at the impressive Riverview Hospital arboretum grounds in Coquitlam. The Gazebo is valued as a part of the planted slope that welcomes northbound travellers into Canada.

The building's form and materials are culturally significant because they reflect both the conservative society that commissioned it - through the use of traditional materials and log construction - and the sober purpose that characterized the time of its construction.

Source: Ministry of Environment, BC Parks

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Peace Arch Gazebo include its:

Site:
-intensely planted mixed planting beds immediately surrounding the pavilion
-bridge access to pavilion, in the Oriental style
-planted slope behind building as viewed from Highway 99

Structure:
-mortared stone base structure
-log structure above stone
-lumber of differing indigenous species forming ceiling and roof
-labels identifying tree species used in construction
-dedication table and inscriptions