Description of Historic Place

The Laitinen Log House is a one-and-a-half storey, gable roof home complete with a small front veranda. Located at R.J. Haney Heritage Village & Museum in Salmon Arm, British Columbia.

Heritage Value

The Laitinen Log House is valued for its historical, social and aesthetic significance.

Historically, the Laitinen Log House is valued for its association with Albert and Vera Laitinen. Albert was the son of Matt Laitinen, an early Finnish settler and Mary Catarine (Catherine) Laitinen who earned the letters patent for 160 acres on the SE ¼ Section 25 Township 20 Range 10 West of the 6th Meridian on Broadview Road. Mary subdivided 19.15 acres from the property to give to Albert and his wife Vera in 1922. Vera Laitinen nee Halpenny was the first teacher at the Broadview School. The couple made significant social contributions to the City of Salmon Arm. Albert was a volunteer fireman, an ambulance attendant, and worked with the Red Cross, CNIB, and Meals on Wheels. Vera worked tirelessly as a volunteer to help cancer survivors, with the Women's Institute, Red Cross, United Church Women's Auxiliary, and Broadview Community Club. She was the first person in Salmon Arm to earn her St. John's Ambulance Certificate. Both Vera and Albert were thrifty and did not believe in spending money needlessly. Their shared character trait is reflected in the choice of finishes in their simple dwelling.

Socially significant, their home was a gathering place and the couple frequently entertained.

The Laitinen House is cabin-like in construction. It is aesthetically important for its largely original exterior materials and unassuming form and detailing. Constructed from second growth forest from the property and from locally available materials, the house is unique as the logs were not hewn, but rather peeled, left rounded, and then side-notched and chinked. Strips of wood cover the chinking between the logs both in and outside the structure. The couple painted the exterior of the house brown. The house had no services (electricity or plumbing) when it was built. Part of the porch was closed in for a dining nook and two additions were added on as the family grew- a sleeping room adjoined the living room where the couple slept, while a bathroom was added west of the kitchen around 1946. The two additions were taken off the building in preparation for the move from Broadview Road to R.J. Haney Heritage Village & Museum and were not restored as they were not original to the structure.

Character-Defining Elements

The key elements that define the heritage character of the Laitinen Log Cabin include its:

- A yellow rosebush planted outside the kitchen window in memory of Vera Laitinen
- One-and-a-half-storey round log construction
- Gable roof
- Gable ends and porch enclosure clad in tapered cedar shakes
- Cedar shingle roof
- Log exterior walls
- Original doors and single pane windows
- Original fir floors with a trap door that went to the cellar
- Two matching six paned windows in the breakfast nook that were used in the original construction