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An interesting building with an interesting history, this one time warehouse gives away its agricultural roots with its styling, which is somewhat reminiscent of a typical dairy barn. An actual farm building, though, it has never been, serving as a feed, seed and farm supply warehouse for its first 60 years.
Built in 1922, seven years after the opening of the Kettle Valley Railway, the building became
The Bike Barn in 1981 or 1982, which it remains today.
Altered very little over the years, the building still shows signs of its history, including the large warehouse doors that would receive the feed products directly from the KVR rail line that ran alongside the building, and a truck loading dock. Having been built after the railway, the building has an angled front façade which followed the line of the tracks.
Bike Barn
Description of Historic Place
The Bike Barn is a large wood-frame warehouse with a gabled roof located on Westminster Avenue in Penticton. It includes two additions, one wood frame and one concrete block and brick.
Heritage Value
The Bike Barn is important to Penticton's architectural and cultural history because it the only extant functioning commercial building retaining an angled front facade, which was designed to maximize the shipment of goods via the adjacent Kettle Valley Railway's Townline rail spur. Typical of utilitarian buildings of similar vintage, it is a good example of an early vernacular warehouse within the city. Its design is significant because it includes evidence of unique historic details, such as loading bays on its eastern facade facing Brunswick Street, which reflect the former importance of providing ease of trans-shipment of goods from rail to road to facilitate commercial success.
As the location of Dynes Feed and Supply (1922 – 1982), which provided feed, seeds, and other agricultural supplies to farmers in Penticton and elsewhere along the Kettle Valley Railway, this historic place was one of the most successful and well-known businesses in the community, associated with the early local agriculture. Its rehabilitation as the Bike Barn in 1983 reflects the more recent trends of the local economy which has shifted to focus on outdoor recreation and sports tourism.
Character-Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Bike Barn include:
- location adjacent to the former Kettle Valley Railway line
- high gabled roof
- exposed attic in the interior
- rail and car/truck loading ramps
- rocks used as footings for foundation of second addition
- elements of its design which identify it as an early twentieth century warehouse, such as rough-cut uprights, wide-plank wooden floors, clerestory windows
- elements of its design which relate to its historic relationship with the former railway, such as its angled front façade
- surviving elements of its design which relate to its evolution as a commercial building, including loading bay doors on Brunswick Street
- the patina of its years of use as an industrial and commercial building, seen in wear patterns on floors and walls
From Historic Places Canada