As a follow-up to a pair of recent posts on lost buildings of the last 25 years that I photographed and others that I neglected to photograph, here are 10 buildings and one bridge that are still standing but may not be around much longer. I will stress that I am not making any value judgments about whether they should be preserved, but merely pointing out that their futures are uncertain at best.

CASTLEGAR

Pioneer Arena, 925 Columbia Avenue

Castlegar’s first indoor ice surface was built over several years in the 1950s and early ‘60s using a lot of donations and volunteer labour. It became a secondary ice surface when the recreation complex opened in the mid-1970s. In 2016, the Pioneer was marked for closure due to its aging infrastructure. The city announced in October 2023 that it planned to demolish the building and replace it with a new complex with clinical spaces on the ground floor and 45 housing units on the upper floor. Ice users protested the move since there were no immediate plans to replace the arena (a couple of previous referenda on the subject failed). The Pioneer received a one-year reprieve and is now expected to close in 2025.  

Eremenko block, 310 Columbia Avenue/1224 3rd Street, Castlegar

This building on Columbia, long a department store, was built in 1948 as A. Eremenko & Co. Ltd. By the 1980s it was Fields, and I believe there was something else in between. By the 2000s, West’s Travel was there but the building was vacant for many years when the City of Castlegar bought it in April 2021, planning to move the Kootenay Gallery to the site and develop housing. It wasn’t immediately clear that the building would be torn down, but that detail has since emerged. Planning has continued while the city has sought funding, but it’s not clear how much time the building has left. An adjacent 3rd Street building, which was once Eremenko Fit-Rite Shoes, was built in 1968 and operated at least until 1993. It too has long been vacant.

CRESTON

Grain elevator

The Columbia Basin Trust bought Creston’s iconic grain elevators in 2018. Both date to the mid-1930s. While the Trust embarked on an extensive restoration of one of them, they have decided that the other is beyond salvage and they plan to demolish it. A contractor has been hired.

FRUITVALE

Beaver Valley Middle School, 275 West Columbia Gardens Road

Opened in 1970 as Beaver Valley Junior Secondary. Renamed Valley Middle School in 1993 and then Beaver Valley Middle School in 1994. Closed in 2003. Sold in 2009 to someone who wanted to turn it into an international school for Korean students. Acquired by the Village of Fruitvale in 2018 through a public foreclosure process. Leased to the Lower Columbia Affordable Housing Society in 2020 for a new housing project, although it was unclear at first whether it would involve repurposing the existing building or demolishing and building new. After the gym roof collapsed in the winter of 2023, village council decided to demolish the compromised half of the building at a cost of $1.2 million.

NELSON

Curling club, 302 Cedar Street

Built in 1973. A recent structural assessment and geotechnical review found serious problems with the foundation, walls, and roof. The City of Nelson, which owns the building, hasn’t decided its fate but it has been closed to curling since spring 2023. Ironic given the Midsummer Bonspiel, which ran from 1945 to 2008, was once the city’s biggest event.

Homes, 710 and 712 Railway Street

The City of Nelson bought these little homes in 2014 to prevent the properties from being developed contrary to the a Railtown plan completed a couple of years later. The homes were built in 1910 and 1927. The city looked at demolishing them but decided it would be a hassle given slope stability issues, tree removal, and “hazardous conditions” within the buildings. The city’s heritage working group asked the city in 2017 to save them and prepared statements of significance. In 2021, the city indicated it would sell them with the stipulation the buyer had to demolish but at last check they were still standing and don’t appear to be on the market.

NEW DENVER

House of Joyful Tidings

One of about 250 huts constructed in 1942 in New Denver for interned Japanese Canadians, this building was later placed under the care of the United Church and became a meeting place for residents of the Orchard neighbourhood. It fulfilled that function into the 1970s. By the early 2010s, it defaulted to the village for unpaid taxes. Someone bought it in a tax sale and wanted to build on the lot. In 2022, the Friends of the Orchard stepped in to explore saving the building. After a few potential ideas for places to put it were rejected, they struck a deal with the village to turn it into accommodation for the campground attendant. The building now sits near the marina parking lot. However, two years later with the original vision not close to reality, and the village insisting that it be moved, the Friends of the Orchard are offering to sell the building for $1 to anyone who wants it. This does not preclude someone from dismantling it for the lumber.

TRAIL

Trail Mercantile/Eaton’s/Town Square Mall, 900 Spokane Street

In August 2024, the City of Trail announced it had acquired this very run-down building and its site in a donation from its owner. While the brick building has significant heritage value, having been built in 1916 for the Trail Mercantile Co. and converted to Eaton’s in 1954 and then the Town Square Mall in 1982, the city plans to demolish it and redevelop the site. What will take its place is not yet known, but it will probably have a housing component. The building’s age is more obvious from the rear. These pictures were taken on Sept. 10, 2020 and Sept. 4, 2024.

Aldridge Hotel/C.S. Williams clinic, 901 Helena

The building at the corner of Helena and Cedar was Trail’s first hospital, constructed by Dr. Corsan in 1896. MP and newspaper publisher Billy Esling bought it and converted it into the Aldridge Hotel around 1916 but it soon reverted to its original use and was used as an auxiliary hospital during the flu epidemic of 1918. By 1922, Esling sold the building to a consortium of doctors who converted it into a clinic and nurses residence. It was the site of perhaps the city’s most notorious crime (which you can read about here, as part of a more comprehensive history). In 1938, it became the C.S. Williams Clinic, and in 1949 a multi-storey addition was built on the east side. 

The clinic was in business for over 50 years but finally merged with Medical Associates in the mid-1990s and the property was donated to Selkirk College which did nothing with it and then sold it to someone who planned to turn it into housing but failed to do so. The city now owns the buildings, which are boarded up and fenced off, but has been reluctant to demolish them given the cost and modest redevelopment potential of the site. It’s a shame, for the Aldridge portion is possibly Trail’s second-oldest building. The photos seen here are from 2020-21 except for the sign on the door, which was taken in October 2000.

Old bridge

The bridge was built in 1913 and closed in 2010 on an engineer’s recommendation but there has been no appetite to demolish it. (Interestingly, while it is apparently unsafe even for pedestrians to cross, boats are still allowed to go underneath it.) While the engineers suggested fixing it would be impossible, so long as it hasn’t collapsed, who knows? A Trail Historical Society subcommittee wants to take a fresh look at it. It is seen here in April 2000, June 16 and Sept. 21, 2021; May 10, 2022; and March 2, 2024.

The Brilliant Suspension Bridge, now a National Historic Site, is an instructive example. It ceased to be a highway bridge in the 1960s but the government had neither the heart nor the funds to tear it down, so it just sat awaiting a determined group to restore it. It reopened to pedestrians in 2010 following a $1 million restoration.