Some Powell River Houses

Pictured above is a street that runs just west of Marine Avenue and just south of the town centre. Below this street is another street. After that, a bushy slope. Then the beach and the Strait of Georgia.

At the north end of the block stand two houses.

The house at the corner

and the house just south of it.

The first house has a well-planned shrub border, comprised of heather and juniper. Behind it, a rhoddodendron that looks to have been planted in the early 1980s. Like the border, the lawn is well-maintained.

Apart from the sunflowers, nasturtium and lavender, the second house does not have an established garden feature. Nor a lawn that has been watered beyond seasonal rainfalls.

Something these houses have in common, though, is that both have on their property signs that provide information on who lives in them and why their gardens look the way they do.

In the driveway of the first house is a car with veteran license plates. These plates indicate that whoever lives inside is likely retired and  has more time for gardening than those with young children.

Leaning against the second house is a child's bicycle.

Powell River Modern

Powell River has some very attractive houses. Most are of the Arts & Crafts variety, and were likely built in the first half of the 20th century.

The house above sits to the right of Marine Avenue as you approach the town centre. As far as I could tell, it was built using standardized wood formats, but it is the scale and siting of these materials that make it an instance of local modern architecture.

Powell Lake Marina

On August 20 I posted a picture of Powell Lake. The picture above was taken while visiting the lake's marina -- home of the Shingle Mill Pub & Bistro (where they serve an excellent seafood risotto) and, just west of it, a company that makes cedar float homes. On both my visits the sound of dirt bikes and dune buggies echoed from the surrounding hills.

The more conventional route to the lake has you driving north of the "Historic District", where you come to this sign:

And these to the right of it:

From there you turn right and, about a half mile up the road, you cross a bridge over what is one of the shortest rivers in North America: the Powell River. On the other side of the bridge, to the right, is the entrance to Powell Lake.

Before European contact, the lake drained into the ocean. But with the construction of the mill, the lake was damned, its fresh water administered by the company, as it is in most company towns.

Beaches

Powell River began as a pulp and paper company town. Though the mill remains the region's largest employer (400 workers), new economies are emerging. Tourism is one, retirement is another.

Directly south of the breakwater that protects the mill's logging pond are two beaches. The first beach is known as Second or Third Beach by some, First Beach by others. Those who know the first beach as Second or Third Beach recognize the first beach as Waddington Beach, the tourist beach (see my August 22 post). Those older see Waddington Beach as Third Beach, with First Beach (or Second or Third Beach) the first beach you see just south of the mill.

On Sunday, while watching the sunset at First Beach (or Second or Third Beach), I noticed a seal circling a swimmer. Eventually the swimmer came ashore and, after changing behind his motorcycle, introduced himself as a native son. He told me the gravel road behind us bypasses the town and meets up with Powell Lake; that most of its dirt bike and dune buggy traffic consists of those coming down from the lake to buy off-sales at the Rodmay.

Of course the real reason for this road is not to service beer runs but to bring logs to the logging pond, where they are sorted and sent to the mill. That this road bypasses the town is common to places that like to keep work at a remove. That it is used for play makes towns like Powell River a joy.

Three Interiors: Lobby, Studio, Room

Like the pre-Waldorf Productions-era Waldorf Hotel, the Rodmay's major source of revenue is a beer and wine store, with its diner, pub and rentals a distant second. Among the more noticeable adaptations is an artist studio on the ground floor to the right of the hotel's main entrance.

Room 40 (above, and to the left of the entrance) also looks onto the Catalyst mill.

The Rodmay Hotel

Opened in 1911, the Rodmay Heritage Hotel in Powell River's "Historic Townsite" district (a mile north of "downtown") was built with financial backing from the mill over which it looks. As you can see from the picture (not the official picture the hotel uses to sell itself), the Rodmay has undergone a number of add-ons and adaptations over the years.

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