Garner House

Sitting the Art Gallery this morning. Noticed the great after-storm lighting and ran outside and photographed the building opposite.

This old building was built in the early 1900s by the Garner's a pioneering family on Saltspring Island. Joe Garner, one of the sons, grew up on Saltspring and logged the west coast of British Columbia. He has written many books of his exploits and endeavours. All are a good read and most are still commercially available.

The building is now known as the "Core Inn" which is a youth drop-in centre. The top floor is all one room and is used for Drama Classes and Tango. Wonderful floor but abominable acoustics. Emily Carr used the third floor of the Core inn as a studio when she travelled to the island sometimes to paint. This building has also been a restaurant amongst other things.

Several years ago, on Halloween some youths shot fireworks at the building and it caught fire. Fortunately someone notice very soon and the fire department only a block away managed to save the structure with only a modicum of damage. The youths, who had also torched a car (unsuccessfully), were caught. I hope they learned their lesson.

I am looking in the Saltspring archives for more pictures and history.

Stay tuned:
Bob