Cumberland’s Community Heritage Register
This page was last reviewed on September 17, 2024.
Following are the buildings, structures and cultural landscapes currently on Cumberland’s Community Heritage Register. Click on the property name for more information and to view the Statement of Significance.
Coal Creek Historic Park
Comox Lake Road
Developed: 2002
Recognized: 2017
Coal Creek Park provides a record of the once-vibrant and self-sufficient Chinese and Japanese Canadian communities of Cumberland, and their strong ties to coal mining and railway building. Once extensive communities, Cumberland’s Chinatown was the largest in Canada towards the end of World War I, and its Japanese community the largest on Vancouver Island until internment in 1942. The Park is both a significant heritage site and a nature reserve of ecological significance.
Fan House, No. 5 Mine
West end of Penrith Avenue
Built: Late 1800s
Recognized: 2017
The fan house at No. 5 mine provides industrial archaeological remains of the coal mining industry that was fundamental to the growth of Cumberland. The fan house housed a giant fan that provided essential ventilation for the miners to breathe and removed dangerous gases from the mine.
Cumberland United Church
2688 Penrith Avenue
Built: 1895
Recognized: 2018
Cumberland United Church was constructed in 1895 as one of four original churches built along ‘Church Row’ on Penrith Avenue. The exterior has undergone many changes that reflect the practical considerations of the parish, including reduction of the original spire. The United Church has served as a community church continuously for over 125 years, and is one of the last functioning churches in the village.
Ilo Ilo Theatre
2691 Dunsmuir Avenue
Built: 1932 (originally built in 1914)
Recognized: 2019
This unique Art Deco theatre was built in 1932, replacing the original building destroyed by fire. The Ilo Ilo is an enduring record of cultural life in Cumberland as a venue for performances, films, concerts, community events and gatherings and was a cultural destination in the Comox Valley.
Camp Road
Dunsmuir Road West
Built: Circa 1888
Recognized: 2019
Originally developed in the late 1880’s, Camp Road provides a significant collection of mine-related development that comprised the original settlement of Union. The buildings and streetscape illustrate the ethnic diversity, roles and jobs that were part of the coal mining culture. The Camp Road area was incorporated in 1966 and remains an integral and unique part of Cumberland.
Saito House
2203 Comox Lake Road
Built: 1925
Recognized: 2019
Saito House is a rare surviving representative of the dozens of vernacular, rural miner cottages which once filled Cumberland’s Japanese, Chinese and Black town sites from the 1890s to the 1960s. It is an enduring record of the Japanese Canadian community as the last standing building of former No. 1 Japanese Town Site following their forced removal in 1942.
Coal Beach and No. 4 Mine
Near Coal Beach
Built: 1890
Recognized: 2020
Developed in 1890, the No. 4 Mine became the most productive coal mine in the Comox Valley, leading to a development boom and the creation of Cumberland. Various housing camps were created to accommodate the population of workers required, including No.1 Japanese Town site and Black Town site. The fan house ruins and other remnants are visible on a hillside near the edge of Comox Lake.
The Big Store/John-Cliff Dry Goods
2706 Dunsmuir Avenue
Built: 1894
Recognized: 2020
Serving as a commercial store for nearly 100 consecutive years, the Big Store was built in 1894 and expanded in 1901 to serve the community. The store played a significant role in the economic and domestic life of Cumberland residents, and the false-fronted frontier-style building is a landmark along the historic Dunsmuir Avenue streetscape.
King George Hotel
2723 Dunsmuir Avenue
Built: 1933 (originally built in 1909)
Recognized: 2021
Originally built in 1909, the hotel was destroyed in Cumberland’s disastrous fire of 1933. A new hotel, designed by Victoria architect John Graham Johnson, was immediately rebuilt. The King George Hotel has served as a social gathering place/hub for the community at the core of the historic downtown for over 100 years.
Waverley Hotel
2692 Dunsmuir Avenue
Built: 1894
Recognized: 2022
Three attached commercial buildings make up the Waverley Hotel including Cumberland’s oldest surviving building, constructed in 1894 with major renovations in 1936-1940 and 1967. The Waverley Hotel has been a popular live music and performance venue for decades, and is both a local institution and landmark.
Holy Trinity Anglican Church/ Cumberland Community Church
2732 Penrith Avenue & 3287 Third Street
Built: 1895 & 1920
Recognized: 2022
The Gothic Revival styled Anglican Church was built in 1895 and the Church Hall added in 1920, forming part of “Church Row” on Penrith Avenue. The church’s later vacancy in the 1980s became a catalyst for heritage advocacy and conservation in Cumberland.
Cumberland Drug Store
2719 Dunsmuir Ave
Built: 1933
Recognized: 2024
Constructed in 1933, Cumberland Drug Store has historical value for its association with
Cumberland’s Big Fire of July 13, 1933, which destroyed almost two blocks of buildings on Dunsmuir
Avenue and is testament to the rapid revitalization of Cumberland’s commercial street after the fire.
The original Lang’s Drug Store was destroyed in the fire and was replaced by the subject building.
00 Survey Benchmark
Near Village Park
Built: Late 19th century
Recognized: 2024
The Cumberland 00 Survey Benchmark is a historic geodetic survey – a small iron puck, embedded
in a sunken concrete pillar. This benchmark permanently marks the starting point on the ground,
for the original mapping system of approximately 130 mining boreholes (test pits). The marker is
located in the southeast edge of Village Park in Cumberland, BC.
Bevan Houses
Dunsmuir, Penrith, Maryport and Windermere Avenues
Built: 1910-12
Recognized: 2024
The Bevan Houses are a grouping of 37 standard model wood-frame, one-storey, hip-roof houses
with front porches, located on Dunsmuir, Penrith, Maryport and Windermere Avenues between
Fifth and Seventh Streets in Cumberland, BC. The houses were built as company homes for
mineworkers’ families in nearby Bevan in 1910-1912 and were relocated to Cumberland in 1918.
Wellington Colliery Railway
Throughout Cumberland
Built: 1889
Recognized: 2024
The Wellington Colliery Railway is a former triangular-shaped railway line that connected Union
Bay, Royston, Cumberland and Bevan, transferring both passengers between these places as well as
coal from Mines 1 through 8 to Union Bay for trans-shipment. Surviving evidence of the line exists
in unbuilt, open areas on all four sides of the Village of Cumberland, as well as in areas outside of
Cumberland’s boundaries.
Designated by Bylaw
The following heritage sites have been designated by bylaw in addition to being listed on the Community Heritage Register.
Old Post Office
2739 Dunsmuir Avenue
Built: 1907
Recognized: 2017
(Designated by Bylaw in 2006)
Serving as both post office and customs office, this prominent Edwardian brick building reinforced the federal government presence in Cumberland. Using plans similar to federal buildings in other Canadian locations, it was scaled down to the size of the settlement and used local materials, including sandstone quarried near Cumberland.
Memorial Arch
2770 Dunsmuir Avenue
Built: 1921
(Designated by bylaw in 2006)
Designated as a heritage structure in 2006, the Memorial Arch is 7.3m/20ft high, and includes bolens and chains.
Cumberland Municipal Cemetery
4441 Memorial Way
Built: 1895
Recognized: 2017
(Designated by Bylaw in 2007)
The Cumberland Municipal Cemetery continues to serve as the final resting place for Cumberland and area residents. The cemetery is representative of the role that coal mining played in the area, including the original design by the Union Colliery surveyor, demonstrates the toll of mining disasters, and also hosts the grave sites of renowned local labour leaders and activist Joe Naylor and Ginger Goodwin.
Cumberland Chinese Cemetery
Union Road
Built: 1897
(Designated by bylaw in 2007)
The Chinese Cemetery was designed with Feng Shui principals and the belief in the importance of a burial place location. Remains were exhumed after seven years and returned to China for burial, also allowing the plot to be used again. The Cemetery memorializes the importance of Chinese Canadians who worked in Cumberland as coal miners and railway builders.
Cumberland Japanese Cemetery
Union Road
Built: Circa 1900
(Designated by bylaw in 2007)
The Japanese Cemetery was the final resting place of miners, mill workers and members of their families who lived in Cumberland and the Comox Valley until 1942, when all Japanese Canadians were forcibly removed. The cemetery was reclaimed when the headstones were set in a memorial honoring the names of Japanese Canadian miners lost in mining disasters.
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