Western Front Lodge

The Western Front Lodge was built in 1922 as a lodge hall and social club for the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization. This 3-storey building, designed by William Campbell, included two assembly halls, a dining hall, a kitchen, and a caretaker apartment.

The most striking exterior features of this otherwise simple Edwardian building is its distinctive Boomtown* front and ornate tin roof vents. Originally, there had been a cast-iron canopy over the entrance but it fell and was replaced in 2012.

In 1972, a group of artists purchased the building to create a centre that provided studio, equipment and residences for interdisciplinary artists. They named their centre, “The Western Front” to reflect the building’s pioneer-like façade, their geographic location and their ventures into avant garde art. The assembly halls became a dance studio and performance space. The dining hall became gallery space. The building includes offices, archives, a sound studio and two artists residences. Western Front is now one of Canada’s oldest artist-run centres.

Many of the building‘s features have been preserved including wood wainscoting; some original gurney radiators; a private wood-paneled telephone booth; built-in folding cottonwood chairs, and doors with peepholes (likely used for the Knights of Pythias’s secret ceremonies ).

*a false front concealing the roof line

Source

COV Heritage Inventory Files, Whispered Art History: Twenty Years at the Western Front by K. Wallace, K. Knights, W. Wood, P. Culley, A. Varty, and J. Radul.