Description of Historic Place

The Carpentry Shop, also known as Building 6, faces a large, open yard in the Bear Creek Compound, a historic, non-operating, placer gold mining facility in the Klondike River valley. The building’s rectangular, wood-frame structure is clad in corrugated metal siding and topped by a metal covered gable roof with a gabled rooftop ventilator. The front gable has double equipment doors with diagonal boards and a single inset door. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Carpentry Shop is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
The Carpentry Shop built as a blacksmith and shoeing shop as part of the early phase in the history of the Bear Creek Compound, is closely associated with the corporate phase of Yukon’s gold mining history, with links to both the Canadian Klondike Mining Company and the Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation (YCGC). The building also illustrates the site’s early development and the necessity to adapt its buildings to meet changing requirements.

Architectural Value
The Carpentry Shop is valued for its good, simple aesthetic. The functional nature of its design is evidenced in its rectangular structure with a single, large, open work area that has a line shaft system in place to operate four machines, as well as power tools and a workbench. The building’s good workmanship is demonstrated in its wood-frame construction clad in the appropriate materials such as the corrugated metal siding and the metal, gable roof.

Environmental Value
The Carpentry Shop maintains an unchanged relationship to its site and reinforces the character of its industrial setting at the Bear Creek Compound. The structure is familiar to those within the immediate area.

Sources:
Joan Mattie, Bear Creek Industrial Complex, Bear Creek, Yukon Federal Heritage Building Review Office Building Report 89-008; Carpentry Shop (Building #6), Bear Creek Compound, Yukon, Heritage Character Statement, 89-008.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Carpentry Shop should be respected.
the simple and functional nature of its design, and its overall good workmanship and appropriate use of materials; the features of its form, construction, and materials that unite it with the site’s other buildings, including its simple rectangular shape, its gable roof, its metal corrugated siding and roof covering, and its rooftop ventilator; the arrangement and detailing of its doors and windows, and its double doors with diagonal boarding; its open work area, which occupies the entire building; the vestiges of the carpentry shop equipment, including the electric motor, the line shaft system, and the workbench; its comfortable relationship – due to its form, materials, detailing, and colour scheme – with the other structures and landscape features of the site, in particular the other trade buildings nearby.

Heritage Character Statement

Disclaimer - The heritage character statement was developed by FHBRO to explain the reasons for the designation of a federal heritage building and what it is about the building that makes it significant (the heritage character). It is a key reference document for anyone involved in planning interventions to federal heritage buildings and is used by FHBRO in their review of interventions.

The Carpentry Shop (Building #6) was constructed in 1908-09 by the Canadian Klondike Mining Company, probably to serve as a blacksmith and shoeing shop. After the Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation (YCGC) established a service facility for its gold mining operations at the Bear Creek industrial complex in 1936, the building's shoeing section (at the rear) was used as a carpentry shop. As the 1930s was a period of renewal and expansion at Bear Creek, and by this time horses were replaced by motor vehicles, the original functions of the building were replaced by carpentry. Operations at the Bear Creek complex ceased in 1966, and the property was acquired by Parks Canada, the present custodian, in 1975.

Reasons for designation

The Carpentry Shop is a 'Recognized' Federal Heritage Building because of its historical, architectural, and environmental values:

As part of the early phase in the history of the Bear Creek Compound, the Carpentry Shop is associated with the corporate phase of Yukon's gold mining history, with links to both the Canadian Klondike Mining Company and the YCGC. It illustrates the site's early development and the necessity to adapt its buildings to meet changing requirements.

The Carpentry Shop is simple and functional in design, and exhibits good workmanship and appropriate use of materials. It is a rectangular wood-frame structure with a gable roof. Its walls are clad with corrugated sheet metal, and its roof, which is surmounted by a boxed ventilator, is covered with the same material. There are double equipment doors with diagonal boards and single inset doors in the front gable, and the rear gable has a single door. Each of the side elevations has four windows. The interior is a single open space, and some equipment ' including a 50-horsepower electric motor, a line shaft system built to power four machines, and a workbench ' remains in place.

The Carpentry Shop reinforces the industrial character of this functionally obsolete but remarkably intact village-like mining service facility, with its 80 structures and several landscape features relating to large-scale mechanical placer mining. It is located behind the Auto Repair Shop (Building #7), and is part of the ensemble of trade buildings whose front gables face north.


Character-defining elements


The following character-defining elements of the Carpentry Shop should be respected:
· The simple and functional nature of its design, and its overall good workmanship and appropriate use of
materials.
· The features of its form, construction, and materials that unite it with the site's other buildings, including its
simple rectangular shape, its gable roof, its metal corrugated siding and roof covering, and its rooftop
ventilator.
· The arrangement and detailing of its doors and windows, and its double doors with diagonal boarding.
· Its open work area, which occupies the entire building.
· The vestiges of the carpentry shop equipment, including the electric motor, the line shaft system, and the
workbench.
· Its comfortable relationship ' due to its form, materials, detailing, and colour scheme ' with the other
structures and landscape features of the site, in particular the other trade buildings nearby.