BANFF – The Eleanor Luxton Historical Foundation is coming up with ways to preserve and pay for the upkeep of its heritage properties along Beaver Street.
The foundation has been given a development permit by Banff’s Municipal Planning Commission for a residential addition to the historic Beaver Lodge and to build two laneway homes at the rear of its 212 Beaver St. property.
Bill Luxton, the foundation’s president and great nephew of Norman Luxton, said properties must be financially viable in order to protect built heritage, noting the organization is working on a plan to provide long-term sustainability for the Luxton properties.
He said heritage homes require ongoing maintenance and repair, so the plan is to rent out the two 850-square-foot residential dwellings to be built at the rear of the property as well as three existing rooms on the upper floor of Beaver Lodge.
“It’s a revenue generator and also adding to the rental inventory in this area,” Luxton said, noting some of the foundation’s artifacts will be publicly displayed in a museum-like setting.
“We want to maintain historic integrity of our properties and we’ve been working on plans to do that.”
The foundation owns several properties from the corner of Beaver Street and Caribou Street to Beaver Lodge, including the Luxton Home, which is an accredited museum, as well as Tanglewood, which is the oldest home in Banff.
Beaver Lodge, Tanglewood and the Eleanor Luxton Residence are designated as heritage resources and protected by municipal bylaw.
The foundation has recently submitted an application to the Town to designate the MacKenzie Residence, hoping to secure up to $50,000 to help with restoration costs of the property.
Heritage planner Jennifer Laforest said the 200 block of Beaver Street, which is surrounded by high-density apartment buildings, has a high concentration of historic cabins, which are identified on Banff’s heritage inventory.
“Beaver Street is so important because it was the first residential neighbourhood in Banff. Not only does it have the earliest buildings in Banff, but there are also early rustic log cabins,” she said.
“We just have fewer and fewer of those left in town. I could probably count on one hand how many we have left.”
According to Banff’s heritage property file, Norman Luxton built Beaver Lodge as a boarding house.
Over the years, Beaver Lodge became home to several well-known tenants including J.E.H. Macdonald, a member of the Group of Seven, as well as Conrad O'Brien-ffrench, said to be Ian Fleming’s inspiration for the character of James Bond.
