A Brief History
The BC Provincial Police Station in Oliver was built in 1924 as Oliver emerged as a budding municipality due to the "Ditch Project" under Premier John Oliver. It was built in the dutch-colonial style with cedar shake siding and roof.
The Museum in the summer of 2016. The cedar shake roof is showing troubling signs of lifting, splitting, and rot.
The "Oliver Lockup" as it was known at the time, was home to the BC Provincial Police officers and their families, with the station and prison cells on the ground floor and living quarters on the second floor. In 1951 it was used by the RCMP, who occupied the building until 1966 when it became a long term accommodation rental under the BC Building Corporation.
In 1980, the Province of BC gifted the building to the Town of Oliver to house a Museum. That same year, the building achieved heritage designation status and was protected under bylaw no. 376 and included as part of the Regional District register of heritage buildings.
Since that time, the building has housed the Oliver and District Heritage Society. The first floor of the Museum is exhibit space, while the second floor houses the permanent collection and offices.
Identifying Priorities
The Museum was well-maintained throughout its lifetime, but the aging roof started to become a concern in 2014 when the cedar shakes were showing signs of significant wear and damage. At nearly 35 years old, the roof was deemed a priority for replacement.
A generous donation from the late Carolyn Cope provided the bulk of the costs associated with the roof restoration itself, and the remainder of the funding was obtained through a grant from Heritage BC. The Society provided staff and volunteer efforts, plus additional revenue from its operating budget to cover expenses associated with securing the collection during the project.
Raising the Roof
Work on the roof commenced on October 11, 2016.
Beginning at the rear of the building, old shingles were removed and tossed in a waste disposal bin donated by EZ bins, who wanted to contribute to the project. The new shakes went up quite slowly, as weather permitted. October turned out to be a rainy month and work was conducted sporadically when the sun shone.
While the sheathing was exposed, we took the opportunity to have fiberglass insulation blown in. This work was partially completed several yeas ago, but due to the compartmentalized construction of the attic, it was not completed because some areas were inaccessible. We lifted parts of the sheathing which allowed us access to those areas previously inaccessible, and completed the insulation process.
Thanks to Heritage BC and the generosity of the community, we completed the project in time for the first snowfall and are now enjoying a safer, better-insulated Museum.