A LOOK BACK
WHISTLER’S ARCHITECTURAL EVOLUTION
THE VILLAGE’S BUILT ENVIRONMENT HAS RUN THE GAMUT FROM SHACKS TO AWARDWINNING CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE STORY BY ST E VE N T HRE NDY L E HISTORICAL P H OTO S C O URT E SY WHI STLER MUS E UM & ARCHIVE S
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WHISTLER MAGAZINE SUMMER/FALL 2022
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t all seems like ancient history now, but Whistler’s first decade as a ski town (from 1966 to 1976) was a rowdy, messy, and ultimately unsustainable affair. There were probably more squatter’s shacks than second homes on the decidedly challenging bluffs and forests around Alta Lake and the old gondola barn. As Whistler began to come of age, so too did its architecture. In her 2014 book American Ski Resort: Architecture, Style, Experience, Wake Forest University architecture professor Margaret SuppleeSmith called Whistler “Canada’s great mountain experiment.” Indeed, some of North America’s most skilled architects have left an imprint here.
Arthur Erickson designed the Hearthstone Lodge, while Barry Downs (with some roofline assistance from Berkley’s Henrik Bull) created the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. MIT-trained John Perkins, who would later form the internationally renowned Busby, Perkins & Will, had his hand in several Whistler Village lodges. Arthur Erickson’s former partner Geoffrey Massey and West Vancouver’s Bo Helliwell constructed ski cabins that battled for space with the volcanic outcrops and coastal rainforest. Adele Weder is a contributing editor at Canadian Architect and the author of an upcoming biography on noted West Coast architect Ron Thom. Her critical take on Whistler’s built environment reveals a bit
