Historic Hotels Cranbrook BC

Welcome to this post, titled “Historic Hotels Cranbrook BC” and it’s going to be a fun one. Here’s today’s line up: The King Edward (King Eddy), Byng, Cosmopolitan (Cos, Kos or mockingly, da’Kos), The York, Sam Steele (aka The Steele or Sammy), The Cranbrook and rounding it out, The Mount Baker (or today, simply The Baker). They’re clustered in the downtown core within blocks of each other and all date back to the 1920s or earlier.

We’ll also include photos of a few other interesting buildings to help add some variety. Our accommodations were just a few blocks from the city centre and over a couple evenings, across two visits, we just went out for a little stroll and captured what you see here. What a fun and relaxing way to wind down after a busy day.

All the hotels seen are open for business, to one degree or another, save for the Kos (as it was called back when your author called Cranbrook home in the ’80s). It appears only one still functions as a hotel in the traditional sense, where as the others either don’t seem to offer rooms at all, or rent them out long term as social housing of sorts.

When it comes to these places, it’s the liquor license that’s valuable and rooms are often an afterthought. All the open hotels have a pub, one place has two, and many supplement this with food service. It’s bar eats mostly – basic fare – wings, burgers and the like in a glorious dive* environment, but it all varies. In one hotel you can not only enjoy a cold one, but see naked ladies dance and who doesn’t like that pairing?

A couple hotels have an attached beer store and we’ll say it again – bevies is where the money is. Only one of these establishments is restored and it operates as a boutique hotel – that’s the only one you or I would stay at. It’s a gorgeous old structure, where as the the rest are perhaps a bit worn out and tired. No listings on Expedia for those last ones. Still, you know if done up, like the Baker, many of the others could shine too.

Let’s go!

1) Starting at the far end of town and working back towards our homebase, we’re face to face with the eagle at Harmony Park. Doesn’t it look nice with that colourful sky as a backdrop? Full disclosure: we edited out a few ugly powerlines.

2) Here’s the King Edward, or King Eddy to those who know and love it. While open on our visit there wasn’t much going on at the time – the sign beckons but there’s no one to see it. Drive through liquor…and isn’t that convenient?

The title honours the reign of King Edward VII which spanned 1902-1910. The building dates from this time (exact year not found, however) and naming an inn after a ruling monarch was a thing once. Look through any directories of the era and you’ll see just about every community had a royal hotel of some kind.

Here in the relatively young cities and towns of Western Canada, Edward and his successor (and son) George V (1911-1936) are the names most commonly seen.

Note the restored railway water tower in the background and you can learn more about it here: CPR Water Tower Cranbrook BC.

3) The Cranbrook Hotel goes back to the late 1890s and makes it the first such building in town. It’s a big one and has seen a lot of change in its time. We found some old photos showing it across the years and today it looks much as it did in the past. There’s been more than a few fires here over time yet the building has somehow survived. On one sign the watering hole is called the Sportsman’s Pub and on another it’s simply “The Pub”. That’s a straight and to the point name.

In the 1980s there was an arcade/young adult hang-out on the main floor and frequented by the person writing this post. Pinball baby!

4) The Cosmopolitan (Cos, Kos) dates back to around the turn of the last century and is the only one of the group seen here that’s presently closed. Peering inside, it appears someone might be working on it, but to what end is not known. It has changed a bit in appearance over time, but still recognizable from the old days.

It’s remembered as a pretty rough place back in the ’80s and one avoided walking out front on at Saturday night. If you spoke jokingly about the “seedy underbelly” of Cranbrook, the Kos always made mention. Cosmopolitan was a popular name for hotels of the era and we see the moniker pop up all the time in research. Here’s another Cos and we even stayed there: Historic Hotels Crowsnest Pass.

5) The York is from the late 1890s and the second oldest of the hotels documented here. Research suggests it was called the Canadian at one time, but exactly when is not clear. Referencing old photos shows that the building had not been altered in look that much, overall anyway. In the 1960s, it offered “Cranbrook’s finest Coffee Shop and Dining Room”.

Fun fact: In the 1980s it was home to a strip joint but don’t ask anything about our sources.

One our first visit in the summer, The York was shuttered and the local homeless population seemingly claiming it as their own, but it has since reopened.

6) The backside of the Sam Steele, or the Sammy to locals and it’s the place to go if peelers are your thing. We’ll circle back to this one shortly and show you the front.

7) Just up the street, a retro eatery, the Lucky Star and it appears the business is yet another victim of the recent pandemic. Lucky, eh? We just liked how it photographed and you’ll see a few non-hotel images in this post, thrown in for fun.

8) The Baker (formerly Mount Baker) is from the early 1920s and there’s zero argument it’s most stately of all those seen in this post. It was recently restored and is the only one operating as a true inn from this series. It’s an upscale boutique type place and they kept all that retro character but modernized everything. No bathrooms at the end of the hallway here (once common) and they have the classiest pub too.

If plans work out we might just do a full tour of it later this year. It was supposed to happen the last visit to Cranbrook, fall 2022, but timing didn’t work out. Doesn’t it look nice, there in the soft light of evening? This time of day is our favourite for photographing and we love the stillness that accompanies it.

The hotel is named after Mount Baker, which is just south-ish of town and dominates the view in that direction.

9) Here’s the Byng and it dates back to the 1900s-1910 period as best we can tell. No amount of searching would find an exact year, but we did discover some dated photos which sort of helped narrow it down.

For the first while it operated as the Royal Hotel and was noteworthy for the distinctive turreted tower once located off a (now) removed wing of the building on the right side. About where the liquor store is present day. This helped them really stand out but it seems to have been taken down by the 1950s.

Fun fact (2): The folks made the Byng their go-to watering hole when in town, in the old days, and probably still owe for a few skipped tabs. In honour of this, we’ve make it a point to stop in from time to time, for a pub snack and pint, but we always pay.

10) Back to the Steele and it’s in a building dating from the early 1910s. It’s home to Cranbrook’s premier stripper bar and that’s a lofty title….okay it’s the only one in town so it wins by default. The building hasn’t really changed in appearance much over time and has always had a bit of a…well…reputation.

It’s named in “honour” of storied lawman Samuel Steele and his connection to the area. He kept order in the railway camps, on the Klondike Trail, and local to Cranbrook out in the goldfields near Fort Steele. That town’s named after him and we got know it well one evening – here: After Hours @ Fort Steele BC. That’s just part of his story and he’s one those guys to reach legend status. As a straight-laced kind of fellow we can’t say for sure if he’d approve of the naked and liquor-fuelled going’s inside a building carrying his name.

11) This shows how close in proximity the Cranbrook and Steele are. Life’s regret (#2256): one of the performers at The Sammy – in her working clothes none the less – stepped out on the street for a smoke but your’s truly was too scared to ask if she’d be okay being in the picture. The one seen is from just after she left and you know, had the courage been there… It would have been an awesome shot.

12-13) The alley side of the York and location of the only country bar in town.

14) A peek around to the old Armond Theatre, closed for some twenty five years now but perhaps yet to be reborn. Some people are working to save it, although these things never happen at a fast pace. It was the only movie house in town, back then, and old school in every way (built early 1950s).

It even had balcony seating and that’s something not seen anymore. It’d be a shame if some popcorn got spilled over the edge and on to the heads of friends below – just saying. Honestly, that never happened…nor did we ever slink into the York wide-eyed to catch the action either.

15) Little Christ Church (Anglican) will be celebrating its hundred and twenty fifth birthday in a couple years. It’s one of the oldest structures in town and appears in fine shape. We just happened to pass it by on our stroll back to our home for the time here (thanks T&G) and had to take a shot. It’d be such a beautiful one if not for those darn powerlines, but the colours and mood are still nice.

Mount Fisher (locally Fisher Peak) is the tallest thing around and is seen on the far left.

Postscript) Added last minute and after a click moment. There we were going through some photos from these Cranbrook visits and noticed a connection. While out for the walk one day, I think we passed the home of the fellow that created the eagle sculpture seen earlier on. The one in this image and the other are quite similar in style, but as usual it took some time to register. There were many other metal works of art in this same yard.

*Dive: in our context a term of endearment, and not used disparagingly. We’re fully accepting of these dated old throw backs to another era and embrace the quirkiness that comes of it.

Know more (new tabs): Cranbrook British Columbia and Baker Hotel Cranbrook BC (the only one with a solid web presence).

They’re saying…

”Their photography is wonderful and I love to read the background stories to the images.” Peg Strankman.

More like this…
Windsor Hotel Trout Lake.
Historic Hotels Crowsnest Pass.
Retro Motels: Medicine Hat Alberta

If you wish more information on what’s seen here, don’t hesitate to: contact us!

Date of Adventure: Summer and Fall, 2022.
Location(s): Cranbrook, British Columbia.
Article references and thanks: City of Cranbrook, Cranbrook Townsman Newspaper, BC Archives @ Royal BC Museum, University of Northern British Columbia archives, Baker Hotel and the myriad of old phone books and directories used in researching this piece.

1) The Historic Hotels Cranbrook BC tour is about to start.

2) The King Eddy – railway water tower in back.

3) The Cranbrook.

4) The closed Cosmopolitan (Kos).

5) The York.

6) In back of the Sam Steele.

7) A retro eatery seen while shooting this piece.

8) The Baker.

9) The Byng.

10) Front of the Sammy.

11) All quiet on 8th Avenue South.

12) Back side of the York.

13) Shotguns is all quiet.

14) A peek at the old Armond Theatre.

15) Christ Church to round out the evening.

(Postscript) random find – where the creator of the eagle sculpture lives?