Residence Restoration

The Friends of the Forestry Farm House undertook the challenge of preserving and restoring the Superintendent's Residence, after a multiyear battle to save the house from demolition.

The Friends began the restoration process in the fall of 1998 with interior stabilization work as well as roof sheeting and new shingles. Derek Kindrachuk of Kindrachuk Agrey Architects Ltd. created an adaptive reuse plan that minimized changes to the house yet allowed for full accessibility and multi use of the building.

Throughout 1999 and 2000, under the watchful eye of Stephen Stade of Homestade Construction, volunteers and contractors worked together. The electrical, plumbing and heating systems were completely replaced. Rigid insulation was applied to exterior walls once the infrastructure changes were completed. Plaster walls were retained on interior walls wherever possible. The floors were stripped of carpet and linoleum and the original hardwood was restored with water damaged areas being skillfully patched.

The project was completed in the fall of 2003 with the restoration of the exterior and interior windows.

With the rejuvenation of the house complete, the Superintendent's Residence can once again take its rightful place within the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo.

A project of this magnitude would not be possible without the financial and in kind donations from our sponsors. Thank you to the sponsors of this project.

Between the Fall of 1998 and August of 2000 over 5000 volunteer hours were put into the project in a huge variety of capacities. We thank all our volunteers for their contributions.