Old Crag Cabin

The Old Crag Cabin is located on Bear Street and one of the oldest buildings in Banff. For more than a century, this modest wood cabin has seen an impressive trajectory of uses. It was originally constructed between 1888 and 1890 by a young baker named Athanese Laurendeau who used the cabin as his home and bakery. Banff icon Norman Luxton purchased the building in 1902, and used it to publish the weekly edition of the local Crag and Canyon newspaper until 1929. Subsequent occupants included a butcher's shop, a gas station, a funeral home and a metal work studio. Modest by today's standards, the Cabin is defined by its simple architectural elements with log walls and whitewashed vertical log corner posts. Built with lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce, which have been dated to 1886 and 1887, the cabin features walls that are 23 logs high, deep overhanging eaves, and a high pyramid hip roof. The Crag Cabin has been evaluated as having a high heritage value by the Town of Banff and is listed as one of Banff's most important heritage resources. Today the cabin operates as a tea store called Jolene's Tea House. The tea house is locally-owned and operated, and sells organic tea and gifts.