Legends of the Langham, revisited
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member T0SHEA
N 49° 54.706 W 116° 54.400
11U E 506701 N 5528824
A feline building, the Langham has had many lives. It has occupied the southeast corner of 5th Street and A avenue for 120 years and counting.
Waymark Code: WMVBKF
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 03/28/2017
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member saopaulo1
Views: 0

The Langham is the only hotel built during Kaslo's boom years that has survived. In the interim it has been, among other things, a bank, a bottling works, and a lumber office, and presently serves as a museum and a cultural centre. During World War II it provided housing for interned Japanese-Canadian citizens. By the mid 1970s the building was derelict and in danger of demolition, but was rescued at the 11th hour and restored to its present splendour.

Through the Heritage Conservation Act it was designated a Provincial Heritage Site by the Province of British Columbia on June 30th, 1977. It was listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places on August 31st, 2012.

There are many rumours and unsubstantiated stories concerning the Langham; it may once have been a brothel, it may once have held the world's longest bar, it may well be haunted, etc. The Nelson Star found the building so interesting that it actually ran a series of articles on the building. The seventh in the series is reprinted below, with links to previously published articles.

Legends of the Langham, revisited


by Greg Nesteroff - Nelson Star
posted Jan 26, 2015 at 1:00 AM

To date this series on the early years of Kaslo’s Langham Cultural Centre has looked at when it was built (1896-97), who built it (Charles J. Kapps), what became of him (married twice, moved to Spokane, ran an investment company), who he sold it to (surveyor A.R. Heyland and land agent A.J. Curle), what it was used for (bank, bottling works, rooming house, offices), and its role in the Japanese Canadian internment.

These things can be pinned down with a fair degree of certainty. But other bits — folklore, really — might never be satisfactorily resolved.

1. Was the Langham ever a brothel?

According to Kaslo: The First 100 Years, published in 1993, “the upper floors were rumored to have been bases of operation for ladies of easy virtue.”

It’s hard to verify or debunk this statement, which seems like sort of thing that could be said of any old building to spice up its history. In his book Ladies of Easy Virtue of West Kootenay, the late Ken Morrow said the rumor the Langham was once a brothel is untrue, but didn’t explain how he reached that conclusion.

Kaslo’s red light district was centered around Third Street and A Avenue, two blocks from the Langham. It was also on A Avenue that the Theatre Comique stood, a combination variety theatre and bar where waitresses known as box rustlers preyed on thirsty miners. They may or may not have been prostitutes, but their morality was certainly questioned.

One longtime Kaslo madame, Maggie Clifton, was mentioned in the Nelson Tribune of June 19, 1897 as laying a complaint of abusive language against Alice Merchant, who was fined $20 “for the too free use of her tongue.”

Clifton turns up on the 1901 census as a “lodging house keeper,” although the exact location of her brothel is unknown. Her staff included Jennie St. Clair, musician; Marjorie Adams and Clara Johnson, dressmakers, and Dorothy Stewart, chambermaid. These professions might have been euphemisms, or they could have been ways the women supplemented their incomes. Nearby, another lodging house keeper, Nellie Howard, lived with dressmaker Helen DeVille.

There was less prevarication on the 1911 census, which listed prostitutes as “inmates.” At this time Clifton’s brothel was home to Mary Cooper, Rose Billington, May Jennings, Ollie Abbott, Mary Kamuri, and Martha Tighe. Nearby was the brothel of Molly Brown. Jean Brown, possibly her sister, was the only other woman working there.

A walking tour on the Kaslo Chamber of Commerce’s website suggests Molly built the house at 312 Third Street, “the last remaining of the original bawdy houses located in this area.” Molly also had a brothel in Sandon, which has been restored.

No prostitutes are obvious in Kaslo on the 1921 census, although Morrow’s book says Brown lived there until her death in 1948. The BC vital events index has no record of her passing, although that may not have been her real name.

[Read on to find out about the longest bar in the world and the haunting of the Langham.]
From the Nelson Star
Photo goes Here
Pre Renovation - circa 1974
Photo goes Here
Post Renovation - circa 1979
Type of publication: Newspaper

When was the article reported?: 01/26/2015

Publication: Nelson Star

Article Url: [Web Link]

Is Registration Required?: no

How widespread was the article reported?: regional

News Category: Arts/Culture

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