Originally built in 1899 as a private residence, this building now houses a cozy little restaurant which serves delicious helpings of seriously healthful food, pretty much all of which they grow themselves on a commune about 20 miles away.
Part of the
Twelve Tribes Commune, this restaurant is manned exclusively by members and, to what extent possible, serves only food grown on its commune. They're big on tofu and veggies, all of which are as fresh as any you'll ever have the pleasure to eat in a restaurant. Though now known as
The Yellow Deli, the restaurant is still operated by the same folks as when it was The Preserved Seed.
The restaurant is beautifully restored and equally well decorated, a very welcoming place. Instead of opening the building up and creating a large dining room, they have instead created their restaurant with several smaller dining rooms. There's even a sun room with a couple of tables.
The building, in a wonderful state of preservation, is interesting for its architectural styling and its adaptation to its hillside location.
The Preserved Seed
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
The building housing the Preserved Seed restaurant is a two and-a-half storey gable-roofed house above Vernon Street just east of the foot of Falls Street, in the downtown area of Nelson, B.C.
HERITAGE VALUE
Constructed in 1899, the house at 202 Vernon Street is important both for its wealth of original exterior detailing and its adaptations due to its placement on a bluff. Its adaptive re-use as commercial space is an important indicator of the migration of residential uses away from the downtown core as Nelson matured.
The house is a good example of typical late-19th century modest house design. The gable roof, simple massing and flat planes make this building less ornate than High Victorian design, but the materials and details lack the severe restraint of the simply detailed Edwardian ‘boxes’ of the following decade. The house is valuable for its idiosyncrasies, such as the arched design and window placement of the shingle gable-ends.
As a restaurant, the building is a valuable example of the adaptive re-use of small residential buildings near the commercial core of Nelson to absorb increased need for commercial space. Aesthetically, the restaurant has a quality of cosiness highly valued by residents and visitors.
From the City of Nelson Heritage Register, Page 35
