Stuart Stark
Stuart Stark is a Heritage Consultant, Designer and Business owner. He is the principal of Stuart Stark & Associates. He holds degrees in both Fine Arts and Architecture, and since 1983 has been working as a professional Heritage Consultant for the preservation of British Columbia’s built heritage.
As a Heritage Consultant, Stuart Stark has been involved in the preservation and restoration of some of the province’s most important early buildings, including Tod House; Emily Carr House; Craigflower Manor and Schoolhouse; St. Ann’s Academy; Point Ellice House and the earliest extant (1889) Supreme Courtroom in British Columbia. He has worked for the Heritage Properties Branch of the Provincial Government for many years. He has consulted on building preservation for both Barkerville and Fort Steele Historic Towns as well as for historic buildings and a sternwheeler in the Yukon. He has also written revitalization reports for the Town of Cumberland, and for buildings owned by the City of Courtenay and the City of Nanaimo as well as for the provincial government.
He frequently works with architects and other professionals in a team to preserve heritage buildings and reuse them for new uses, incorporating new building requirements in a heritage appropriate manner.
His residential design work has been featured in Old House Interiors magazine and Select Homes magazine and he has written articles for Old House Journal; Old House Interiors; Edifice and Boulevard magazines.
He has authored a book on Oak Bay’s Heritage Buildings, and contributed to the publication of The Crystal Gardens – West Coast Pleasure Palace, a book that was instrumental in saving the iconic Victoria Building. He also helped develop and has contributed to the book Building the West – the Early Architects of British Columbia.
Starting in 1974, early work at the volunteer Community level including both President and Director positions for the Hallmark Society, one of B.C.’s earliest preservation organizations. He has personally saved and restored two 1890’s houses from being demolished. He has served on Heritage Advisory Committees for both Victoria and Oak Bay. For ten years, he served as a Board Member for The Land Conservancy of British Columbia, adding his knowledge and expertise of heritage buildings as that organization adds to its portfolio of historic buildings that it is preserving
As a Business owner, he and his business partner have historic wallpapers and fabrics manufactured and they supply them to heritage homeowners, historic sites, museums and movie companies around the world, through their online business www.Historic Style.com, and their wallpaper design house Charles Rupert Designs Limited , which is represented through a network of Showrooms in Canada, the United States and Australia.