Kwakwaka ’wakw big house in Thunderbird Park, Victoria, circa 1957

• Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Kwakiutl Indians > Structures > British Columbia > Victoria; Kwakiutl Indians > Arts & crafts > British Columbia > Victoria; Totem poles > British Columbia > Victoria; Wooden buildings > British Columbia > Victoria; Parks > British Columbia > Victoria; Wawadit'la (Victoria; B.C.); Longhouses > British Columbia > Victoria; Vernacular architecture > British Columbia > Victoria; Kwakiutl wood-carving > British Columbia > Victoria; Thunderbird Park (Victoria; Victoria (B.C.) > Buildings; structures; etc; Canada; British Columbia; Rupert; Thunderbird; First Nations
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/alaskawcanada/id/698

On verso of image: British Columbia Government Photograph No. 7133, Kwakiutl House, Thunderbird Park, Victoria Filed in British Columbia--Victoria For nearly 60 years, Thunderbird Park has been one of downtown Victoria’s most extraordinary features. Located at the corner of Douglas and Belleville streets, next to the Royal British Columbia Museum, the park’s impressive display of poles and big houses has made it a tourist landmark. The poles represent many villages of the coastal First Nations. They stand in testimony to a carving tradition that has been passed along for generations. The Kwakwaka ’wakw big house in Thunderbird Park was built in 1952 under the supervision of the world-renowned carver Mungo Martin. It is a replica of a house built at Tsaxis (Fort Rupert)in the mid 1800s by Chief Nakapankam, whose position and name Mungo Martin inherited. Kwakwaka ’wakw families of high rank sometimes named their big houses. This house has been given the name Wawadit’la, which means "he orders them to come inside." The chief who owns this house is so powerful that he can order anyone to come in and be his servant. The design on the front of the house represents C ’i ’eqis,a supernatural sea creature shaped like a bullhead or sculpin.