To build a home

Follow British Columbia Highway 23 north until you hit Colbeck Road and follow until it bends down towards the Columbia River. You’ll spot a newly installed street sign at the top of a small road that leads into a property sheltered by trees and overlooking the river. 

The sign reads Bernacki Place, named following a July 23, 2024 council meeting when the application was presented to council. Mayor Gary Sulz and councillors were quick with some lighthearted jokes and sincere compliments directed to the roads namesake and owner of the property, longtime resident Peter Bernacki.

“You’ve been in the building community all of your time here and continue to work and do great things for our community,” Sulz commented

Bernacki’s own home boasts characteristics he’s learned to implement into the different homes he has built in Revelstoke. Wider doors, allowing easier moving of furniture but also helping frame a grand entrance into a home, focused on details. Skylights pull light into stairwells and interiors, making up for the lack of windows. Roofs focus on drainage and strength to wishstand Revelstoke’s world-renowned amount of snow and rain.

But the gems Bernacki gave himself with this build are the nearly five-meter tall windows that span almost 180 degrees, with a view of the Columbia River and the mountains north of Revelstoke. Grand as the house might be with its large kitchen, wrap-around island, wood elements and more, the windows keep the focus on the landscape.

“You can hear the river, smell it, even feel it some days. I brag a little bit, but it’s kind of amazing,” Bernacki said.

Later on in the interview, Bernacki points as a Bald Eagle lands on a rocky outcropping along the river, dragging a sizable stick behind it.

“We start to take this for granted. People come to visit from all over the world and remind us just how incredible this all is.”

With roughly 50 different houses built in Revelstoke, he’s helped countless people find a community in this town. Still, Bernacki seems to dodge the question when asked what it feels like to house so many who call Revelstoke home. It might be a case of  him shying away from the compliment or instead focusing on the long list of work he has his sights on.

“There should be no excuse, in a place this rich, everyone should have a place of their own.”

Home doesn’t just mean the houses Bernacki has built over the years, but the various other projects he’s had a hand in. The Mica Creek dam is a project that gave him, along with so many others, a chance to financially secure a future while also shaping what Revelstoke’s future would look like. Similarly, Downy Timber’s main yard, pouring thousands of metres of concrete, and numerous projects with CP Rail as the company remained a staple in Revelstoke helped solidify him in Revelstoke. Over the years his focus has turned to more directional projects, working on Revelstoke Community Housing Society’s board of directors, with the Revelstoke Rod and Gun Club and so many other projects and groups.

“I came out here to stay. I can’t see us moving to a different town ever,” Bernacki said when asked if Revelstoke had ever been a temporary plan following his move out nearly 60 years ago to help his older brother with his construction company before taking the business over. “It’s a little bit of everything that made us stay.”

And stay he has.