The Okanagan lures NHLer "Lord" Byron to build a timber and stone palace overlooking the lake.

by Rand Zacharias

In April of 2005, my father Lawrence Zacharias was approached by Edgecombe Builders to take on a special project — as onsite supervising cribber, carpenter and mason, his duties would include the physical construction of a huge custom 12,800 square foot post and beam home. The eventual occupant of this future palace would be NHL goaltender Byron Dafoe. The driveway had only recently been etched out of the Okanagan mountainside. The view of Lake Okanagan and the floating bridge in the distance was magnificent.

My father had just celebrated his 64th year in March and this project was to be his last before retiring. He knew this home would be a crowning jewel after 48 years of building, laying concrete foundations and creating stone masonry projects from the eastern border of Manitoba to the west coast of British Columbia. The last 15 years of his career have been spent almost exclusively on large homes in the central Okanagan Valley.

My father could understand why a successful hockey player might want to build his dream home here because of the spectacular location, but the bumpy ride from Kelowna to work on the palatial home would take its toll on vehicles and occasional wildlife because of the fire-scorched terrain and breathtaking scenery.

The future home’s owner, Byron Jaromir Dafoe, was born in Sussex, England, but grew up in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, playing Junior Tier II hockey. At the age of 17, he was drafted into the NHL on June 17, 1989 by the Washington Capitals.

In 1995 the Los Angeles Kings acquired Dafoe and a veteran took the goaltender under his wing. The veteran’s name was Wayne Gretzky — Dafoe, along with another recent addition to the Kings, Shaun O’Donnell — would find themselves under the direction of the Kings’ captain when they were on the road until Gretzky was traded a year later.

“Gretzky is on the A list,” said Dafoe. “If my wife wanted tickets to anything happening in L.A., Gretzky was sure to oblige with tickets or passes, guaranteed. The L.A. Basin treated, and treats, Wayne the same way they treat Al Pacino or Robert DeNiro — he’s strictly A list.”

I met Byron while doing stonework with my father in January. I liked the creativity of laying stone, but I also wanted to spend time with Lawrence on his last project.

Dafoe visited his future home with two of his Atlanta business partners to install a structured wiring system this past January, which will enable him to control the environment inside his home from anywhere in the world. The internal stud system was beginning to look like an electronic spider web.

Dafoe described how he came to choose the Okanagan Valley as his new home. Having become an American in 2003, he lives in Atlanta as the last team he played for was the Atlanta Thrashers.

“I sat down at my computer in August ’04 and began an Internet search. I had only a few demands — and one really big one….no mosquitoes. I have the blood and the biggest demand for me was being able to live in a mosquito-free zone.

“We knew that we wanted to stay in North America. We have two sons, aged 4 and 6, so I wanted a warm lake, outdoor recreation, hot, dry summers — and NO mosquitoes.”

California and Arizona looked like leading contenders but available lake property in those states was almost non-existent. That was when Dafoe discovered the Okanagan. He and Joe Ungaro, an Okanagan realtor, started a dialogue over the phone and via the Internet. Joe introduced Byron to Kevin Edgecombe.

Edgecombe Builders of Kelowna is owned and operated by Kevin Edgecombe and Don Campbell. For the past 20 years, they have worked to create and construct custom dream homes collaborating with clients, designers and contractors like my father.

“We work hard at making the construction process enjoyable and exciting for our clients,” said Edgecombe. “We maintain the firm belief that solid customer relationships and strong work ethic are the cornerstones of our success.”

“Kevin bent over backward for us,” said Dafoe. “He walked me over and through the 104-acre property as we slowly eliminated site after site until deciding on the location for building our home. He really didn’t have to go through as many hoops as he did — but Kevin likes email and I like the phone — so over the course of the last couple of years we arrived here at this point in construction. I am living in Atlanta right now. Most of the constructing information for this home has occurred from 3,000 to 8,000 miles away.”

Dafoe plans to build a home for his wife’s parents on his acreage as well as develop some lots and sell them — three of which have just recently been approved for development, according to Edgecombe.

“A few of the other sites that we didn’t build on are quite something to see,” he said.

A number of ex-and present NHLers live in the area. Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers is building a cabin in the Shuswap with Edgecombe and there is a rumour that Gretzky himself is negotiating a purchase somewhere in the mountains surrounding Kelowna.

Dafoe is an educated athlete whose interests range from hi-tech innovation to development of future business opportunities. Dafoe’s career as a goalie may be coming to an end — he wouldn’t say.

He remembered as a five-year-old playing hockey for the first time. “I was either going to be a centre or a goalie. The team needed a goalie so that’s where I went.”

When asked if goalies have a secret bond with each other, Dafoe smiled. “We even have a secret goalie’s union.”

Dafoe’s love for the stonework on his new home kept causing the need for more and more to be applied to his future home. Since November, my father Lawrence and I mortared stone to pillars, walls, hexagonal niches and fireplaces. Dafoe had Edgecombe find a cultured concrete stone that is multi-coloured and resembles shale. It’s made by Rocky Mountain Stone and supplied by local distributor Dave Clarkson, owner of Savannah Stone. Dafoe had the typical mortar joints between the stones eliminated and the results are giving his home the castle-like look of nobility both inside and out.

Dafoe’s dream home will become a living reality this summer. It will boast five fireplaces (gas and/or wood-burning), an in-home theatre, a dumbwaiter, a gymnasium, a bonus trophy room on the second floor, a huge vaulted dining room with a large ergonomic kitchen (including an Internet fridge and eating nook), a large two-tiered deck and patio, exterior hot tub, six bedrooms with attached bathrooms, a recreation room with full wet bar (including two wine cellars), a large office, a three-car garage and a dock.

The rich cherry-stained wooden window frames and doors were crafted by Daryle Schutte and Gary Hendricks’s Guildcraft Millwork. They have been specially designed to enhance the spectacular outside views from inside of the home. The recreation room has French doors that swing open onto the grand patio, creating a true indoor/outdoor atmosphere in and out of the grand chateau’s bar/recreation area.

The arched window systems in the grand foyer and dining room create an almost chapel-like feel to the open construct of this very unique home.

The front canopy, called a porte-cochere, juts out from the front entry in grand fashion supported by four magnificent stone and wood pillars that again create an ambience of warmth and comfort.

The heating requirements for this magnificent palace are a trio that work in unison. In-floor radiant heating was installed by Valley Plumbing. The other two heating portion of the trio are low and high velocity forced air system to accommodate for the huge 32-foot vaulted ceilings. This geothermal system is created by the air and radiant infloor heat installed in cooperation with Jim Leaske’s Geotility heating company.

The roof of this grand chateau is bordered by a hidden gutter system that creates a wonderfully smooth, uninterrupted effect on the home’s expansive and various rooflines.

Hamill Creek Timberwrights created the 46,000 board feet of huge timbers that Dwight Smith, designer draftsman Lee Mullins and Kevin Edgecombe designed for the Dafoe family.

One can almost see the statuesque suits of armour standing at silent attention through the large living spaces upon the Dafoes’ move-in day.

This is no summer home for the hockey player and his family. “We’re moving in here full-time. We love it here and are really looking forward to living in the Okanagan Valley.”

As for my father, Lawrence, he may not be retiring just yet. He’s been told about another magnificent dream home that requires “a little bit of stone…”

See more about Okanagan homes in the April issue of Okanagan Life - on newstands now!