Heritage award winners of 2023
Heritage Week is celebrated across Canada – this year from Feb. 19 to the 26. A significant event during Heritage Week is the presentation of the annual heritage awards by the Central Okanagan Heritage Society.
Exemplary homes and buildings are featured in these awards as well as neighbourhoods and natural cultural heritage areas that bring beauty to our community. Of course, it is people who preserve our heritage and some people have spent years championing heritage in our community; we celebrate and honour them as well.
Awards are given in six categories:
1. Distinguished Community Service: ALASDAIR SMITH AND ROBIN DIGBY
Alasdair Smith and Robin Digby are craftsmen who appreciate the beauty of our heritage homes and other buildings. For the past decade they have provided artisanal carpentry and conservation contracting services in and around Kelowna.
Retaining the integrity of a heritage building is not an easy task making sourcing and matching building materials challenging. Also required is an understanding of the construction techniques from the past; skills and experience that both Robin and Alasdair have acquired over the years. As trades persons and building conservators, Robin and Alasdair have provided valuable and practical heritage building maintenance and carpentry services. We are proud to honour them with the 2023 distinguished Community Service Award. 2. Conservation project on a heritage building currently in non-residential
use: Awarded to a non residential building that has recently undergone an exterior restoration and/or rehabilitation.
KELOWNA FIRE HALL, 1616 WATER ST. Fire Hall #2 is turning 100 next year. Built in 1924, it replaced the original wooden building on the same site and continues to serve the downtown area. It has had a facelift and some other modifications and additions. A 2014 report into the state of the brick façade made note of the fact that the mortar from 1924 was in need of repair; interestingly, the mortar from a 1990 repair needed more attention.
The work to restore the mortar (repointing), flashing and drip edges was completed in 2021. Fire Hall #2 not only serves as a working fire hall, it adds to the heritage ambience of the downtown core! 3. Conservation project on a heritage building currently in residential use: 286 LAKE AVENUE (AT WATER)
Tear it down? Or re-imagine it? The owner of 286 Lake Ave. decided on a win-win solution; they rehabilitated the 1930s cottage, took down the incongruous modern garage and replaced it with a carriage house that is compatible with the main house and neighbourhood in style and size.
Hats off to densification and heritage preservation with flair!
4. Continued conservation of a heritage building currently in residential use: Two awards in this category this year: “GOLDIE HOUSE” – 3456 ELLIOTT RD., WESTBANK
Built in the 1890s the Goldie house could also win the award as the oldest house in Westbank. Robert Goldie built the house of logs back when the area was called Halls Landing.
Later the house was lived in for many years by the Bailey family who moved from Oregon to Halls Landing by covered wagon.
Their daughter Clara was born in the house on April 1, 1896, the third white child born on the Westside. Doug Griffin later purchased the property which eventually went to his son Harold. Harold and his wife owned the home for 84 years; from 1931 to 2015. Now covered with shiplap siding and with some additions, the house still stands and is still lived in. 359 CADDER AVE., WACE HOUSE
359 Cadder Ave. is more than a house; it is home to a remarkable Kelowna family. Built in the inter-war years, it was the family home of Lionel and Helen Wace through the latter half of the 20th century.
Lionel was a social worker and manager of the Kelowna office of the provincial social services department from the 1950s-70s. In response to the many needs he saw, Lionel founded Project Literacy, the C.N.I.B., SHARE, Kelowna Community Resources and co-founded the Central Okanagan Foundation, all organizations helping people to get off government assistance and live their lives with dignity.
In memory of his wife, Lionel registered a no-build conservation covenant on the property since Helen loved the large front lot and mature trees. In 2013 the house passed to Lionel and Helen’s son Garth and his wife Jan who have continued the upkeep of this beautiful home.
5. Preservation or restoration of a neighbourhood or natural heritage area: Woodhaven Nature Conservancy REGIONAL PARK AND RAYMER CABIN,
4711 RAYMER RD.
“There is something special about Woodhaven Nature Conservancy. It is an oasis of wilderness in the suburbs of the lower Mission area of Kelowna. It has a quality of serenity, refuge, and attentiveness that is easy to feel but hard to describe … it is a place that has been loved.” Go to friendsofwoodhaven.ca/post/a-special-place
Arthur Raymer and his wife Edith (nee Small) bought the Small property from Edith’s parents. Arthur, son of H.W. “Harry” Raymer, Kelowna’s first mayor and a prominent builder, built the “Raymer Cabin” in the 1930s. Jim and Joan Burbridge looked after the property for the Raymer family and lived in the cabin for many years.
When the woodland area was slated for development in the early 1970s, Jim and Joan led the way to create Woodhaven Nature Conservancy Regional Park. The Burbridges continued to live in the cabin as caretakers and guardians of the park until they passed away in 1990 and 2001.
After serving as a caretaker residence for some years, work was undertaken in 2019 for its new role as an outdoor, nature-based classroom and meeting space. SPECIAL HERITAGE PROJECT: 6. Morrissey’s Camp #2, Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park
Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society (MCTRS) has re-opened one of the 1912-14 Kettle Valley Railway’s construction camps to the public in Myra/Bellevue Provincial Park. The camp was “re-discovered” after the 2003 fire and the MCTRS has conserved the site. Approximately 70 men called this camp home during the construction of the railway. Now you can explore the unique cooking ovens, water wells, tent sites, watering hole, cabin foundations, tote (service) road and trail to the rail bed.