Description of Historic Place

The historic place is the one-and-one-half-storey wood-frame E.D. Alexander House, built in 1919 in the Craftsman Bungalow style, and located at 768 DeHart Avenue in Kelowna's South Central neighbourhood.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the E.D. Alexander House resides primarily from its architecture, and as being one of a series of residences along DeHart Avenue built in different periods of community development. It is also significant for its association with residents who had varying levels of prominence in the Kelowna community.

The Craftsman Bungalow (or California Bungalow) took the West by storm in the second decade of the 20th century, promoted as an affordable residence that provided a working person with access to home-ownership and which suited the regional lifestyle. The historic place is representative of that style, and helps to demonstrate how it took root in the Kelowna area. The primary characteristics of the Craftsman Bungalow include its one-and-one-half-storey gabled-roof form, the broad front porch with its tapered wood columns, and the generous use of wood detail.

This house was built in 1919 for E.D. Alexander, who served as a school trustee in the late 1920s. In 1948 the house was owned by Leif and Velma Loken. Leif operated the Coffee Counter at 1465 Ellis Street. By 1956 it was owned by Leo and Johanna Degenhardt. Leo was an assistant at McGavin Bakeries and Johanna continued to reside there until at least 1983.

Source: City of Kelowna Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the E.D. Alexander House include its:
- large, mature evergreen trees in front yard
- residential form, scale, and massing, as expressed by its one-and-one-half-storey height and rectangular plan
- medium-pitched gabled roof
- large open porch across the width of the house, contained within the gabled roof, with solid shingle balustrade
- clusters of four-component tapered wood columns across the porch, with wood plinths and simple wood capitals supporting exposed wood beams
- wood steps to porch
- shingle-clad walls
- tall red brick chimney
- one-over-one double-hung wood-sash windows with plain, narrow, wood trim and twelve-over-one fixed-pane sash windows with wood trim