Description of Historic Place

The historic place is a one-and-one-half-storey, wood-frame house built in 1914, and located at 1475 Richter Street in Kelowna's North End neighbourhood.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the house at 1475 Richter Street is due in part to its association with an early, prominent member in the development industry and civic affairs in Kelowna. It is also a good example of a residence built at the outbreak of the First World War, at the end of the initial period of active community growth following incorporation.

This house was built in 1914 or earlier, as it is first shown on a 1914 fire insurance map. W.H. Gaddes, who seems to have had the house built as a speculative or revenue property, owned the property. He did not live here; his home was on Harvey Avenue.

Dr. William Henry Gaddes was a veterinary surgeon who came to Kelowna from Saskatchewan with his wife Annie May in 1905. He chose not to open a veterinary practice here, but rather to become involved in real estate development. He served as president and general manager of the Central Okanagan Land and Orchard Company, which developed Glenmore and part of Rutland. In 1912, he started the Gaddes and McTavish real estate firm. He served as a director of the Kelowna Hospital Society and was an alderman in 1907 and 1908.

About 1920, the Gaddeses moved to Oregon and operated a large stock ranch, and in 1925 to the East Kootenay area, where Dr. Gaddes had large land interests. They returned briefly to Kelowna in the late 1920s, then went to Vancouver about 1929, when he was appointed Colonization Commissioner.

The early occupants of this house are not known. From 1942 to 1946 this house was the residence of Mrs. E. Needham, and from 1947 through the 1950s was occupied by Daniel A. and Florence Perry.

The historic place is a good example of a well-maintained, simple, front-gable house, with a characteristic porch and dormer windows on either side of the roof.

Source: City of Kelowna Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the house at 1475 Richter Street include its:
- location on Richter Street in Kelowna's North End neighbourhood
- residential form, scale and massing, as expressed by its one-and-one-half-storey height and rectangular plan
- medium-pitched gabled roof
- dormers on the side slopes of the roof, with medium-pitched hipped roofs
- wide, open entrance porch, with wood posts and railing
- medium-width, beveled wood siding on all walls, including dormer walls
- wide, vertical, wood trim, except on the upper main gable dormers, which have wood shingles
- one brick chimney
- one-over-one, double-hung, wood-sash windows, with medium-width wood trim on ground and upper floors
- mature trees near street