Description of Historic Place

The W. A. G. Marlatt House is a one-and-one-half-storey, Arts and Crafts ‘Storybook Cottage’, located on a large lot on the south side of St. Paul Street West in the historic West End neighbourhood of Kamloops. This residence is distinctive for its steeply-pitched, cedar-shingle gabled roof, arched garden gate, half-timbering, stucco cladding and leaded casement windows.

Heritage Value

The W. A. G. Marlatt House, built in 1930, is valued for its architecture. The house is a superior example of a ‘Storybook Cottage,’ a romantic representation of traditional domestic ideals that paralleled the popularity of the period revival styles in North America between the two World Wars. During this time, houses were expected to display historical references in order to demonstrate the owner’s good taste. This was especially important in more prestigious neighbourhoods such as the West End of Kamloops. An English Arts and Crafts influence is reflected in the steeply-pitched roof, half-timbering in the front gable ends, roughcast stucco contrasted with a brick foundation and brick stairs, and leaded casement windows. A more generalized romantic influence is visible in the arched gate leading to the garden, which is echoed in the front door’s circular bevelled glass window.

The W. A. G. Marlatt House is also valued for its associations with its first owners, William Alanson George Marlatt and his second wife, Ada. Born in St. Mary's, Ontario, William Marlatt came to Kamloops in 1912, where he operated a successful local hardware and paint business. In 1923, Marlatt married his second wife, Ada. Originally a schoolteacher from Markdale, Ontario, Ada Marlatt was a celebrated Kamloops resident who lived to the age of 102.

The W. A. G. Marlatt House is also significant for its association with the development of Kamloops’ Upper West End. Residential development in this area began at the turn of the 20th Century and gradually spread up the hill; many of the larger homes in the neighbourhood were constructed between 1910 and 1925. The river cobbles used in the front terraced garden wall at the W. A. G. Marlatt House are a characteristic feature of garden retaining walls in this neighbourhood.

Source: City of Kamloops Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the W. A. G. Marlatt House include its:
- picturesque setting on a large lot on St. Paul Street West, set back far from the street
- location within the historic West End neighbourhood
- residential form, scale and massing as expressed by its one-and-one-half-storey height and steeply-pitched cross-gabled roof with extension from the gable that forms the garden gate, and projecting front entrance porch with shed roof
- construction materials, including wood-frame structure, heavy timber posts, cedar shingle roof, and masonry elements such as a pressed red-brick foundation and front entrance stairs
- elements of the English Arts and Crafts style such as half-timbering in the gable ends, roughcast stucco and internal red-brick chimney with corbelling and chimney pots
- other exterior details, including bargeboards with expressed bracket ends, built-in flower boxes and dentils
- windows, such as the rectangular leaded-glass wooden-sash casement windows in double and triple assembly, double-hung wooden-sash windows, and multi-paned casement windows in the gable peaks
- original oak front door with bevelled circular glass window
- associated landscape features, such as the cobble stone retaining wall at the front, grassed yard, mature perimeter plantings including lilac and holly, and mature coniferous and deciduous trees