Description of Historic Place

The Capozzi House is a one and one-half storey stucco residence, built in 1928 in the Vernacular Cottage style. It is located at 1842 Abbott Street in Kelowna's South Central neighbourhood, within the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area. The site also includes the detached Tudor Revival garage at the rear of the property.

Heritage Value

The Capozzi House has significant heritage value for its close association with one of the community's prominent early citizens. This was the long-time home of Pasquale ('Cap') Capozzi, a businessman and community leader. He came to Canada from Italy in 1907, at the age of 18. After operating grocery stores in Revelstoke, Trail, and Phoenix, he arrived in Kelowna in 1919 and opened a grocery in the old Lequime building at the foot of Bernard Avenue. The City Grocery (later called Capozzi's Cash Grocery) subsequently moved to 279 Bernard Avenue and operated there until 1962.

By the 1930s, Capozzi was branching out in business. Along with Guiseppe Ghezzi and W.A.C. Bennett, he started Domestic Wines and By-Products Ltd. (later Calona Wines) in 1931, which was originally intended to produce apple wine but switched to grapes in 1934. In doing this, the three partners laid the beginnings of the thriving Okanagan Valley wine industry.

Capozzi was also involved in the founding of Okanagan Broadcasters (Station 10-AY, subsequently CKOV radio). He started buying real estate in downtown Kelowna and throughout the southern interior in the mid-1930s and became an important developer. His largest project was the Capri Hotel and Shopping Centre, opened in 1958.

This attractive house, built for Capozzi in 1928 by well-known local builders Maranda and Patterson, has value as a representative example of a late-1920s modest, middle-class house, built while Capozzi was still a grocer by trade. Its asymmetrical design is derived from the Arts and Crafts cottage of a decade or two earlier. Capozzi and his wife Maria lived in the residence until at least 1966. Minor alterations were recorded in 1942.

Source: City of Kelowna, Planning Department, File No. 6800-02

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of Capozzi House include its:
- Vernacular Cottage style, characterized by features such as the asymmetrical gables, stucco walls, and small-paned windows
- Sheltered entrance porch, with semi-circular brick-edged steps leading up to the porch
- Unusual curved roof line over the entrance porch
- Light-colored stucco finish, with contrasting dark-painted wood window and door frames
- Arched windows in the gables
- Red asphalt shingle roof, rendered rough at the eaves
- Wood-sash, double-hung windows, some 3/1 and some 6/6
- The Capozzi name inscribed in the concrete at the front of the house
- Tudor Revival garage at the rear
- Extensive mature landscaping, including tall evergreen privacy hedge at the street line and magnolia trees within the property