Description of Historic Place

The historic place is the two-and-one-half-storey, concrete-block Renwick House, built in 1912 in the Queen Anne style, and located at 987 Lawrence Avenue in Kelowna's North Central neighbourhood.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Renwick House is found in its architecture, as a significant example of the Queen Anne style, and in its association with a family that occupied the residence throughout much of the 20th century.

This large 'artificial sandstone' house was built in 1912. The construction is unusual in that the walls are built of a decorative concrete block, shaped to resemble more expensive cut stone. The design exhibits the asymmetrical composition, vertical lines, polychromy (multiple colours), tower (believed to have been higher, but it was damaged by fire), and bay windows found in the Queen Anne style, a picturesque manner that flourished a decade or two earlier in more developed cities in British Columbia. An expansion to the original house is currently in progress, providing for additions to both the east and west facades of the building, along with a reconstructed turret element over the bay window portion of the front facade.

The house was built by E.L. Clement in 1912, and bought by Thomas and Mary E. Renwick that same year. Thomas and Mary E. Renwick lived here for many years, and their children succeeded them as occupants. Thomas Renwick was a fruit grower who had brought his family from Manitoba to Benvoulin in 1906, and moved into town in 1912. Renwick died in 1930, leaving Mary and their daughter Mildred I. Renwick, who continued to live in this house until 1982.

Mildred Renwick (1897-1963) took teacher training after completing high school. She started her career at the one-room schoolhouse at Bear Creek, and taught at four different elementary schools in downtown Kelowna until her retirement in 1962. She is representative of the professional female teacher who forewent marriage and raising a family in order to focus on her career.

Source: City of Kelowna Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Renwick House include its:
- large landmark size, set well back on the property
- residential form, scale and massing, as expressed by its two-and-one-half-storey height and rectangular plan
- medium-pitched gabled roof, punctuated with many features, including two gabled dormers, a steep-pitched turret, and a steep-pitched projecting gable
- two-colour concrete block walls on the original building
- two brick chimneys, one corbelled
- roof-level windows, which are one-over-one, double-hung, wood-sash windows, with plain wood trim
- second-floor and ground-floor fenestration, with four-over-one, double-hung, wood-sash windows and smaller, diagonal-mullioned,, wood-sash casement windows with plain wood trim
- open porch with concrete-block columns supporting a low-pitched shed roof and with wood balustrade and railings
- extensive plantings in side yards and large open front yard with driveway