Description of Historic Place

The Ernest Clement House is the one-and-one-half-storey, wood-frame, modest, cottage-scaled residence, located at 1150 Richter Street in Kelowna's North End neighbourhood.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Ernest Clement House is found primarily in its association with a prominent family with attachments to the Kelowna area since the latter part of the 19th century. It also has value in demonstrating the changing neighbourhood, as it has been converted to commercial use.

The Clement family is historically important for their long-time residence in Kelowna, and for their association with many of Kelowna's leading industries. The cottage was built in 1909 by Ernest Leslie Clement (1882-1947), the youngest of the four Clement brothers, with the help of his father William Charles Clement (1838-1911), a prominent local builder for whom Clement Avenue is named. Ernest Clement came to Kelowna with his parents in 1898, at the age of fifteen. After moving to Vernon to finish his schooling, he returned to Kelowna and worked at a variety of jobs, including the cigar factory, S.M. Simpson's sash and door factory, and the KSU and Stirling and Pitcairn packing houses. While working on the Whelan ranch he met and, in 1909, married Margaret Whelan (1884-1962), second daughter of George Whelan (1844-1927), an early settler on the Ellison district (1873) who eventually held 3,000 acres in his Cloverdale Ranch.

The couple lived in this house until 1928. Ernest Clement learned carpentry as he worked for M.J. Curts, an important local builder. Among buildings they worked on was the palatial home of Countess Bubna on the Eldorado Ranch (formerly the Postill Ranch). Clement later went into business for himself, and built many homes in Kelowna.

In 1928, he tried farming on the old Whelan place - West Home Farm - which Margaret had inherited after her father's death in 1927, but he decided farming was not for him. In 1935, the Clements turned the farm over to their son Cliff and bought the Winfield General Store, which Ernest Clement operated until his death in 1947.

The house has architectural value as a relatively rare example of an early, one-and-one-half-storey hipped-roof cottage. Many pioneer homes were built in this manner, but few remain so intact in form. The windows and exterior cladding have been changed.

The property was owned by J.M. Salsbury in 1947; in 1948 by Mrs. Katherine Crain, a widow; and in 1956 by John A. and Katherine Krassman. John Krassman was the arena foreman for the City. In recent years this house, like many others in the neighbourhood, has been converted to commercial use, representing the increasing land values and consequent new uses in the local area. In 2002 this building was converted to commercial use as sales office and storage for Money Mike's Auto.

Source: City of Kelowna Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Ernest Clement House 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 nearly square plan
- medium-pitched hipped roof, penetrated by pedimented dormers