Description of Historic Place

The Pandosy Mission consists of four acres of land in a rural setting in the Mission area of Kelowna, BC. This historic place contains seven nineteenth-century log buildings, including a chapel, a root house, a barn, and dwelling places.

Heritage Value

Pandosy Mission is important to British Columbia's heritage because it is the first permanent non-native settlement in the Okanagan Valley, and it retains evidence of the earliest Roman Catholic missionary endeavours which were introduced to the province in the late 1850s. It also possesses heritage value as a public historic site dedicated to the preservation of local physical history.

Established by Fathers Charles Pandosy and Pierre Richard, and originally spanning two thousand acres along the main traveling route through the area, it is significant that Pandosy Mission has retained intact physical and contextual aspects of its earliest form. The three buildings which stand on their original locations - the chapel, the root house, and the Brothers' House - are important because they represent the impetus for all subsequent non-native development and settlement of the entire Okanagan Valley since 1859.

Pandosy Mission is also valued as one of the most important links to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in British Columbia, one of only two early missionary groups sent into the interior of the province in the late 1850s. What survives of the original mission today holds significance as a reflection of the central facility at which the Oblate priests lived and worked, from where they made trips to outlying Native and non-Native settlements to undertake their commitment to serve and "preach the gospel to the poor".

Pandosy Mission is also valued as one of the most important examples of community-based historic preservation in the province. Saved from demolition through the actions of the Okanagan Historical Society in the 1950s, Pandosy Mission has been valued as a centre for the interpretation and preservation of local history for over fifty years. The social value of this place as a catalyst for local historic preservation can be seen in the actions which have been taken to make it a community-based historic park; a number of buildings from around Greater Kelowna - such as the John McDougall House, the Joseph Christien House, and the blacksmith shop - have been moved here for the education and appreciation of the public.

Source: BC Heritage Branch properties files

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of Pandosy Mission include:
- Association of the place with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
- The relationship of the site to Benvoulin Road.
- The four acres of land which constitute the remainder of the original 1859 mission.
- The three buildings which stand on their original locations: the chapel, the root house, and the Brothers' house, and the spatial configurations and physical relationships between these buildings.
- Structures, such as the barn, which originally stood on outlying parts of the larger original mission land, and which have been moved to the current four acre site.
- Design elements such as original materials, construction methods, and interior spatial configurations of the original mission buildings.
- The historic structures which have been moved to this site for preservation purposes, including the John McDougall House, the Joseph Christien House, and the blacksmith shop.
- All fixtures, finishes, construction methods and materials, and interior and exterior spatial configurations of historic structures which have been moved to the site, dating from their time of construction up to their time of transport to this site.
- The use of the historic place as a site for preservation and interpretation of local physical history.