Description of Historic Place

The historic place is the 2-storey, wood-sided McIvor House, built in 1904 as a farmhouse, and relocated to Benvoulin Heritage Park at 2279 Benvoulin Road, in Kelowna's South Pandosy neighbourhood, to complement the Benvoulin Church located on the same site.

Heritage Value

The McIvor House is valued as an example of the vernacular saltbox house-type, an Eastern Canadian tradition that is rare locally. It has further value for its association with early agriculture in the area southeast of Kelowna, and for the interest shown by the Kelowna community in conserving it.

The house was built by Gordon C. Scott, a wheelwright, as a residence at his asparagus farm. The original location was at 1950 KLO Road. It has been suggested that the house may have been built as early as 1900, but it more likely dates from 1904, when the Kelowna Land and Orchard Company subdivided the old Lequime property into smaller farm blocks and built KLO Road, onto which the building faced.

The house is a continuation of a vernacular architectural tradition that goes back more than two centuries in Eastern Canada and New England. The three-bay, 2-storey house, with a gable roof that drops lower in the rear to cover a second range of rooms, is called a 'saltbox' house, a term that originated in the northeastern U.S.A. and is found in the Maritime provinces. The central raised gable, here enclosing a second-floor balcony door, is particularly characteristic of Ontario. This house-type is relatively uncommon in BC generally and the Kelowna area in particular.

The house was purchased in 1927 by Bernard ('Barney') McIvor and his wife Harriet, becoming the farmhouse for their 17-acre mixed farming operation. Harriet McIvor lived in the house until 1980, after which it stood empty. In 1994 the family donated the building to the Central Okanagan Heritage Society. It was then moved to its current location on the Benvoulin Heritage Park site (with which it has no historical connection) and was restored by the Heritage Society. It now serves as the residence for the Benvoulin Heritage Park site manager.

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

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the McIvor House include:
- Traditional vernacular saltbox form, with a gabled roof with a double-slope at the rear, with the rear eaves lower than the front eaves
- Gable enclosing the second-floor door on the centre of the front elevation, and small balcony off the door
- Verandah across the front and one side, with delicate wood detail on the posts and beneath the eaves
- Horizontal wood shiplap siding
- Double-hung wood windows, with one-over-one and two-over-two sash