While this house was built for a man known as Captain I.M. Stevens, we've found no mention of his being captain of anything, except possibly a captain of local commerce. When built in 1907, the Captain Stevens House was the largest residence in the new townsite of Penticton. A prominent real estate agent, the captain had a hand in the early development of the city, also becoming involved in other business ventures and local politics.
The house itself is rather comely, an excellent example of Edwardian Classical-Revival architecture. An especially attractive feature is the small eye-brow gable over the entrance, with a contrasting circular foliage relief in its centre. Well maintained, today the house stands in a beautifully landscaped setting, the house seemingly built just last week.
Captain Stevens House
Description of Historic Place:
Captain Stevens House is a one-and-one-half storey Edwardian English cottage that includes a fieldstone wall along the Edmonton Avenue frontage in Penticton, British Columbia.
Heritage Value:
Built in 1907, Captain Stevens House is valued for its association with its original owner, Captain I.M. Stevens, who bought 80 acres from the Southern Okanagan Land Company in 1906, the year the townsite was laid out. Stevens is notable not only for being an early settler in the townsite, but also for being a Councilor and subsequently Reeve of the fledgling municipality in 1912, a prominent real estate agent, the owner of a Main Street car dealership and garage, a war veteran and a President of the Penticton Fruit Union in its formative years. Stevens sold many of the business lots in the townsite as well as the seven acre site for the Ellis School.
Captain Stevens House is important as one of the earliest substantial houses built on the new townsite and the largest built in Penticton at the time. It is an excellent and intact example of an Edwardian Classical-Revival house with a symmetrical form and high-quality use of original materials and craftsmanship. The fieldstone wall, which extends west of the property, is a reminder that the property originally fronted Main Street.
Character-Defining Elements:
Key elements that define the heritage character of Captain Stevens House include its:
- Edwardian Classical-Revival form of the house including its hipped roof, central dormer and full-façade porch
- Classical detailing including the six porch rails, decorative gable truss, overhanging eaves with exposed rafter ends, and the two large chimneys
- original fieldstone wall
- original entrance with leaded-glass sidelights
- eye-brow gable over front door
From Historic Places Canada