FRED GALBRAITH HOUSE
Description of Historic Place
The Fred Galbraith is a one-storey flat roofed stucco bungalow located on 26th Street in
Vernon. The house is in the Spanish Eclectic style.
Heritage Value
The Fred Galbraith house is valued as a distinctive example of the Spanish Eclectic Style.
The style appeared in California and Florida in the 1920s and by the 1930s began to occur in
British Columbia. While not as widespread as the Moderne houses of the same era, the style
is scattered throughout the Okanagan. On Vernon’s East Hill, the Galbraith brothers, Fred and
Harold, built Spanish Eclectic style houses side by side in 1937 and in 1938. Charles Smith
built both of the houses. The Galbraith brothers were typical of the second-generation Vernon
families who built smaller houses on the East Hill in the 1920s and 1930s. They stand in
contrast to the more substantial houses and estate lots of the previous generation.
Fred and Harold were partners in J. S. Galbraith & Sons farm machinery, with their father.
Horace Galbraith, the third brother, lived in the house on the corner of 32nd Avenue and 26th
Street, next to Harold’s house. Horace was a well-known war veteran and lawyer in Vernon.
The Galbraiths’ father, J. S. Galbraith, lived in a Queen Anne style house on 39th Avenue. J. S.
Galbraith had been Mayor of Vernon (1924-25) and was very active in the community.
Harold’s son, George Galbraith, is well known for bringing public cable to Vernon (he sold
Vercom Cable to Shaw Cable in 1991) and for his community work, especially with the Vernon
Hospital.
The house is designed to emphasize its horizontality with flat wall surfaces of stucco and a flat
roof. The steep gable extends toward the ground where it is pierced by an oval gateway. The
gable frames the three-arched accent window. The oval motif is repeated three times in the
gateway, the window and the entry doorway.
Character-Defining Elements
- the low-profile one storey flat roofed massing of the house
- its location on 26th Street next door to the Harold Galbraith house
- stucco cladding and stuccoed chimney
From the City of Vernon Heritage Register, Page 28