The West Kootenay Butcher Company - Nelson, BC - 1902
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 49° 29.508 W 117° 17.644
11U E 478703 N 5482170
The West Kootenay Butcher Company placed this ad in the Saturday morning, December 6, 1902 edition of The Nelson Tribune.
Waymark Code: WMHQ1Z
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 08/02/2013
Views: 1
Locaterd in the KWC Block, West Kootenay Butchers were just a half block west of their major competition, P. Burns and company, who built the Burns Block in 1899 and set up their West Kootenay headquarters and butcher shop within. Burns meats went on to become one of the largest meat packing companies in the world. It is unknown what has become of the West Kootenay Butcher Company. It is known, however, that, like Pat Burns, they had butcher shops in other locations in the Kootenays, beginning prior to 1900.
At 498 Baker Street, the K.W.C. Block stands on the south west corner of the intersection of Baker and Ward Streets. Today it remains home to several retail outlets on the ground floor and offices on the upper floors.
Begun in 1900 and completed in 1901, this building is another collaboration of local architects Alexander Carrie and Alexander Ewart. For many years the largest commercial building in town, it remains the sole remaining building on Baker Street which still sports a turret. At one time there were several, but one by one the turrets on other buildings have been removed. I believe it to also be the only one on Baker Street with a clock on an outside wall.
From a Walking Tour of
Nelson’s Heritage Buildings, number 19.
Merchants Kirkpatrick, Wilson and Clements paid $10,500 for the lots. Designed and built in one year, it long remained the largest mercantile block in Nelson. At street level, one of the City’s finest grocery stores offered delicacies from afar. The turret, once typical of many corner buildings, is the only one remaining on Baker Street. Arches over the windows on the third storey, decorative brick work and pilasters tie the structural elements together.