Penticton is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia situated between Okanagan and Skaha Lakes.
In 1866, Tom Ellis, the first European settler in Penticton, built his ranch house. Tom and his wife Wilhemina raised their family, planted Penticton’s first fruit trees and established his 30,000-acre cattle ranch. The Penticton Hotel was established in 1892 by Ellis, who positioned it around the local government area, and its first road: Front Street. The sidewalks on the street were made from wood, with coal oil lamps being introduced to the sidewalk.
Four Shatford brothers moved to the Okanagan from Nova Scotia and were influential in the area. W.T. Shatford bought out the Ellis Estate and formed the South Okanagan Land Company in 1905; he became rich. Lytton became a senator when Robert Borden was Prime Minister and the Senator Shatford School was named after him. Large dams were built on the upper reaches of the Ellis and Turnbull Creeks creating a gravity-fed irrigation system needed to develop the area into the “Garden of Eden.â€
Horses were instrumental in opening up the interior by carrying goods over the Brigade Trail. Stagecoaches and wagons followed with railways and boats came into use after that. Herds of wild horses roam freely in the hills.
558 Ellis Street – P.D. McDonald House – 1912 – rusticated concrete block house – cross-gabled with exposed beams, symmetrical, four square porch posts with Ionic detailing, broken pediments, paired double-hung windows, central entry, wide overhanging eaves, Dutch style chimney pots570 Martin Street – 1911 – shingle style with a cross-gable form, flared eaves and a prominent pedimented gable; the full front porch has square shingled porch posts; the windows are double hung; the continuous wall covering is of square cut shingles1201 Fairview Road – Art Moderne style – 1940 – flat roof, rounded corners, groupings of windows, smooth stucco surface, coping at the roof line984 Fairview Road – 1922 – 1½ story saddle-notched log house – The Beatons bought it within five years of construction and lived in it for seventy-five years. Bertie Beaton was a member of a pioneer family who arrived in 1906 and ran the Penticton Hotel; her husband worked for the Kettle Valley Railway. It has a deep front porch, wide steps, low-pitched side-gabled roof, rooftop shed dormer, and the fireplace was constructed with cobbles from Shatford Creek.494 Young Street – 1913 – Keyes House – 1½ story Late Victorian cottage with steeply pitched paired gables and a shingled gable truss – The use of a variety of surface materials including shingle and lap siding is typical of Queen Anne Revival architecture. Robert Grey Keyes was a member of City Council.230 Orchard Avenue – 1938 – The Tupper Residence – Art Moderne – smooth stucco finish, curved corners and horizontal bands, flat roofs, curved concrete steps, wraparound multi-paned windows, recessed entrance158 Eckhardt Avenue East – Penticton High School – 1913 – Neo-Georgian style, three brick bays, raised basement, Romanesque central entrance arch with arched windows above, hipped roof, deeply articulated dentil courses, roof-top cupola696 Main Street – Penticton United Church – 1929 – Gothic Revival stone and stucco – square tower, stained glass windows, arched windows and doorways100 Main Street – Penticton Court House – 1949 – Art Deco-Moderne style196 Penticton Avenue – Sutcliffe Residence – 1912 – Queen Anne Revival style220 Manor Park Avenue – Leir House – 1929 – vernacular architecture, stone cladding, dominant entrance porch and stairs – thirteen bedrooms to accommodate the eleven Leir childrenThe S.S. Sicamous, a steel-hulled stern wheeler, rests on the southern shores of Okanagan Lake in downtown Penticton. It is 200 feet long and was quite luxurious. From 1914 to 1936 she made daily runs between Penticton and Okanagan Landing at the north end of the lake carrying up to 250 passengers plus mail and freight.
