Victoria Drive and its environs provided building lots tor the middle class of Penticton in the 1920s, professionals, entrepreneurs and business people who became the backbone to the city's economy. Just outside the commercial downtown of Penticton, the area provided a buffer from the hustle & bustle of downtown while being close enough to afford easy access to work or shopping.
While rather subdued in its Vernacular Style architecture overall, the house was given one rather striking stylistic touch. That is the barrel-shaped roof over the entry, a wooden arch with modillions around its inner circumference. The arch reflects the treatment of the entire cornice of the front façade, complete with a broad decorative contrasting band beneath.
Today the Victoria Drive neighbourhood is fully mature, replete with well maintained 1920s and 1930s homes on beautifully landscaped lots, still a middle class neighbourhood of professionals, entrepreneurs and business people, though multi-family housing is slowly encroaching from the east and the odd more contemporary house now faces the street.
Long House
Description of Historic Place:
The Long House historic place comprises a two-storey, side-gabled frame house and its lot in Penticton, British Columbia.
Heritage Value:
The Long House has aesthetic and historic value as a good example of a middle class 1920s home built in the new Victoria Drive residential area of Penticton. Built in 1928, the house is representative of the restrained style of architecture built in Penticton by the rising merchant class during this period. It is a vernacular, side-gabled cottage that reveals some craftsman elements but is not ornately detailed, except for the barrel-shaped roof on the porch entry.
The house and its large lot are typical of the development in the Victoria Drive subdivision in the 1920s. The area was populated by successful middle-class families involved in merchandising and professions. In particular, it is associated with the Long family, who owned a lumber supply business during the 1920s. The use of four inch cedar-edge grained siding and edge grain woodwork is perhaps further evidence of this historic association. Later, it was associated with the McGinnis family who owned the Rexall Drugstore.
Character-Defining Elements:
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Long House include its:
- edge grain cedar exterior siding
- barrel shaped porch roof
- location and large lot
- heritage butternut tree in rear yard
From Historic Places Canada