In 1911-1912 Penticton was experiencing its first construction boom, both commercially and in the residential areas of the town. It was at the height of this boom, in 1912, that the McDonald House arose along the east side of Ellis Street.
Built around a framework of rusticated concrete blocks, the cross gabled house was given various architectural details to add interest, including four square rusticated concrete porch posts across the symmetrical front, exposed timbers in the stuccoed gable ends and decorative
Dutch style chimney pots. Of the four porch posts, the two flanking the entrance were given Ionic capitals, while the two corner posts have simple squared capitals.
The McDonald House stands in the middle of the first residential block on Ellis Street south of the downtown business area. It blends well into the streetscape, which contains mostly contemporaries of the McDonald House. Just a block to the west is Main Street, the downtown business hub.
McDonald House
Description of Historic Place:
The McDonald House is a rusticated concrete block house that is cross gabled, with a mixture of classical revival elements and craftsman decoration, located in Penticton, British Columbia.
Heritage Value:
The McDonald House is valued both aesthetically, for its rarity, and historically, for its early date of construction. Built in 1912 for P.D. McDonald, the McDonald House is representative of an important period of development for the City of Penticton, which, like the rest of Canada, was experiencing a building boom prior to World War I.
The house is architecturally valued for its high quality of design and its use of architectural details. These details include the wide overhanging eaves with decorative end boards, the symmetrical classical revival form of the entrance front with central entry, four square concrete block porch posts, paired double hung windows in the cross-gable, and the use of decorative exposed timbers. It is also an important example of the early use of rusticated concrete block in residential construction in Penticton.
Character-Defining Elements:
Key elements that define the heritage character of the McDonald House include its:
- use of rusticated concrete blocks as a construction material
- symmetrical classical style of the house, including four square porch posts with ionic detailing, broken pediments, paired double-hung windows, and central entry
- Wide overhanging eaves with Victorian brackets
- exposed beams in the cross-gables
- Dutch style chimney pots
- original glass panels enclosing side walls of porch
From Historic Places Canada