Built at a time when Penticton's Main Street was wider than it came to be as early as the 1910s, the Palace Hotel was one of the earliest hotels to appear along Main Street. You'll notice in the photos that the original section of the building is set back considerably from the adjacent structures: one, the Erickson Building from 1922, the other more contemporary. It was likely also the first hotel to be built on Main Street, as early business construction in the town was concentrated along Front Street, with the majority of Main Street not being developed until the 1920s.
Erected in 1902, at a time when wood frame construction was the norm, this is the
only remaining wood-framed commercial building on Main Street. Though a brick addition on the front hides its original ground floor façade, the upper storey still exhibits its horizontal shiplap wood siding. Also to be seen are original double wood framed windows centered beneath a gable in the false fronted pediment.
Having seen duty as office for the City Deputy of Public Works, among other tenants, the building ceased to be a hotel when converted to a hardware store following World War I.
Palace Hotel
Description of Historic Place:
The Palace Hotel is a two-storey, wood-frame building with a steeply pitched front gabled roof. It is fronted by a wooden false front on the upper level and a single-storey brick storefront on the lower level on Main Street in Penticton, British Columbia.
Heritage Value:
The Palace Hotel is valued for its unique identity as the
only remaining wood-framed commercial building on Main Street. Constructed in 1902, it is an important reminder of the era of false-fronted wooden buildings that pre-dated fireproof brick and concrete construction. At the end of World War I it was converted to a hardware store; later the single-storey brick front was added.
The Palace Hotel has historic value related to its original use as a hotel and as a landmark structure that reflects the importance of Penticton as a staging area for the trade between the South Okanagan and Similkameen mining towns and the Okanagan Lake transportation system. The hotel was an important meeting place for commercial visitors and for local boarders, as it was considered a clean, well-run establishment without a saloon, and also hosted a veranda where local news could be heard. In later years it served as a retail outlet for the Reid-Coates Hardware and more recently as a stereo outlet. The brick addition (c. 1919) has served as an office for the City Deputy of Public Works and as a doctor's office. These uses reflect the changing landscape of one of the core blocks of downtown Penticton.
The hotel is also important because it is a reminder of the original broad dimensions of Main Street before 1911.
Character-Defining Elements:
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Palace Hotel include its:
- large two-storey, wood-frame structure
- original features including its: board cladding, false front, double hung windows and flagpole
From Historic Places Canada