Hughes-Games House
Place Description
The historic place is the two-storey, stucco-finished Hughes-Games House, built in 1939 in the Moderne style at 2094 Abbott Street. The house is located within the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Area in Kelowna's South Central neighbourhood and also has received individual heritage designation.
Heritage Value
The Hughes-Games House has heritage value both for the prominence of its original owner and its rare and attractive Moderne architectural style; and for having been moved as part of a controversial scheme to conserve the house while densifying the property.
Historical value lies in this having been the home of war veteran, businessman, and several-term mayor of Kelowna, William B. Hughes-Games. He emigrated to Vancouver from England in 1911. After service in the Seaforth Highlanders in World War I, Hughes-Games arrived in Kelowna in 1926 and immediately became active in the community. He served as secretary of the Kelowna Hospital Board from 1927 to 1937, Mayor of Kelowna from 1947 to 1951, and chairman of the Okanagan Regional Library Board from 1951 to 1956. His term as mayor saw the building of the Civic Centre, City Hall, and extensive sewer construction and road paving, and land was acquired at that time for government buildings.
Hughes-Games bought into the hardware business of Thomas Lawson Ltd. in 1936, and after it was reorganized as George A. Meikle Ltd. in 1937 was its secretary-treasurer.
The house, built in 1939 for Hughes-Games and his wife Margaret by well-known local builders Dore and Ryan, has value for its Moderne architectural style, a manner that was uncommon in Kelowna. The features of the style include its flat roof, horizontal bands, and stucco finish. Hughes-Games lived here during his mayoral years and until the early 1950s. During the 1950s and 1960s the house was occupied by tobacconist C. Burnaby Feedham, who operated a shop on Bernard Avenue, and his wife, W. Audrey Feedham.
The building also has value for demonstrating the value that the Kelowna community places on its architectural heritage, as it was conserved as part of a well-publicized subdivision and building relocation scheme in 2003. The Hughes-Game House has been moved closer to the street and put on a new foundation, providing space for an approved subdivision that created a new waterfront lot, while maintaining a strong visual presence for the historic house on the Abbott Street frontage.
Character Defining Elements
- Moderne style design, which is rare in Kelowna, and is characterized by features that include the flat roof, the simple wall planes, the coloured horizontal bands, and the stucco finish
- Asymmetrical composition, including a one-storey wing that protrudes from the two-storey main block the west (rear) side
- Prominent, simple wall planes
- Stucco finish, off-white in colour, on all elevations
- Projecting continuous double horizontal decorative band, colored black, on both floors
- Narrow, continuous porch on the second level, with parapet and metal railings
- Large chimney at the centre rear of the house
- 45-degree-angle recessed entrance facing two streets
- Many mature trees and shrubs in the large yard
- Orientation of the house, which has remained constant when the lot was subdivided and the house moved closer to Abbott Street
