The roof was being replaced at a 90-year-old sa国际传媒 waterfront heritage home that was engulfed by fire Thursday evening.
Homeowner Terry Jennens had received a city grant to help with renovations being made to the British Arts and Crafts-style home at 1978 McDougall St.
鈥淭he re-roofing was in progress, with the new materials stacked up on the property,鈥 Peter Chataway, a member of the city-funded committee that administers heritage renovation grants, said Friday.
鈥淭his fire is an absolute shock, a real loss, because itsa国际传媒 a home that has a lot of history, social history and architectural history, tied into it,鈥 Chataway said.
Calls came in about 7:30 p.m. to the sa国际传媒 Fire Department, with people reporting a fire was well underway at the home, set alongside the popular Abbott Street recreational corridor.
The homesa国际传媒 鈥渟tructural integrity was already compromised鈥 when crews arrived, KFD platoon captain John Kelly said in a release. Crews fought a 鈥渄efensive鈥 fire, working mainly to prevent flames from spreading to nearby homes, Kelly said.
Jennens was able to safely get out of the house and is now being helped by Emergency Support Services. The fire appears accidental in nature, Kelly said.
Built in 1930, the home was one of the first constructed along the waterfront south of downtown, said Chataway, who is a friend of Jennens鈥.
鈥淏ack then, building near the water was difficult because the lake would flood so often and much of the area was swampland, with a lot of willows and soft soils,鈥 Chataway said. 鈥淏ut they obviously found a spot where a wonderful big home like this could be safely built.鈥
Oliver Jennens was a businessman active with sa国际传媒 Growers and sa国际传媒 Orchards, according to the citysa国际传媒 heritage register, on which the home was listed.
鈥淣otably, the house is significant as a demonstration of the economic activity and wealth of sa国际传媒 during the 1920s and 1930s when the fruit industry became the driving economic engine of the area,鈥 the register states.
鈥淢any of those involved in this business, such as the initial owner of this house, could afford to build grand houses on large estate properties, even at a time of country-wide depression,鈥 the register states.
The 2-1/2-storey home is described on the register as a 鈥渟ophisticated example of British Arts and Crafts architecture鈥, with a half-timbered exterior, multi-paned windows, exposed beams, and a high-arched entryway.
Oliversa国际传媒 son Gordon, an engineer, invented a machine to harvest weeds from Okanagan Lake and he also crafted a replica of a Viking ship. He built it on the lakeshore, then shipped it to the Netherlands and sailed it to Norway in the summer of 1971. The ship is stored under a canvass on the Jennens鈥 property.
Gordon died in 2010 and since then his son Terry, retired after a career in manufacturing, has been the only person living at the home, Chataway said.
鈥淗e鈥檒l be devastated by this fire,鈥 Chataway said. 鈥淚tsa国际传媒 pretty unique that this one 90-year-old home was owned by the same sa国际传媒 family all this time.鈥
The home was such a distinctive and admired landmark along the sa国际传媒 waterfront than another one just like it was built a few years after its construction at 2136 Abbott St by Andrew Walter Hamilton, then a friend and colleague of Jennens.
鈥淭he story is that Jennens was quite upset that someone else had built a house just like his,鈥 said Susan Ames, president of the sa国际传媒 South Central Association of Neighbourhoods and an advocate of heritage building preservation.
鈥淭he two men were like best friends,鈥 Ames said, 鈥渂ut they never spoke to each other again.鈥
