Heritage buildings to get some love in Kelowna | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Heritage buildings to get some love in Kelowna

St. Aidan's Church in Rutland.
Image Credit: Contributed

CENTRAL OKANAGAN - It’s a pretty big to-do list but city planners have come up with priorities for some of Kelowna’s main heritage buildings.

Topping the list is remedial work for the former Glen Avenue school, the Water Street firehall and Cameron House, planning specialist Pat McCormick says in a report to city council.

The former school is beginning a $510,000 renovation to the buildings exterior. The firehall requires similar exterior work while Cameron House is in the midst of a conditions assessment and both an engineering and architectural feasibility study.

Brent’s Grist Mill, the Fleming House and a dairy shed, all located at the Brent’s Mill Heritage Park, remain a high priority for the city, with emphasis on the grist mill itself which is exposed to the elements and deteriorating, according to the report. Site clean up and restoration began in September 2015 and are expected to be complete next spring.

The Ritz Cafe and Surtees barn are also deteriorating and require immediate remedial work. According to to McCormick, the two buildings are of lower heritage value than the other properties on the list and if an adaptive reuse cannot be identified, they should be demolished and commemorated by preserving some structural components accompanied by interpretive signage.

Of the buildings on the list, only the firehall and the Glen Avenue school are in use. Proposals for adaptive reuse for some of others have not been successful.

The exception is St. Aidan’s, a small church in Rutland, which is in being considered for sale to the Okanagan Buddhist Cultural Society. Should a heritage revitalization agreement be reached, the society would restore the building and add on to it for their own use.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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